Posts Tagged ‘Single Audit’
After a Year, GAO Sees Improvement in Recovery Act Accountability, But Still Room for Improvement
Now that the Recovery Act is one year old, the Government Accountability Office is taking a look back — and a look forward — at how state and local agencies have used the money they received, and the efforts being made to improve accountability for those awards.
Most of the nearly 200-page report deals with specific programs and agencies, including Medicaid, Transportation, and Education, but GAO also addresses issues relating to recipient reporting, and a significant amount of attention to the OMB A-133 single audit process.
GAO seems generally pleased with OMB’s efforts to use single audits, although the office continues to urge OMB — and Congress — to amend the single audit process so that it can be more efficient and timely. And GAO has several agency-specific recommendations, such as encouraging the Education Department to work with OMB on a formula for determining FTE jobs during the summer months.
One new recommendation that should be of interest to most recipients is that OMB develop a “formal and feasible” framework for review of recipient reporting changes during the continual update period and consider providing more time for agencies to review and provide feedback to recipients before posting updated reports on Recovery.gov.
You can read the full GAO report here.
Some Notes About the New Reporting Guidance
Tucked inside OMB’s latest guidance on Recovery Act reporting are several items of interest that I wanted to point out.
First, there should be an addendum to the 2009 Circular A-133 Compliance Supplement coming out very soon. OMB provided a list of all Recovery Act guidance, including an “Addendum to the Single Audit Compliance Supplement – American Recovery and Reinvestment Act” that should be out by June 30. I haven’t seen it yet, but will let everyone know when it appears.
OMB’s new guidance also said it reviewed the Obama Administration’s new policy on communications with lobbyists regarding Recovery Act funds and is preparing to issue revised guidance. Although there is no official word on what the revisions will be, in In a blog post on May 29, Norm Eisen, Counsel to the President for Ethics and Government Reform, said the ban on oral communications will be expanded to include not only federally registered lobbyists, but other individuals who have already submitted applications for Recovery Act funds. It’s not quite clear what exactly this means or what impact it will have on applicants, but Management Concepts will be analyzing this when it happens.
Finally, under the new reporting guidance, there is no “global requirement” for reporting data for the period ending June 30 but the information must still be collected. This will give federal agencies, OMB, and recipients a chance to clarify logistics and correct problems before the October reporting period. OMB and the Recovery Act Board say they will host forums, meetings, and pilots relating to Recovery Act reporting in July. At the Association of Government Accountants conference in New Orleans last week, my colleague heard that OMB would be presenting a series of training webinars on each “topic” in the Reporting guidance.
As always, our Federal Grants Update course will give you more detail on the ever-changing Recovery Act guidance, as well as other developments in the grants management field.
Be On the Lookout for A-133 Changes
According to a new report from the Government Accountability Office, there could be significant changes to the federal government’s single audit process in 2009.
At the request of members of Congress, GAO took a look at how the OMB Circular A-133 single audit process could be revised to improve federal oversight and accountability of grant funds. The current process, GAO reported, offers no way to ensure how or even if federal agencies implement single audit requirements. Further there are variations among federal agencies as to how they carry out their oversight responsibilities, such as quality control reviews.
GAO went on to describe current efforts to improve the audit process. OMB anticipates that revisions to Circular A-133 and the checklist for performing quality control reviews will be completed in the fall of 2009. Also, the AICPA plans to finalize applicable auditing standards and the AICPA Audit Guide, and to develop illustrative practice aids in 2009, GAO reported.
GAO’s report is available here.
For those interested in A-133, Management Concepts offers a two-day course, Audit of Federal Grants and Cooperative Agreements. For information about this training, click here.