Single Audit Services Under Uniform Guidance

Organizations that expend $1,000,000 or more in federal awards in a fiscal year — direct federal funding and federal dollars passed through the State of Illinois or other entities, combined — are required to obtain a Single Audit under 2 CFR 200, Subpart F. A Single Audit is a financial statement audit performed under Government Auditing Standards plus detailed compliance testing of your major federal programs. We perform Single Audits for nonprofits, Federally Qualified Health Centers and Community Health Centers, and other grant-funded organizations across Illinois.

The threshold — and what changed

The Single Audit threshold is $1,000,000 for fiscal years beginning on or after October 1, 2024, up from $750,000. For a June 30 year end, the new threshold first applies to the year ending June 30, 2026. For organizations near the line, the change cuts two ways: some fall below the threshold entirely and no longer require a Single Audit, while for others it reclassifies individual programs from Type A to Type B, changing how often those programs are tested as major programs.

One caution for Illinois grantees: dropping below the Single Audit threshold doesn’t mean dropping out of audit requirements. If your State-issued award expenditures are still $500,000 or more, GATA still requires a financial statement audit — performed under Yellow Book standards once they reach $750,000. Not sure which audits apply to your funding mix? Start with our compliance audit decision guide.

Major programs — the annual surprise

Two misunderstandings cause most major-program trouble. First, organizations often assume the same programs get audited year after year. In reality, major program determination is performed fresh every audit period — a program tested last year isn’t guaranteed to be tested this year, and one never tested before may suddenly be selected. Second, compliance requirements are program-specific. A typical example: an organization runs one federal program smoothly for years, then receives funding under a new program with substantially different compliance requirements — and keeps applying the compliance procedures built for the old one. The result is compliance findings, internal control over compliance findings, or both.

The finding we see most often

It isn’t a missing control — it’s missing evidence. An executive director or CFO reviews and approves invoices before payment, but the approval is verbal. Nothing in the file shows it happened, and an approval that isn’t documented can’t be relied on in an audit. The review was real; the finding is real too. The fix is a documentation habit — a signoff, an initial, a dated approval in the accounting system — not a reorganization.

The SEFA — two errors we correct constantly

The Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards drives the entire Single Audit, and two errors dominate. The first is including program advances that haven’t been expended — usually because advances were categorized as revenue and the SEFA was built from program revenue. The SEFA is an expenditure report; only amounts actually expended belong on it. The second is excluding federal pass-through programs: an organization receives funding from the state or a city, assumes it’s state or local money, and leaves it off — when cities and states very commonly pass federal funds through to organizations alongside their own.

What our Single Audit engagements include

SEFA support and reconciliation, major program determination, internal control and compliance testing of major programs, the Yellow Book reports, CYEFR guidance for Illinois grantees, and preparation of the data collection form with coordination of the Federal Audit Clearinghouse submission — due by the earlier of 30 days after you receive the auditor’s report or nine months after fiscal year end. Before fieldwork you receive a complete request list, a timeline, and a responsibility map, with weekly status updates through delivery.