(upbeat music) - I'm Jay Martin Jr in the Crosscut KCTS 9 Newsroom.

Washington auditors have flagged problems with how state agencies spent nearly $1.2 billion in federal aid according to a new report.

Auditors did not identify any fraud, but concluded some agencies spent money outside of allowed uses or did not comply with federal fraud prevention policies such as background checks.

State agencies said most dollars are accounted for, but unclear guidance on pandemic relief and staffing shortages made complying with reporting rules difficult, insufficient documentation and tracking of federal dollars, mostly pandemic aid, were also cited as part of the problem.

The Office of the Washington State auditor recently outlined 70 findings against 14 different state level agencies over their handling of federal grants or COVID-19 relief money between July, 2021 and June, 2022.

I'm Jay Martin Jr, find nonprofit Northwest News every day on Crosscut.