System for the enforcement and recovery of child support

32 Pages·1996·0.74 MB·English

by  Montana. Legislature. Legislative Audit Division

s
362.7
L72SERC
2001
Legislative Audit Division
State ofMontana STATE DOCUMENTS COLLECTIOi
2001
Report to the Legislature
Information System Audit MONTANA TE LIU!,..
August 2001 HELE1N5A15MEC E"h AVE
'
System for the Enforcement and
Recovery of Child Support
(SEARCHS)
Department of Public Health and Human Services
This report provides information regarding application controls over the
department's SEARCHS system, and access and change controls over the
related processing environment. It contains recommendations for
improving controls over the SEARCHS information system environment.
These recommendations include:
Resolving programming problems toensure child support collections
are assigned to the state for reimbursement ofpublic assistance.
Distributingexcess reimbursed assistance to custodial parents.
Validating social security numbers.
Modifying support orders to include medical support.
Reviewing bank account information. — _~
_
Direct comments/inquiries to:
Legislative Audit Division
Room 160, State Capitol
PO Box 201705
MT
01DP-06 Helena 59620-1705
Helpeliminatefraud, waste,and abuse instate government. Call the Fraud Hotlineat 1-800-222-4446
statewideor444-4446 in Helena.
MONTANASTATELIBRARY
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INFORMATION SYSTEM AUDITS
Information System (IS) audits conducted by the Legislative Audit Division are designed to assess
controls in an IS environment. IS controls provide assurance over the accuracy, reliability, and integrity
of the information processed. From the audit work, a determination is made as to whether controls exist
and are operating as designed. In performing the audit work, the audit staff uses audit standards set forth
by the United States General Accounting Office.
Members of the IS audit staff hold degrees in disciplines appropriate to the audit process. Areas of
expertise include business and public administration.
IS audits are performed as stand-alone audits ofIS controls or in conjunction with financial-compliance
and/or performance audits conducted by the office. These audits are done under the oversight ofthe
Legislative Audit Committee which is a bicameral and bipartisan standing committee ofthe Montana
Legislature. The committee consists ofsix members ofthe Senate and six members ofthe House of
Representatives.
MEMBERS OFTHE LEGISLATIVE AUDIT COMMITTEE
SenatorJohn Cobb Representative Joe Balyeat
SenatorJim Elliott Representative Dee Brown
Senator Dan Harrington Representative Bill Eggers
Senator Ken Miller Representative Hal Jacobson
SenatorCorey Stapleton Representative JeffPattison, Vice Chair
SenatorJon Tester, Chair Representative David Wanzenried
LEGISLATIVE AUDIT DIVISION
Scott A. Seacat, Legislative Auditor Deputy Legislative Auditors:
John W. Northey, Legal Counsel Jim Pellegrini. Performance Audit
&
Tori Hunthausen, IS Audit Operations
James Gillett, Financial-Compliance Audit
August 2001
The Legislative Audit Committee
Ofthe Montana State Legislature:
This is the report ofour Information System audit ofcontrols relating to the System for the
Enforcement and Recovery ofChild Support (SEARCHS) at the Department ofPublic Health and
Human Services. We reviewed application controls over the SEARCHS application and general
controls relating to access and change controls. This report contains recommendations for
improving controls related to the system and department procedures. Written responses to our
audit recommendations are included in the back ofthe audit report.
We
wish to express our appreciation to the department personnel fortheircooperation and
assistance throughout the audit.
Respectfully submitted.
>cott A. Seacat
Legislative Auditor
Room 160, StateCapitol BuildingPOBox 201705 Helena, MT 59620-1705
Phone[phone] FAX [phone] [email protected]
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2011 with funding from
Montana State Library
http://www.archive.org/details/systemforenforce2001mont
Legislative Audit Division
Information System Audit
System for the Enforcement and
Recovery of Child Support
(SEARCHS)
Department ofPublic Health and Human Services
Members ofthe audit staffinvolved in this audit were Debra Blossom,
Wendy Kittleson, and Ann Walchuk.

1
Table of Contents
Appointed and Administrative Officials ii
Chapter I - Introduction and Background 1
Introduction
1
Audit Objectives 3
Audit Scope and Methodology 3
Compliance 4
Chapter II - Application Controls 5
TEAMS
Interface 5
Distributing Excess Collections 5
Invalid Social Security Numbers 6
Modification ofSupport Orders 7
Inaccurate Bank Account Number 8
Resolution ofPayment Exceptions 9
Unreconciled Differences 10
Access Controls
1
Timely Review ofCase Information 13
Resolution ofCase Ticklers 14
Department Response A-3
Page
i
Appointed and Administrative Officials
Department ofPublic Health Gail Gray, Director
and Human Services
Mike Billings, Administrator, Operations and Technology Division
Marie Matthews, Fiscal Policy Advisor/Audit Liaison
Amy Pfeifer, Acting Administrator, Child Support Enforcement
Division
Wayne Peterson, Chief, Administrative Services Bureau, Child
Support Enforcement Division
Chad Dexter, Chief, Field Services Bureau, Child Support
Enforcement Division.
Page
ii
Chapter Introduction and Background
I -
Introduction We conducted an information system audit ofthe Child Support
Enforcement Division's (CSED) System for the Enforcement and
Recovery ofChild Support (SEARCHS). The purpose ofthe CSED
ofthe Department ofPublic Health and Human Services, is to
achieve financial support forchildren by establishing, enforcing, and
increasing parental awareness ofparental obligations. SEARCHS
was implemented in June of 1993 to meet the Federal Family
Support Act of 1988 requirement that all states have a federally
certified automated child support system.
In 1996, Congress passed the Personal Responsibility and Work
Responsibility Act (PRWORA) which contained significant child
support legislation. In 1997, the Montana legislature passed
amendments through SB374 to implement the requirements of
PRWORA. Key provisions ofthe act include: employer reporting
ofnew hires to state databases within 20 days of hire; submitting
child support cases to a federal case registry; automating income
withholding notices; and data matches with financial institutions.
SEARCHS receives information from a number ofautomated
systems or departments including: TEAMS (The Economic
Assistance Management System) for public assistance; CAPS (Child
and Adult Protective Services); SABHRS (Statewide Accounting,
Budgeting and Human Resource System); Department ofJustice;
Supreme Court; Department ofCorrections; Department ofLabor-
Unemployment Insurance, Job Service, and Worker's Compensation;
Department ofRevenue - New Hire, State Income Tax, and
Employer Wages; Fish, Wildlife, and Parks; Federal Case Registry;
CSENet (Child Support and Enforcement Network); FBI (Federal
Bureau ofInvestigation); Social Security Administration; IRS
(Internal Revenue Service); Department of Defense; Veteran's
Administration; and Selective Service.
There are five regional offices that process child support cases;
Butte, Billings, Great Falls, Missoula, and the interstate office
located in Helena. The state disbursement unit forchild support
collections is also located in Helena. The division had 191.75
budgeted full-time employees for Fiscal Year 2002.
Page 1
Chapter I - Introduction and Background
As ofJanuary 31, 2001, the division had 38,671 open child support
cases. Child support collections in the month ofJanuary 2001 totaled
$4,190,970, ofwhich $523,061 reimbursed the state forpublic
assistance.
During the audit, we reviewed seven key areas. They are case
initiation and locate, establishment, enforcement, financial
management and payment processing, reporting, and access and
change control procedures.
Case initiation and locate involves the initial applicant
information entry, a search forduplicate records, securing
medical and financial support information, and location ofthe
absent parent (AP).
Establishment includes paternity establishment in cases of
children born out of wedlock or when the paternity ofa child is
in question, and calculation ofmonthly support payments or
entering court ordered child support obligations.
Enforcement involves methods oftrying to collect income from
the AP such as income withholding, monthly billing, credit
bureau reporting, state and federal tax refund offsets, state bad
debt offsets, and unemployment benefits locate.
Financial management and payment processing includes the
processing ofpayments received, including, entry and posting of
payments, check deposit at the Treasury Unit, distribution of
payments, check issuance, and reconciliations.
Federal reports are submitted indicating performance standards
and results used to calculate program grant amounts.
Performance reports indicate the number ofcases, collections,
distribution ofcases, and aging.
Access security to help ensure proper controls are in place to
limit accessibility to SEARCHS case information to appropriate
personnel.
Change control procedures to help ensure changes to the
SEARCHS programming and/ordata are authorized and
appropriate. According to a contract between the department
and its consultant, TRW, contract programmers are responsible
for maintaining the SEARCHS system and all programming
Page 2