All nonprofit organizations that expend $750,000 and more are required to have a single audit under the Uniform Guidance
One of the required statements included as part of a single audit is the Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards (SEFA).
The SEFA is a required as part of the supplemental data presented with the A-133 single audit. The Organization is better suited to prepare the SEFA but often rely on the nonprofit auditor. Management has an in depth understanding of the accounting system and grant awards allowing the identification of federal awards and related items.
Information required to prepare the SEFA comes from the accounting software system and the original grant document or notice of award. Information reported on the SEFA is made up of the CFDA (Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance) number, the amount of federal awards expended for each CFDA number for the period under audit, and the name of the federal program and federal agency. Any pass-through awards received from a sub-recipient is also included with the name of the granting agency and the name of the awarding agency. Any identifying number assigned by the awarding agency should also be included. See an example of a completed SEFA here.
A well designed accounting system with a structured chart of accounts is the starting point. If the chart of accounts is not properly designed and successfully used to track grant expenditures for each grant, report preparation can become overwhelming and lead to inaccuracies in reporting.
Management is responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and supplementary statements that accompany the financial statements as part of the audit. The auditor is responsible to provide an opinion on whether the financial statements and supplementary data is fairly presented in all material respects.