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Frequently
Asked Questions
Basic Questions
1. Where can I find basic information about the Single Audit process?
2. Is my organization required to conduct a Single Audit?
3. Who do I contact if I have further questions?
4.
How do I search the Federal Audit Clearinghouse database?
Submission
Questions
5. What is required to be submitted?
8. When is the form and reporting package due?
9. How do I request an extension on the due date?
10. Can we send a photocopy of the Form SF-SAC?
11. Can I type the Form SF-SAC data into a Microsoft Word template?
12. Where do I send the Form SF-SAC and reporting package?
13. How many copies of the reporting package and form are required?
14.
How do I check the status of our submission?
15. How do I make a change to the Audit or Form after it is submitted?
17. Which Form SF-SAC version do I use for my 2007 audit?
Auditing
Questions
18. How do I determine if my organization has a cognizant agency or an oversight agency?
19. How do I determine the Federal cognizant agency?
20. How do I determine the Federal oversight agency?
21. If there are no Prior Audit Findings, is a schedule still required?
22. Which programs should be identified as major programs?
23. What is a DUNS number? (2004 version of the Form SF-SAC, Part I, Items 5d, 5e, and 5f)?
24. Does my organization have to report a DUNS number on the Form SF-SAC (Part I, Items 5d, 5e, and 5f)?
25. How do I get a DUNS number for my organization? (Part I, Items 5d, 5e, and 5f)?
26. The auditee may have more than one DUNS, which one should we report on the Form SF-SAC?
27. Is there a central database where the DUNS numbers are listed?
28. Both the DUNS and EIN numbers have hyphens, how will we enter those in our electronic filing?
1. Q-Where
can I find basic information about the Single Audit process?
A- For an overview of the Single Audit Process, please read the Grants Management Committee’s Single Audit Pamphlet “Highlights of the Single Audit Process” and the brochure “Single Audit Basics and Where to Get Help” at: (http://harvester.census.gov/fac/OMBrevisions.html).
2. Q-
Is my organization required to conduct a Single Audit?
A- According to Subpart B--Audits §___.200 (a) of the OMB Circular A-133 (http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/circulars/a133/a133.html ), “Non-Federal entities that expend $300,000 ($500,00 for fiscal years ending after December 31, 2003) or more in a year in Federal awards shall have a single or program-specific audit conducted for that year in accordance with the provisions of this part. Guidance on determining Federal awards expended is provided in §___.205.” Please see §___.205 for information regarding loans as expenditures. Questions of interpretation should be directed to the contact for your federal cognizant or oversight agency for audit. (See Questions 5 and 6.) Contacts are listed in Appendix III of the OMB Circular A-133 Compliance Supplement at: http://harvester.census.gov/fac/APPX3.htm.
3. Q-
Who do I contact if I have further questions?
A1- If you have basic questions regarding the submission or processing of your Single Audit package, contact the Federal Audit Clearinghouse at
(301) 763-1551
(800) 253-0696
or email: govs.fac@census.gov
A2- If you have questions about an error letter you received from the Federal Audit Clearinghouse, please call the Federal Audit Clearinghouse processing center at (888) 222-9907.
A3- If you have questions about the status of your submission, please check the status online at http://harvester.census.gov/fac/dissem/disclaim.html. (Click “Retrieve Records” below the disclaimer, click Option 1, “Status of Submissions” and search for your entity).
A4- If you have technical audit questions requiring interpretation of the OMB Circular A-133 as it applies to your circumstances, you must contact your Federal cognizant or oversight agency. Contact information is available in Appendix III of the OMB Circular A-133 Compliance Supplement at (http://harvester.census.gov/fac/APPX3.htm).
A5- If you have technical questions regarding program specific requirements, contact the Federal grantor agency. If the program is provided directly from the Federal program agency, the grant award document usually provides one or more points of contact. If the program is provided directly and the grant award document does not identify a contact person, refer to the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance for contact information. [The Catalog may be found at http://www.cfda.gov/]. If the award is received from a pass-through entity, contact the pass-through entity for questions concerning requirements or specific processes it imposes on its subrecipients.
4.
Q- How do I search the Federal Audit Clearinghouse database?
A- The Federal Audit Clearinghouse maintains a database of Single Audit
submissions going back to 1997. To query our online
database, go to our homepage (http://harvester.census.gov/fac).
There, click "Search The Single Audit Database". After reading the
disclaimer, click the "Retrieve Records" button. Read the
instructions. If you are doing research, we recommend that you click
"Advanced Entity Search" (Option 4) and enter criteria specific to
your request. Most of the search criteria relate to information on the form
SF-SAC, so you may wish to familiarize yourself with the Form SF-SAC and its
instructions first (http://harvester.census.gov/fac/collect/formoptions.html).
5. Q-
What is required to be submitted?
A- According to §___.320 of the OMB Circular A-133, (http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/circulars/a133/a133.html ), the following must be submitted:
§
A completed
Form SF-SAC as described in Section _.320 of OMB Circular A-133;
§
One complete copy of the Single Audit reporting package
as described in Section_.320 of OMB Circular 133 including:
§
Financial
Statement(s)
§
Schedule of
expenditures of Federal Awards
§
Summary
Schedule of Prior Audit Findings (see below).
§
Opinion on
Financial Statements
§
Report on
Internal Control
§
Report on Compliance
§
Schedule of
Findings and Questioned Costs
§
Corrective
Action Plan (if findings)
§
Opinion or
Disclaimer of Opinion on Schedule of Federal Awards
A- Choose your method of Form data entry at (http://harvester.census.gov/fac/collect/formoptions.html). The online data entry system (Option 1) is the preferred method of data entry. Finalized forms must be signed, dated and mailed (See Question 15 below). Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns about using the online data entry system.
7. Q-
Who should sign the form?
A- According to §___.320 (b) of the OMB Circular A-133, a senior level representative of the auditee and the auditor must sign the form. Signatures must be original (not photocopied) and dated.
8. Q-
When is the form and reporting package due?
A- The audit shall be completed and the data collection form and reporting package shall be submitted within the earlier of 30 days after receipt of the auditor's report(s), or nine months after the end of the audit period, unless a longer period is agreed to in advance by the cognizant or oversight agency for audit. See OMB Circular A-133 §___.320 (a), (http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/circulars/a133/a133.html ).
9. Q-
How do I request an extension on the due date?
A- Extensions may only be granted by the Auditee’s Federal oversight or cognizant agency. Federal agency contact information can be obtained from OMB Circular A-133 Compliance Supplement, Appendix III at http://harvester.census.gov/fac/APPX3.htm .
10. Q- Can
we send a photocopy of the Form SF-SAC?
A- The Form SF_SAC may be a photocopy, but the signatures and signature dates must be original, not photocopied.
11. Q- Can
I type the Form SF-SAC data into a Microsoft Word template?
A- At the direction of OMB, beginning with the 2004-2006 Data Collection form, we will only offer Data Collection form in two formats: via the Internet Data Entry System (IDES) and as an Adobe Acrobat (PDF) file.
12. Q- Where
do I send the Form SF-SAC and reporting package?
A- Send the signed and dated Form SF_SAC and the reporting package, together, to the following address:
Federal Audit Clearinghouse
1201 E. 10th Street
Jeffersonville, IN 47132
13. Q- How
many copies of the reporting package and form are required?
A- Because the Federal Audit Clearinghouse now distributes audit copies to Federal agencies electronically, only one copy of the audit report is now required. The worksheet at the bottom of page 2 of the Form SF-SAC will no longer determine the number of copies of the reporting package required. Only one copy of the signed and dated Form SF-SAC is required.
14.
Q- How do I check the status of our submission?
A- Go to our homepage (http://harvester.census.gov/fac).
There, click "Access Single Audit Data". After reading the
disclaimer, click the "Search the Single Audit Database" link. Read
the instructions. To check the status of your submission, click “Entity Search”
(Option 1) under “Status of Submissions” and enter the EIN or a unique portion
of the auditee’s name.
15. Q-
How do I make a change to the Audit or Form after it is submitted?
There are different procedures for different situations:
A1- If you are revising a Form SF-SAC in response to an error letter from the FAC, please follow the instructions in the letter.
A2- If you are revising the Form (or audit) because you found errors, follow the instructions for “Paper Submission” revision (http://harvester.census.gov/fac/collect/revisions_Main.html).
A3- If you entered the form data online and clicked “Finish”, but have not mailed the final version of the form, then the form is not actually submitted. Call the Federal Audit Clearinghouse (800-253-0696) and request an “unlock”. If the printed form was already mailed, please follow the “paper form” revision instructions above.
16. Q- Why did
the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Federal Audit Clearinghouse
(FAC) remove the Form SF-SAC for audits with 1997-2001 fiscal year end dates?
A- The volume of receipts for audits with fiscal year end dates 1997-2001 is less than 40 submissions per year; therefore, the electronic processing system was shut down. Audit reports are still required to be submitted to the FAC for distribution to the Federal cognizant or oversight agency and a copy will be added to the FAC single audit archive.
17. Q- Which
Form SF-SAC version do I use for my 2007 audit?
A- Use the 2004 Form SF-SAC for 2007 audits. The Form SF-SAC approved for audits with fiscal period end dates in 2004, 2005, and 2006, was extended to apply to audits with fiscal period end dates in 2007 (Federal Register, June 26, 2007).
18. Q- How
do I determine if my organization has a cognizant agency or an oversight
agency?
A- According to Subpart D- §___.400 of the OMB Circular A-133 (http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/circulars/a133/a133.html ), if the amount of Federal Awards expended is more than $25 million ($50 million for fiscal years ending after December 31, 2003) a year and includes direct awards, your organization will have a cognizant agency. If the amount of Federal awards expended is $25 million ($50 million for fiscal years ending after December 31, 2003) or less, or includes no direct awards, your organization will have an oversight agency.
19. Q- How
do I determine the Federal cognizant agency?
A- Cognizant (COG) agencies are determined by the Federal Audit Clearinghouse. A listing of current cognizant agency assignments is in the “Cog List Report” available in Specialized Reports (http://harvester.census.gov/sac/dissem/reports.html). The following Cognizant Reference Chart shows the Federal award expenditure threshold for Cognizance each audit year and the audit year used for Cognizant agency determination.
20. Q- How
do I determine the Federal oversight agency?
A- The oversight agency is the Federal agency that awarded the greatest amount of direct awards expended. If no direct awards were expended, the Federal agency that awarded the greatest amount of indirect awards expended is assigned oversight responsibility. Oversight agencies are identified by the Federal Audit Clearinghouse in the online database based on the expenditures reported in the year of the audit.
The Federal
oversight (or cognizant) status and Federal agency for an audit is listed at
the bottom of page two of completed Form SF-SAC data for that audit. Completed
Form SF-SAC data for any completed audit can be found by searching the Single
Audit database (see FAQ #4, above).
21. Q- If
there are no Prior Audit Findings, is a schedule still required?
A- If there are no prior audit findings, the Summary Schedule of Prior Audit Findings is not required. However, we request that you include a separate statement that there are no prior audit findings. In addition, Form SF-SAC Part III, Item 7 “Were Prior Audit Findings related to direct funding shown in the Summary Schedule of Prior Audit Findings?” should be answered ‘No’ if there were no prior audit findings or if the prior findings were related only to pass-through programs.
22. Q- Which
programs should be identified as major programs?
A- Auditors should take care to ensure that programs indicated as major agree with the programs identified as Major in the summary of auditor’s results and actually tested as Major by the auditor.
The June 2007 PCIE Report on the National Single
Audit Sampling Project (http://fmcenter.aicpa.org/Community/Report+on+National+Single+Audit+Sampling+Project.htm
)
found the auditors were misreporting coverage of major programs. Specifically
instances were found where one or more major programs were incorrectly
identified as having been audited as a major program when they were not
audited. This is a very consequential error because report users rely on
correct identification of major programs as part of Federal program monitoring.
23. Q- What is
a DUNS number (2004 version of the Form SF-SAC, Part I, Items 5d, 5e, and 5f)?
A- The Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number is a unique nine digit identification number provided by the commercial company Dun & Bradstreet (D&B). A DUNS number is required on all applications for direct Federal awards. Additional information is available at http://www.grants.gov/RequestaDUNS .
24. Q- Does my
organization have to report a DUNS number on the Form SF-SAC (Part I,
Items 5d, 5e, and 5f)?
A- Beginning with fiscal periods ending in 2004, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) requests, but does not require the reporting of DUNS number(s) on all Form SF-SAC submissions. Because a DUNS number is unique for each location, do not use another organization’s DUNS number.
25. Q- How do I
get a DUNS number for my organization (Part I, Items 5d, 5e, and 5f)?
A- Your
organization must have a DUNS number at the time it applies to the Federal
government for Federal awards. A DUNS number is required under OMB policy as
part of the application process. If your organization does not have a DUNS
number, call Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) at 866-705-5711. The process to
request a DUNS number assignment takes about 10 minutes and is free of charge.
You may also request a DUNS number assignment at the D&B company website: (http://fedgov.dnb.com/webform/displayHomePage.do
).
If you already have a DUNS number, the D&B representative will advise you over the phone. As a result of obtaining a DUNS number you might be included on D&B's marketing list that is sold to other companies. If you do not want your name/company included on this marketing list D&B has asked that you contact them anytime, at the same numbers noted above, to request your name/company be removed from the marketing list.
26. Q- The
auditee may have more than one DUNS, which one should we report on the Form
SF-SAC?
A- If you report a DUNS number, the primary DUNS reported in Part I, Item 5d should be the DUNS number used on the on the application for the Federal award(s). If another organization served as the financial administrator of the Federal awards expended by the auditee, that organization’s DUNS number is requested and should be listed on Part I Item 5f on the Page 4 continuation sheet. The auditor should note there is currently no consequence for listing a DUNS number as the primary number (in Part I, Item 5d) when it is not actually the primary number.
27. Q- Is there
a central database where the DUNS numbers are listed?
A- Only
Dun & Bradstreet has a complete DUNS listing. Please contact Dun &
Bradstreet for information or check for your entity’s individual DUNS number at
(http://ccr.dnb.com/ccr/pages/CCRSearch.jsp
).
The Federal Audit Clearinghouse will display reported DUNS numbers on its
online database of completed Single Audit submissions.
28. Q- Both the
DUNS and EIN numbers have hyphens, how will we enter those in our electronic
filing?
A- When either entering or uploading the DUNS number in the Internet Data Entry System, enter only the numbers. Do not include hyphens (dashes). Note also that DUNS reporting is not requested until the 2004 audit year.
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Contact
the Federal Audit Clearinghouse at 1-800-253-0696 or govs.fac@census.gov.