Revised Quarterly Financial Reporting Forms - 2014

ACTION TRANSMITTAL

OGM-AT-14-01 (Office of Grants Management)
OCSE-AT-14-14 (Office of Child Support Enforcement)

DATE: December 11, 2014

TO: State and Tribal agencies administering the Child Support Enforcement Program in accordance with plans approved under title IV-D of the Social Security Act, and other interested individuals.

SUBJECT: Revised Quarterly Financial Reporting Forms. 
(a) Form OCSE-396, “Quarterly Financial Report,” a report of expenditures and estimates for use only by states; and
(b) Form OCSE-34, “Quarterly Collection Report,” a report of collections received, distributed and undistributed, now consolidated for use by both states and tribes.

ATTACHMENTS:

• Form OCSE-396, “Quarterly Financial Report” (PDF)
• Form OCSE-396 Instructions (PDF)
• Form OCSE-34, “Quarterly Collection Report” (PDF)
• Form OCSE-34 Instructions (PDF)

BACKGROUND:   States and tribes administering the Child Support Enforcement Program are required to submit quarterly reports of program expenditures and program collections, disbursements and distributions.  In addition, states are also required to report quarterly estimates of program expenditures for the upcoming quarter.

(In accordance with 45 CFR 309.130(b)(3), tribal grantees for this program were required to use the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Form SF-269A, “Financial Status Report” for expenditure reporting.  This form has since been replaced with OMB Form SF-425, “Federal Financial Report.”  Accordingly, any references in this Action Transmittal to Form OCSE-396 are not applicable to tribes.)

Previously, state and tribal grantees completed similar, but slightly different, versions of the quarterly collection report, both designated as “Form OCSE-34A.”  This required duplication of effort to ensure both versions were maintained current and up-to-date.  With the advent and recent requirement for online reporting, maintaining similar, separate reports is no longer feasible.  This revision consolidates both forms to allow both categories of grantee to complete the same form.  Since federal statute and regulations differ for states and tribes in the administration of this program, the form and instructions are annotated to direct grantees to the correct data entries.

The information requirements for these financial reporting documents change periodically as Federal statute and regulations are amended.  In addition, OMB requires that these forms be reviewed at least once every three years to ensure that the information being requested is in accordance with current requirements.  As part of this review process, we solicit and review comments, ideas and suggestions for improvements submitted by state, tribal and federal IV-D staffs and from any other individuals or groups with an interest in this program.  These revised forms have completed this process and have been approved by OMB (OMB Approval No. 0970-0181, expires May 31, 2017).

REVISIONS:   The following revisions are included in these forms:

General

• Revert to original form designations as Forms OCSE-396 and OCSE-34.  These forms were redesignated as Forms OCSE-396A and OCSE-34A several years ago, with the intention to increase the suffix sequentially (B, C, D, etc.) with each revision.  Since this plan was never implemented, the “A” suffix is no longer warranted.
• In response to comments and suggestions, minor changes were made to existing wording of instructions to improve clarity and accuracy.

Form OCSE-396, “Quarterly Financial Report.”

3. Line 1a:  Opened entries in columns B and D to allow computation of the Federal share for expenditures made using incentive payments.  Since FY 2008, with the exception of FYs 2009 and 2010, the FFP rate for these expenditures is zero (0%).  However, this revision will accommodate any future changes in the FFP rate applicable to expenditures reported on this line.  (NOTE:  This change had previously been adopted and approved on an ad hoc basis for OLDC submittals to accommodate changes enacted under ARRA in FYs 2009 and 2010.)
4. Column F:  Added column for the computation of federal share for next quarter estimates.  (NOTE:  This change had previously been adopted and approved on an ad hoc basis for OLDC submittals to accommodate changes enacted under ARRA in FYs 2009 and 2010.)
5. Line 1d:  Added line to allow reporting of expenditures made using incentive funds that require a waiver.  Although not eligible for FFP and subject to a specified ceiling, these expenditures are monitored separately from similar expenditures reported on Line 1a.
6. Section C/ Line 16:  Created Section C with Line 16, “Estimate of Earned Incentive Payments” relocated from Line 8, to eliminate continuing confusion in the inclusion of this amount in the computation of the federal Share (Line 14).
7. Funding Categories:  Adjusted in Part 2 as needed to accommodate revisions above.

Form OCSE-34, “Quarterly Collection Report.”

8. No additional data entry items added; no existing data entry items removed.
9. Wording added, where needed, to include and incorporate Tribes.
10. Lines 4a, 7a, 7e, 10a and 10b specifically annotated to indicate data entry by States only.

FORM SUBMISSIONS: Since October 2013, all financial reports submitted for all ACF mandatory grant programs by all grantees are required to be submitted online through ACF’s Online Data Collection system (OLDC).  (See Action Transmittal OGM-AT-13-01, September 25, 2013 and Federal Register Notice 78 FR 38089, et. seq., June 28, 2013.)  OLDC has been updated to accommodate these revisions.

EFFECTIVE DATE:  The use of these revised forms is required for reporting expenditures made by States and collections and distributions made by States and Tribes for the 1st quarter, FY 2015 (i.e., on or after October 1, 2014).

These reports must be submitted and certified (electronically signed) through OLDC no later than January 30, 2015 – 30 days after the end of the 1st quarter -  and should include State expenditure estimates for the 3rd quarter, FY 2015.

RELATED MATERIAL:

• OCSE Action Transmittal AT-09-02, March 26, 2009, “Revisions to Expenditure Reporting Instructions for FYs 2009 and 2010 to Accommodate Public Law 111-5.”
  This Action Transmittal describes the methodology to report prior quarter expenditure adjustments applicable to FYs 2009 and 2010 on Line 1a of Form OCSE-396.  (NOTE:  Increasing prior quarter adjustments must be claimed within 2 years from the date of the expenditure.  See 45 CFR Part 95 Subpart A.)
• OGM Action Transmittal AT 13-01 (PDF), September 28, 2013, “Implementation of new policy for the electronic submission of State and Tribal plans and program and financial reports for mandatory grant programs.”
  This Action Transmittal introduced the requirement that, effective October 2013, all financial reports for all ACF mandatory grantees must be submitted online through OLDC.

SUPERCEDED MATERIAL:

• OCSE Action Transmittal AT 07-08, November 27, 2007, “Implementation of Revised Financial Reporting Forms: Form OCSE-396A and Form OCSE-34A”
  This Action Transmittal implemented these financial reports when they were last revised for use in FY 2008.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

Contact the appropriate OGM Regional Grants Officer or OCSE Regional Program Manager.

Tony Hardy
Director
Office of Grants Management

Vicki Turetsky
Commissioner
Office of Child Support Enforcement