The Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards (Uniform Guidance), was officially implemented by the Council on Financial Assistance Reform (COFAR), in December of 2014. Uniform Guidance is a framework for grants management, and supersedes guidance from earlier OMB circulars. Among other things, Uniform Guidance removes previous guidance that is conflicting, establishes standard language and lays the groundwork for Federal agencies to standardize the processing of data.
A lot of time, work and planning goes into getting your Federal Award. Now that you have the funds, additional time spent ensuring that you are in compliance with Uniform Guidance is an important step in ensuring that your project is successful, and that your audit, if required, goes well. Here are some general guidelines that award recipients should follow that will go a long way toward a favorable audit result.
Award Recipients should:
Review Subpart D – Post Federal Award Requirements, Standards for Financial and Program Management, Internal Controls (200.303) of Uniform Guidance (found here: http://www.grants.gov/web/grants/learn-grants/grant-policies/omb-uniform-guidance-2014.html) with emphasis on the following:
Award Recipients should not:
The two most notable mistakes that non-Federal entities make have to do with advance payments and budget revisions. Because grants can be paid in advance, procedures and controls that meet defined standards for fund control and accountability as established by the Code of Federal Regulations must be in place to minimize the time elapsing between the transfer of funds and disbursement of those funds by the grantee.
Approved budgets for Federal Awards summarize the financial aspects of the project or program as approved during the Federal Award process. Once again, procedures and controls governing revisions to the budget, and proper reporting of any revisions are key.
At Clausen & Associates, we know that your focus is the project that you received the Federal Award for---and not always compliance issues---so our team of experts is here to help. Clausen & Associates CPAs specializes in Program Specific and Compliance Audits, and would be honored to serve your audit and/or tax needs. Give us a call today at 303.678.5392, to discuss how we can help.
-Barb Clausen, Clausen & Associates CPA
A note from ReliAscent: Clausen & Associates CPA is a valued and trusted partner to ReliAscent. We highly recommend their audit and tax services to our clients, and all contractors/grantees. Should your business require a program specific or uniform guidance audit (or tax services), we urge you to contact Barb and the Clausen team---they are efficient, affordable, and extremely knowledgeable & capable. Should you have any questions about government contract and/or accounting compliance, audits, contract management or outsourced CFO services for contractors and grantees, please do not hesitate to contact ReliAscent.