Audit Requirements for Sponsored Project/Grants

Non-Federal entities that expend $500,000 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 the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-133, Audits of States, Local Governments, and Non-Profit Organizations.  This Circular was implemented from the Single Audit Act and Amendments and establishes uniform audit requirements for non-federal entities such as Institutions of Higher Education. 

Federal award means Federal financial assistance and Federal cost-reimbursement contracts that non-Federal entities receive directly from Federal awarding agencies or indirectly from pass-through entities.  Federal award includes federal financial assistance defined as grants, loans, loan guarantees, food commodities and other assistance. 

The Office Sponsored Projects Accounting (SPA) and the Office of Treasury oversee the conduct of the A-133 Audit.  Because this Federal Audit has many compliance components, SPA will call upon the Colleges to assist in providing documentation and compliance operations of the Audit.

Periodically, a College will receive notification of a Sponsor wanting to perform a project specific monitoring or site visit.  The College should notify Sponsored Projects Accounting (SPA) immediately after receiving any verbal or written communication from the funding agency regarding a site visit or audit.  SPA will assist with the financial requirements.

Each fiscal year, KCTCS is required to have an independent audit of their financial records.  This will include all financial transactions on sponsored projects, so it is recommended that all KCTCS policy and procedures be followed and account records maintained with the highest degree of audit awareness. 

Audit findings can result in cost disallowances and require the institution to make repayments to the funding agency.  Severe audit findings could result in penalties and loss of future awards to the institution by funding agencies.  The most common audit findings include:  (1) lack of time records to support salary costs charged to sponsored projects, (2) lack of documentation to support the reasonableness of expenses, (3) amounts expended in unapproved or other cost categories without required prior written approval from the funding agency, and (4) adequate supporting documentation not provided for cost sharing/match claimed.