Single audit

A single audit is an audit of the ORGANISATION, not of a grant. It is triggered when an entity spends more than a threshold in federal awards in one fiscal year (raised to $1,000,000 by the 2024 revision, up from $750,000) counting every federal award together, from every agency.

It examines the financial statements and, separately, compliance with the requirements attached to major programmes: eligibility determinations, allowable costs, procurement, reporting, cash management, subrecipient monitoring. The auditor selects which programmes are major using a risk-based process, so you do not choose what is examined.

The trigger is EXPENDITURE, not receipt. An organisation that receives $1.5 million but spends $600,000 in the year is below the threshold that year and above it the next. Organisations are caught out by drawing the line in the wrong place, and by forgetting that awards passed to them as sub-recipients count too.

The results are public. The reporting package goes to a federal clearinghouse and is searchable, findings included. A pattern of repeat findings affects your risk rating with every agency that funds you, and pass-through entities check it before making subawards.

The cost is not trivial (a specialist audit, on top of your ordinary one) and it is an allowable cost of the awards, so budget for it. For an organisation approaching the threshold, this belongs in the calculation of whether the next award is worth taking.