Uniform Guidance Single Audit | OMB Circular A-133 Audit

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Single Audit

under Uniform Guidance

Each year, the Federal Government provides over $600 billion in grants to State, local and tribal governments, colleges, universities and other non-profit organizations (non-Federal entities) and commercial organizations. The Single Audit Act of 1984 (with amendment in 1996) and the Uniform Guidance provide audit requirements for ensuring that these funds are expended properly.

The Uniform Guidance along with Compliance Supplements includes guidelines related to Single Audits, such as information as to its purpose, objectives, roles and responsibilities and the major programs involved with single audits.

Single Audit - The Uniform Guidance

Improvements

Improves financial management of state & local governments receiving federal financial assistance. The uniform guidance single audit concept helps promote fundamental financial management improvements & strengthen accountability in entities receiving federal assistance.

Uniform Audit

Establishes uniform audit requirements for state and local governments. The single audit Act requires that auditors apply both generally accepted auditing standards and government auditing standards.

Information

To the extent practicable, it ensures federal departments and agencies rely upon and use audit work done pursuant to the Act. The single audit was designed to reduce the duplication of audit efforts in relation to multiple federal grants to single entities.

Effective Resources

Promote the efficient and effective use of audit resources. The auditor is able to simultaneously test internal control over financial reporting, internal control over compliance, and compliance requirements.

Management and Auditors Primary Responsibilities

Identifying Federal Awards Received and Expended

Management is required to account for Federal funds received and expended by individual award. This information is usually provided in grant award documents.

Obtaining the Audit and ensuring it is completed

OMB Circular A-133 requires that Federal administrative rules be followed in procuring audit services, which can be found on OMB's website. Factors to consider in evaluating proposals for audit services include responsiveness to the request for proposal, availability of staff with professional qualifications and relevant experience, results of quality reviews and price.

Submitting the Audit reporting package and Data

Collection Form (form SF-SAC) to the Federal Audit Clearinghouse (FAC) and pass-through entities The reporting package includes entity’s financial statements and SEFA, the auditor's reports, including a schedule of findings and questioned costs, and, if applicable, management’s corrective action plan and a summary schedule of prior audit findings. Entity’s management and its auditor jointly prepare form SF-SAC. It is entity’s management’s responsibility to submit the SF-SAC together with the appropriate number (per the SF-SAC instructions) of reporting packages to the FAC within 30 days of the receipt of the auditor's reports, but no later than 9 months after the end of your fiscal year. The FAC distributes the reporting package to Federal agencies and maintains an archival copy. Information from the form SF-SAC is captured by the FAC in an electronic database, which is publicly accessible via its website.

Taking corrective action on Audit findings

Entity’s management is required to prepare a corrective action plan that addresses each audit finding. The affected Federal awarding agency(ies) or pass-through entity(ies) should contact the entity on the acceptability of its plan or alternative actions it expects management to take. Entity’s management is responsible for taking those actions.

Preparing financial statements and a Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards (SEFA)

OMB Circular A-133 sets forth the minimum content requirements for the SEFA.

Why Choose Us to conduct Single Audit?

Our audit team members are well qualified and experienced in conducting OMB Circular A-133 audits. Our integrated risk based approach allows us to perform financial statements and OMB Circular A-133 audits simultaneously, taking leverage of audit procedures performed in a financial statements audit and to avoid duplication of effort. We commit to complete the audit procedures, prepare the A-133 reports, assist our clients to complete Form SF-FAC and submit the reports with the Federal Clearinghouse by the submission due dates. The single audit can also be conducted in conjunction with audits of grants subject to state and local laws and regulations. Such audits are conducted to obtain complete and accurate information in relation to the grant agreements and relevant compliance requirements.

More About OMB Circular A-133

All non-Federal entities that expend $750,000 or more of Federal awards in a year are required to obtain an annual audit in accordance with the Single Audit Act Amendments of 1996, OMB Circular A-133, the OMB Circular Compliance Supplement and Government Auditing Standards. A single audit is intended to provide a cost-effective audit for non-Federal entities in that one audit is conducted in lieu of multiple audits of individual programs. The OMB A-133 Compliance Supplement is a large and extensive United States federal government guide created by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and used in auditing federal assistance and federal grant programs, as well as their respective recipients. It is considered to be the most important tool of an auditor for a Single Audit.

New OMB Guidance & Grant Reforms

In late December 2013, the Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) issued long-awaited grant reforms in a document titled Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles and Audit Requirements for Federal Audit. This reform of OMB guidance is an attempt to reduce the administrative burden for non-federal entities receiving a portion of the $600 billion in federal grants that are awarded annually, while reducing the risk of waste, fraud, and abuse. It applies to institutions of higher education, nonprofits, state/local governments, Indian tribes, and certain for-profit and foreign entities. These revisions are clearly the most significant change to occur in relation to federal grants management in recent history. Entities receiving federal funding will need to carefully digest these changes. The new rules combine eight previously separate sets of OMB regulations into one streamlined, comprehensive policy. This consolidated document is aimed at eliminating duplicative or almost duplicative language in order to clarify where policy is substantively different across types of entities, and where it is not. As a result, the guidance includes sections and parts of sections which are clearly delineated by the type of non-federal entity to which they apply. This final guidance is located in Title 2 of the Code of Federal Regulations. This guidance supersedes requirements from various prior OMB Circulars and provides reforms in three main areas:

Reform Area	Guidance Previously Located in
Administrative Requirements	Circulars A-102 (the Common Rule), Circular A-110 and Circular A-89
Cost Principles	Circulars A-21, A-87 and A-122
Audit Requirements	Circulars A-133 and A-50

These regulations became effective for new awards and/or new funding increments made on or after Dec. 26, 2014, exactly one year after the publication date of these reforms. However, standards set forth related to the audit requirements will be effective for audits of fiscal years beginning ON or AFTER Jan. 1, 2015; i.e., the first single audits affected by this rule will be for the year ending Dec. 31, 2015.

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