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Department of Education issues reminders and updates for single audit requirement
April 05, 2018
The word, audit, is enough to strike fear even in the bravest of hearts.
For financial aid professionals, audits are part of the business, and, probably for most, it is a justification that they are following all procedures and requirements properly.
It is not easy to forget about that annual audit, but the details can get complicated. Fortunately, the Department of Education (ED) issued a March 29, 2018 Electronic Announcement providing instructions and reminders and updates about the single audit regulations in the Title IV student aid programs.
In the announcement, the ED updated the following notification requirement:
Public and non-profit entities with institutions participating in the Title IV programs that submit a Single Audit that does not include the Student Financial Assistance Cluster as a major program will no longer be required to notify their respective School Participation Division of the low-risk assessments.
However, ED reminded schools that the single audit must be submitted each year, regardless of whether the Student Financial Assistance Cluster was audited:
Institutions must still submit (via the Department's eZ-Audit system) their complete Single Audit each year by the due date regardless of whether the Student Financial Assistance Cluster was audited as a major program.
In addition, it was reported in the announcement that the impact on year three testing requirements (after two years of low risk assessments) for fiscal year 2019 audits and beyond is still under review.
The Department of Education provided the following contact for questions about the audit requirements: Patrice Fleming, Performance Improvement and Procedures Service Group at (202) 377-4209 or via email at Patrice.Fleming@ed.gov.