Compliance Audits (Single Audits)

RFG provides services to assist State and Local government with compliance requirements related to provisions under the Single Audit act, as amended, by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

As with most RFG assurance services, RFG provides you with confidence in the reviewed information administered to internal and external stakeholders to make business decisions.

Background:

In 1984, Congress passed the Single Audit Act, which required most governmental recipients of federal assistance (e.g., state and local governments) to have organization-wide financial and compliance audits on an annual basis. Subsequently, the federal Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued several circulars to clarify audit requirements on various types of federal assistance recipients. Many states have opted to obtain a statewide Single Audit to meet the basic federal audit requirements for all federal assistance awards administered or expended by agencies of the State.

Over the years, the federal Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued several circulars to clarify administrative and audit requirements on various types of federal assistance recipients. These circulars are effective for awards issued before December 26, 2014:

  • A-21 Cost Principles for Educational Institutions

  • A-87 Cost Principles for State, Local and Indian Tribal Governments

  • A-110 Uniform Administrative Requirements for Grants and Other Agreements with Institutions of Higher Education, Hospitals and Other Non-Profit Organizations

  • A-122 Cost Principles for Non-Profit Organizations

  • A-89 Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance

  • A-102 Grants and Cooperative Agreements With State and Local Governments

  • A-133 Audits of States, Local Governments and Non-Profit Organizations

  • A-50 Audit Follow-up

Refer to the complete circulars listed above at: https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/circulars>

In 2013, effective December 26, 2014, the OMB issued the Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards (Uniform Guidance) to clarify and streamline the federal guidance. The Uniform Guidance supersedes the following OMB Circulars: A-21, A-87, A-110, A-122, A-89, and A-102. The major policy changes include:

    • eliminating duplicative and conflicting guidance,

    • focusing on performance over compliance for accountability,

    • encouraging efficient use of information technology and shared services,

    • providing for consistent and transparent treatment of costs,

    • limiting allowable costs to make best use of federal resources,

    • setting standard business processes using data definitions,

    • encouraging non-federal entities to have family friendly policies, and

    • strengthening oversight.

    • The Uniform Guidance also addresses audit requirements superseding the OMB circulars A-133 and A-50. The new audit requirements are effective for fiscal years beginning on or after December 26, 2014.

    • The major audit policy changes target audit requirements on the risk of waste, fraud and abuse and raise the dollar threshold for requirement of a Single Audit to $750,000 or more in expenditures in an entity’s fiscal year.

For the complete Uniform Guidance refer to http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/grants_docs#final