Preparing for Your Annual Single Audit
By Kylie Thomas
While there are many items to consider while preparing for an audit, one of the key details to nail down includes audit timing and completion, to ensure timely submission. The audit reporting package is required to be submitted by the earlier of thirty calendar days after receipt of the report or nine months after year-end so it's always important to be mindful of scheduling.
The Audit Process
One of the first steps in the single audit process is for your auditor to determine which federal funding program(s) will be tested. For your auditors to properly determine what federal programs are required to be tested, they will need a complete and accurate Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards (SEFA).
When making sure your SEFA is complete and accurate, consider doing the following:
Reach out to funding sources to confirm funding is federal/non-federal. Often, funds passed through intermediaries such as state and local governments may be part federal but not expressly noted on the grant agreement.
Identify the Assistance Listing Numbers (ALN) for each federal award and the program names (current program names can be found on Sam.gov).
Reconcile reported federal expenditures to your financial/accounting records, grant reports, and related grant agreements.
Compliance and Controls
Once the major program(s) to be tested are determined, your auditor will test your compliance and controls over compliance. You should be prepared to provide support for expenditures, verification of controls over the grant operations, and other information related to the program(s).
At the conclusion of the audit, your auditor will report on internal control over compliance and will report an opinion on each major federal program tested during the audit. Additionally, your financial statements will include the SEFA and a Schedule of Findings and Questioned Costs, which will include a summary of pertinent audit results.
Your financial statements and auditor reports are required to be submitted to the Federal Audit Clearinghouse, and ultimately become a publicly searchable document. Therefore, it is important to have proper compliance and controls over compliance with your federal programs to ensure that your organization puts its best foot forward.
Please contact CSH if you have further questions or if we can help.
