[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 177 (Thursday, September 12, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 56236-56237]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-22180]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Administration for Children and Families
Proposed Information Collection Activity; Comment Request
Proposed Projects
Title: TANF Quarterly Financial Report ACF-196R.
OMB No.: New.
Description: This information collection is authorized under
Section 411(a)(3) of the Social Security Act. This request is for
approval to create the ACF-196R form for quarterly financial reporting
under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program.
Implementation of these changes will entail new costs to ACF, and thus,
final adoption will depend upon funding availability. States
participating in the TANF program are required by statute to report
financial data on a quarterly basis. The forms meet the legal standard
and provide essential data on the use of federal TANF funds. Failure to
collect the data would seriously compromise ACF's ability to monitor
program expenditures, estimate funding needs, and to prepare budget
submissions and annual reports required by Congress. Financial
reporting under the TANF program is governed by 45 CFR Part 265.
Approval of the ACF-196R would result in two basic changes to TANF
quarterly financial reports. The first is to require respondents to
allocate annual expenditures among an expanded list of categories on
the ACF-196R; these categories better reflect the wide range of
activities on which states are expending TANF funds. The second change
is to the accounting method used to report expenditures made in a
fiscal year and monitor cumulative expenditures by grant year award.
Specifically, effective FY 2015, with each open grant year award,
respondents will be required to report actual expenditures made in a
fiscal year rather than updating cumulative totals, using the ACF-196R.
If a respondent needs to adjust an expenditure reported in a prior
year, it will revise the report for the fiscal year in which that
expenditure occurred, rather than the current year's report.
We will maintain the ACF-196 form (Approved OMB No 0970-0247), only
for revisions to historical data. Specifically, if a respondent needs
to adjust or correct an expenditure submitted in a fiscal year prior to
FY 2015, the respondent will revise the ACF-196 pertaining to the
relevant grant year for expenditures cumulative through FY 2014. Thus,
the reporting burden associated with the ACF-196 is greatly reduced.
Respondents: State agencies administering the TANF program
Annual Burden Estimates
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Number of Average burden
Instrument Number of responses per hours per Total burden
respondents respondent response hours
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ACF-196R........................................ 51 4 14 2856
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Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours:........ .............. .............. .............. 2856
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In compliance with the requirements of Section 506(c)(2)(A) of the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Administration for Children and
Families is soliciting public comment on the specific aspects of the
information collection described above. Comments may be sent in writing
to the Administration for Children and Families, Office of Planning,
Research and Evaluation, 370 L'Enfant Promenade SW., Washington, DC
20447, Attn: ACF Reports Clearance Officer or emailed to:
[email protected]. All requests should be identified by the
title of the information collection. Interested parties can also
request copies of the proposed collection of information (instructions
and forms) at the above address or by accessing the Information
Memorandum TANF-ACF-IM-2013-03 on the Policy page of the OFA Web site,
available at http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ofa/programs/tanf/policy.
ACF specifically requests comments on: (a) Whether the proposed
collection of information is critical to the proper performance of the
functions of the agency, including whether the information shall have
practical utility;
[[Page 56237]]
(b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed
collection of information; (c) the quality, utility, and clarity of the
information to be collected; (d) ways to minimize the burden of the
collection of information on respondents, including through the use of
automated collection techniques or other forms of information
technology; (e) ability of respondents to categorize and allocate
expenditures in the more detailed manner that the new categories listed
on the ACF-196R would require; (f) whether definitions for categories
are clear, or whether any of the definitions should be revised to
prevent confusion over how to report an expenditure; (g) whether any
additional or alternative categories of expenditure reporting should be
included in order to improve understanding of how TANF and maintenance-
of-effort (MOE) funds are being used; (h) length of time it will take
for respondents to adapt to the new accounting method, specifically,
whether a state would be able to accurately report expenditures
according to the new accounting methodology by February 14, 2016 (the
date the first quarter FY 2015 report is due), and if not, what
transition time would be needed in order to report in accordance with
the revised forms and procedures; (h) any complications that may result
from the transition to a new accounting method, and if so, how to
minimize the potential for complications; (i) whether there will be
costs involved with transitioning to reporting in new expenditure
categories and accounting method, and if so, what would be the
anticipated extent of such costs. Consideration will be given to
comments and suggestions submitted within 60 days of this publication.
Robert Sargis,
Reports Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. 2013-22180 Filed 9-11-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4184-01-P