FAC Emphasizes Use of UEIs in Audit Submissions; Extensions Offered
On the heels of last week’s blog post discussing the submission of audits and the Federal Audit Clearinghouse (FAC), we now have more information to add to help keep auditees and auditors up to speed.
The FAC is now accepting audit report submissions with fiscal periods ending in 2022. As we noted last week, the FAC will transition from the Census Bureau to the General Services Administration (GSA) on Oct. 1, 2023, at which time, all submissions will need to be submitted to the new FAC hosted by GSA. Any submissions not submitted to the Census by Oct. 1, 2023, may need to be started over at the new GSA FAC. GSA has not stated whether its new clearinghouse will have a different URL address.
Importantly, beginning with 2022 submissions, the FAC is collecting entities’ unique entity identifier (UEI), in line g of the audit form. It also is maintaining the DUNS number in line d of the SF-SAC. Auditees are requested, but are not required, to report their DUNS number. If they have no DUNS number, the FAC states to leave this item blank. On April 4, the federal government began using the UEI, which is designated when an entity registers with SAM.gov, as the primary identifying number for entities doing business with the federal government.
Another change to the 2022 submissions pertains to the use of an alternative compliance examination engagement for certain eligible recipients of the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund program in lieu of a full single audit or program-specific audit. Therefore, the SF-SAC has been revised to add a new screening question during report setup. Entities that qualify and opt for the alternative engagement will then receive a subset of questions included in Form SF-SAC. The Internet Data Entry System (IDES) Manual provides more information about entering data related to the alternative engagement.
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) also recently advised that due to the disruptions created by various natural disasters, it is granting a six-month extension for all single audits that cover recipients in major disaster areas in Alaska, Florida, South Carolina and North Carolina and have due dates between Sept. 23 and Dec. 31. OMB also had previously announced that when Puerto Rico was declared a major disaster area on Sept. 18 due to Hurricane Fiona, it would provide a six-month extension for all single audits that cover recipients in Puerto Rico and have due dates between Sept. 18 and Dec. 31. We will continue to watch to see if OMB offers more extensions should any other natural disasters occur later this year.
Make sure to be aware of all updates that affect your audits going forward.
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