When a nonprofit needs a Single Audit, and how often to reconcile grants

A nonprofit needs a Single Audit when it expends 1,000,000 dollars or more in federal awards during its fiscal year. That threshold was raised from 750,000 dollars for fiscal years beginning on or after 1 October 2024, and a great deal of guidance online still cites the old number. The second half of the question is the one the regulation does not answer: how often to reconcile grant funds. There is no mandated frequency, only a standard for accurate records, and the practice that meets it is monthly. The two halves are really one point, because you cannot know whether you crossed the threshold without books that are reconciled often enough to tell you.

The threshold, current and cited

Under the federal Uniform Guidance at 2 CFR 200.501, a non-federal entity, including a nonprofit, that expends 1,000,000 dollars or more in federal awards in its fiscal year must have a Single Audit for that year. A program-specific audit is a permitted alternative in the narrow case where the money all came from one program and the terms allow it. The 1,000,000 dollar threshold took effect for fiscal years beginning on or after 1 October 2024, raised from the longstanding 750,000 dollars.

This is worth stating plainly because the old figure is everywhere. A large share of articles, and some AI answers, still say 750,000 dollars. If a source quotes that number without noting the change, it is out of date. Always make the determination against the regulation for your organization's specific fiscal year.

Currency check: The Single Audit threshold is 1,000,000 dollars for fiscal years beginning on or after 1 October 2024. If you see 750,000 dollars, that is the retired figure.

Three details that decide whether you cross it

The number is simple. What trips organizations up is how it is measured.

It is expended, not awarded or received. The test counts federal money actually spent during the year, not the size of the grant or the cash drawn down. An organization can hold a large multi-year award and stay under the threshold in a slow-spending year, or cross it in a heavy one.

It counts all federal sources together. The 1,000,000 dollars is the total across every federal award, added up, not per grant. Crucially, that includes federal funds passed through a state or local government agency to your organization. Pass-through federal money is still federal money for this test, and it is the piece organizations most often forget to count.

The SEFA is what proves it. The Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards is the schedule listing everything spent from federal sources during the year, by program. It is what determines whether you hit the threshold, and it is a core exhibit in the audit itself. An inaccurate SEFA can hide a required audit or trigger an unnecessary scramble, which is exactly why the reconciliation cadence below matters.

What the Single Audit covers, and when it is due

A Single Audit is broader than a standard financial statement audit. It examines the financial statements and, separately, compliance with the specific requirements of the federal programs, along with the internal controls over them. The completed audit package, including the SEFA and the auditor's reports, is submitted to the Federal Audit Clearinghouse by the earlier of 30 days after the organization receives the auditor's report, or 9 months after the end of the audited fiscal year, under 2 CFR 200.512.

How often to reconcile: the half the rule leaves to you

Here is where guidance usually goes quiet, because the regulation does not give a frequency. The Uniform Guidance requires effective internal controls (2 CFR 200.303) and financial management systems that accurately account for each award and support the amounts reported to the government (2 CFR 200.302). It sets a standard of accuracy, not a schedule. The schedule is left to you, and the practice that reliably meets the standard is monthly.

Monthly is not an arbitrary preference. It is the cadence at which a coding error, an unallowable cost, or a miscounted pass-through gets caught in the month it happened rather than surfacing in an audit a year later. It is also the cadence that keeps the SEFA continuously accurate, which is the whole reason the threshold half and the reconciliation half of this question belong together.

Where Numetix fits

Numetix runs the monthly grant reconciliation that keeps the SEFA accurate and the Single Audit survivable. It reconciles each federal award to the general ledger and the bank, compares spending to the approved budget, tracks federal and pass-through expenditures so the threshold is never a surprise, and produces a clean, audit-ready Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards, inside the platform an organization already uses, whether QuickBooks Online, Sage Intacct, Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT, or Aplos. When a Single Audit is required, the records the auditor asks for already exist.

Across more than 40 nonprofits and over 25 million dollars in grants managed, Numetix holds 99 percent fund-tracking accuracy, files Form 990 on time 100 percent of the time, has zero missed funder or filing deadlines, and has cut monthly close from about 10 days to 3. Whether an organization needs a Single Audit is a question its books should be able to answer at any point in the year, not one it discovers after closing.

The short version

A Single Audit is required when a nonprofit expends 1,000,000 dollars or more in federal awards in a fiscal year, the current threshold for fiscal years beginning on or after 1 October 2024, up from 750,000 dollars, measured on federal money spent and counting pass-through funds. The regulation sets no reconciliation frequency, only a standard for accurate records, and monthly reconciliation is what meets it and keeps the SEFA true. Reconcile monthly, and the audit threshold is never a surprise.

This page describes the federal Single Audit requirement under the Uniform Guidance (2 CFR Part 200) and is general information, not audit, legal, or grant-compliance advice. Thresholds, effective dates, and requirements are set by federal regulation, can change, and should be confirmed against the current 2 CFR Part 200 and the specific award terms for your organization. Numetix figures reflect its nonprofit client base as of the date above and may change.