Donors have been paid a pittance (£250 plus documented expenses).
And even some of the documented expenses were cited as exorbitantly priced, the report said.
In April, however, the agency notified Harmony of an unreleased preliminary audit questioning more than $540,000 in inadequately documented expenses, the vast majority involving federal grant money.
A few programs, such as Pathfinder International, did make their annual financial reports that documented expenses publicly available.
The records, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by The New York Times, show that since 1994 custodians could not document expenses totaling $8.3 million, and that custodians often turn in receipts and invoices months, sometimes years, after the fact.
The investigation did not produce any criminal charges, but a state audit later criticized how the group had spent $260,000 it had received, saying that it should return $46,000 because it had not adequately documented the expenses.
Always document every expense, sale, and profit no matter how small.
Mr. Leary's charity had rules requiring third parties raising money for it to get written approval in advance, document expenses and state on all promotional materials the "exact percentage of the proceeds" the charity would receive.
A Texas Tribune review of more than 130 housing and community affairs department monitoring reports found weatherization providers consistently had problems accurately documenting expenses and conducting energy audits, which in some cases led to thousands of dollars in unexplained costs and improper installations of materials.
But the group was unable to produce time sheets, expense receipts, canceled checks or board meeting minutes to document its expenses for the two fiscal years, 2006 and 2007, examined in the audits.
