10/01/08 SINGLE AUDIT DATABASE Since 1997 Record Count (main table): 393,744 What is Single Audit? Office of Management and Budget Circular A-133 requires non-federal entities that expend $300,000 or more a year in federal awards to have an audit conducted. The circular lays out the rules and requires auditees to submit a Form SF-SAC, along with specified reports, to the Federal Audit Clearinghouse, which is part of the U.S. Census Bureau. Auditees are also required to send a copy of the report package to any pass-through entity from which they receive federal funds. For more details, go to http://harvester.census.gov/sac. The clearinghouse telephone number: 1-800-253-1696. Unlike other databases -- Consolidated Federal Funds Report (CFFR) or Federal Assistance Award Data System (FAADS) -- the Single Audit database looks at spending, not receiving, federal assistance. For example, if a state agency receives a grant from the Department of Health and Human Services, that grant, by specific program, is reflected in the CFFR and FAADS databases, covering a specific federal fiscal year. The Single Audit database, though, reflects how much money the agency expends from specific federal programs in a specific audited year. Those years may or may not coincide with federal fiscal years. Another difference is that while FAADS records only the direct recipient and CFFR records from the geographic area where the money is committed, the Single Audit data includes audits of the sub-recipients of federal assistance. Continuing the example of the state agency receiving a grant from HHS, if that money is distributed to local agencies or nonprofit organizations, then those entities -- those expending $300,000 or more -- are included in the Single Audit data. The advantage is that a reporter can identify sub-recipients of federal assistance that are not listed in FAADS, allowing more detailed reporting. There is a caveat: Since both recipient and sub-recipient might be listed, you can't simply add the dollar amounts together and arrive at total spending -- some of those dollars would be double-counted. It wasn't until audit year 2001 that the amounts are designated as direct award (see record layout, layout.txt). The Single Audit data has some nice consistency features. For example, it includes the EIN (Employer Identification Number) of each auditee. While the entity might change the way it reports its name -- one year, it might be Jones Co.; the next, Jones Inc. -- the EIN should be consistent. However, as the clearinghouse points out, EINs are not necessarily unique. For example, more than one entity, especially state agencies, use the same EINs. More about unique identifiers later. Aside from consistency, the EINs are especially helpful in investigating nonprofit organizations. For example, one could join using the EIN number with another NICAR database, the IRS Tax Exempt Organization file, providing some additional information. Also using the EIN, a quick visit to the Web site www.guidestar.org search page can result in quick downloads of 990 IRS filings. The Federal Audit Clearinghouse did create a unique identifier by auditee, called DBKEY. The agency did note that the DBKEY does repeat for different audit years (in other words, the auditee has the same DBKEY each audit year.) To make a unique identifier, NICAR combined the AUDITYEAR and DBKEY fields to create a field called ID. This field allows you to join with the tables, also using ID fields. Here's an inventory of the files on these CDs (or from your download): DATA TABLES GENERAL.DBF -- Contains the general information of each audit report AGENCY.DBF -- Contains reporting agencies information of each audit report EINS.DBF -- Contains EIN information of each audit report, since 2000, in which the auditee reports multiple CFDA.DBF -- Contains federal assistance program information of each audit report (on separate CD) DUNS.DBF -- Contains DUNS information of each audit report, since 2004, in which the auditee reports multiple LOOKUP TABLE ENTTYPE.DBF -- Decodes the field TYPEOFENTI in the table GENERAL.DBF, a basic description of the auditee DOCUMENTS LAYOUTS.TXT -- A record layout of each data table, including field name, type and width, plus explanation and/or reference to the SF-SAC form KEY.XLS -- From the Federal Audit Clearinghouse, notes on some coded fields and differences between the previous and current SF-SAC forms. Agency.XLS -- A list of federal agencies referred to in the forms. ABOUT_06.TXT -- An explanation from the Federal Audit Clearinghouse (same as year before) ABOUT_05.TXT -- An explanation from the Federal Audit Clearinghouse ABOUT_04.TXT -- An explanation from the Federal Audit Clearinghouse from 2003. A133_97.TXT -- Office of Management and Budget (OMB) circular governing audits of states, local governments and non-profit organizations. This version was revised in 1997. A133_04.ZIP -- The complete OMB Circular A-133 Compliance Supplement, revised March 2004 These documents are also online at http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/circulars/a133_compliance/04/04toc.html A13306.ZIP -- The complete OMB Circular A-133 Compliance Supplement, revised March 2006. These documents are also online at http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/circulars/a133_compliance/06/06toc.html SFSAC.PDF -- The form used prior to 2001 SFSAC_01.PDF -- The form used 2001 through 2003 SFSAC_04.PDF -- The form used in 2004 to 2006 INSTRUCT_04 -- Instructions for filers in 2004, 2005, 2006 INSTRUCT_97.pdf -- Instructions for filers prior to 2001 INPUT_03.PDF -- Instructions for filers 2001 t0 2003 INPUT06.PDF -- Instructions for filers 2004 to 2006 SEARCH_04.PDF -- Instructions on searching the Federal Audit Clearinghouse data online SEARCH_05.PDF -- Instructions on searching the Federal Audit Clearinghouse data online SEARCH_06.PDF -- Instructions on searching the Federal Audit Clearinghouse data online Entity.DOC -- Instructions on searching the database using the FAC-determined "Type of Entity" code Spread -- Instructions for filers to put information on a spreadsheet. FAQ2004.HTM -- Frequently asked questions re: the Form SF-SAC for Fiscal Periods Ending on or after January 1, 2004 BROCHURE.PDF -- Brochure giving general information about the audit process. Designed for federal grnat recipients. PAMPHLET.PDF -- 19-page document giving more detailed information about the single audit process, history, intention, etc. CHANGES.PDF -- Summarized changes in Form SF-SAC for 2004.