On April 4, 2024, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released the 2024 Uniform Grant Guidance (2024 guidance). The revisions outlined in the 2024 guidance are effective on or after October 1, 2024, however agencies may elect to apply the 2024 revisions prior to October 1, 2024, but are not required to do so.
The 2024 guidance includes numerous updates which should be reviewed in detail by each organization receiving Federal assistance. However, this summary is meant to highlight a few updates that we feel are most applicable and relevant to the administration of Uniform Grant Guidance.
The Uniform Grant Guidance increases the single audit threshold from $750,000 to $1,000,000. Perhaps the most notable change in the 2024 guidance, this change could impact an organizations’ requirement to submit a Single Audit. Since 2013, the threshold for a Single Audit was $750,000 where it remained until this year, in which the threshold was updated to $1,000,000. If your organization was close to the threshold of $750,000 in years past, the need for a Single Audit should be reevaluated if Federal grant assistance remained under $1,000,000. This could provide cost savings for organizations, which was cited as one of the goals of these 2024 updates. The amount of fixed amount subawards was also increased from $250,000 to $500,000 for the amount of subawards a recipient may provide with prior written approval from the Federal agency. Check the 2024 OMB Compliance Supplement when it is released but this change is most likely not to take effect for audits of periods beginning on or after October 1, 2024.
Equipment and Unused Supplies limit increases from $5,000 to $10,000. The value of equipment or unused supplies that an organization can either retain, sell or otherwise dispose of at the end of a grant award period has increased up to $10,000.
The De Minimus indirect cost rate has increased from 10% to 15%. In an effort to recognize the recipient cost of doing business, there were changes to the maximum rate that recipients of Federal funds may use for indirect costs. The amount of subawards that a recipient may apply to their indirect rate also doubled, increasing from $25,000 to $50,000.
Simplify language and program requirements. The 2024 guidance “make it clear that agencies should make their grant announcements as clear and concise as possible by limiting the length and complexity of the grant announcement by only including necessary information. Agencies should use plain language that is accessible to eligible applicants with a special focus on reaching underserved communities.”
Many of the revisions outlined in the current year are designed to provide clearer, and more precise guidance to both agencies and organizations. And many of the limit changes previously mentioned are specifically aimed towards burden reduction for the organizations and agencies that adhere to Uniform Grant Guidance.
The OMB’s announcement of the release of the 2024 Uniform Grant Guidance, as well as other resources such as a redline document showing the 2024 revisions, an accompanying implementation memorandum, as well as reference guides are listed on the CFO website. We will continue to assess and track the developments related to the 2024 guidance.
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