The Office of the Comptroller of Puerto Rico issues a qualified opinion on the fiscal operations of the Child Support Program of the Department of the Family. A qualified opinion is issued when the noncompliances individually or together are significant but not pervasive.
The Report reveals that in the bank statements where the child-support payments are deposited from January 1, 2013 to March 31, 2017, there is a balance that fluctuates between $36 million and $56 million and that ASUME is unaware of the nature of the items that make up that money. That balance is the one recorded by the statement, after the deposit transfers of the child-support payments to the custodial parent. The Auxiliary Administrator II certified and the Administrator confirmed that the composition of that account could not be determined.
This situation, contrary to Act No. 5 of 1986, Organic Act of the Child Support Administration, prevents maintaining effective control of the operations related to the child-support funds and timely actions from being taken for the distribution of the funds. In addition, not carrying out bank reconciliations of the deposit and disbursement accounts, or having subsidiaries or internal records, fostered that a balance be maintained in the account without knowing the items, the amounts, and to whom those funds belong.
The three-finding audit notes that $78,011 from the Special Fund for Services and Representation of Child Support Cases was used for expenses not related to or permitted in Act No. 5. This particular situation is referred to the Secretary of Justice for her consideration and so that she takes the appropriate measures. For example, professional services, mechanical repairs, an electric power bill, and others were paid with the Special Fund created for other purposes such as legal representation, location of the persons obligated to provide support, payment of expenses incurred in the collection and distribution of child-support payments, among others. In this regard, the Report comments that ASUME does not have rules and regulations that govern the related operations of the Special Fund.
The Report also indicates that the Manual of Rules and Procedures for handling child-support cases, which has been used since 2011, had not been approved or revised by the administrators of ASUME or by the secretaries of the Family in office.
The Report covers the period from July 1, 2013 to June 30, 2017.
See Audit Report DA-19-04.
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