GAO Recommends Earlier Release Of A-133 Compliance Supplement

Washington, June 1 – It is now June and the Office of Management and Budget has yet to issue its annual Circular A-133 Compliance Supplement. And auditors, especially those auditing American Recovery and Reinvestment Act programs, have been clamoring for this guidance earlier, according to the Government Accountability Office.

In its bimonthly review of states’ oversight of Recovery Act programs, GAO recommended that the OMB issue single audit guidance in a timely manner so that auditors can efficiently plan their audit work. The 2009 Circular A-133 Compliance Supplement was issued in May 2009, with an addendum issued in August 2009, after the single audits for entities with a June 30, 2009, fiscal year-end were already under way. Many auditors told the GAO that they needed the Compliance Supplement in February, or at least by April.