GAO has issued its 2022-2027 Strategic Plan. It includes the identification of 12 trends impacting the United States as well as 4 key efforts which are near-term priorities to provide the Congress with timely and fact-based analysis of the most important issues facing the nation.
OMB has issued its 2022 Compliance Supplement. While originally promised in April of 2022, OMB issued it on May 12 which is much better than the previous years that were issued in August. The Compliance Supplement includes new ARPA programs that were not addressed in the 2021 Supplement so this can be very helpful to auditors wrapping up some outstanding 2021 audits. The Supplement should be used for 6/30/22 year ends and beyond.
OMB has updated the 2021 Compliance Supplement for two programs – Provider Relief Funds and Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds. DHHS can remove the special test & provisions requirements for Provider Relief Funds (93.498) which related to out of network patient expenses. In order to reduce burden on smaller entities, the Treasury is now offering an alternative examination engagement in lieu of requiring a Program Specific Audit or Single Audit for entities that would not have required this level of audit had it not been for the receipt of CSLFRF funds (21.027). Treasury estimates 10,000 entities will be able to forego a Single Audit in lieu of this new compliance examination which has been added to Appendix VII thereby still maintaining accountability but reducing costs and complexity.
While much of the focus of the implementation of SAS 134-140 have been on the financial statement report and the Single Audit report, it is important to note that when the AICPA issued updated examples in their A&A guide, it included changes to the Yellow Book report as well. We’ll review some of the biggest changes to make sure these minor edits are included when issuing GAGAS reports.
The AICPA has issued a Technical Q&A to address questions surrounding reporting on the SEFA when the amount reported does not tie back to the financial statements due to DHHS’s requirement to report based on the reporting to the Portal. The TQA provides guidance on the application of AU-C 725 to this scenario.
This week’s GLS blog addresses the final standards that were issued by the AICPA, FASB and GASB in the third quarter of 2021. While it was a light quarter from a standard setting perspective, some of the issued standards address implementation issues which are always helpful. As we expect some big standards to issue in Q4, a light quarter is likely a good thing as all standard setters have big projects on their plate as well!