Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards

SEFA Audit

The SEFA is the document your whole Single Audit is built on. Get it right and the audit runs smoothly. Get it wrong and you invite re-work, re-selected programs, and a longer, costlier engagement.

Get help with your SEFA

Auditee responsibility (2 CFR 200.510)

Reconciled to your GL

CPA-led review

Short Answer

The SEFA — Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards — is the schedule your organization prepares listing every federal dollar it spent in the year. The auditor reports on it as part of your Single Audit.
It is your responsibility, not the auditor's. 2 CFR 200.510(b) requires the auditee to prepare it.
The total on it decides whether you need a Single Audit at all and which programs get tested as major, so an error in the SEFA reaches the whole audit.

When people say "SEFA audit," they usually mean the role the SEFA plays inside a Single Audit. The schedule itself is not a separate audit; it is the document the rest of the Single Audit is built on, and the auditor reports on it in relation to your financial statements.

The total expended on the SEFA is the number that decides whether you cross the $1,000,000 audit threshold, and the basis the auditor uses to sort your programs into Type A and Type B and choose which ones get tested as major. That is why an inaccurate SEFA is expensive. If it is wrong, major programs can be mis-selected, the audit may have to be re-done in part, and findings or a restatement can follow.

How We Help With Your SEFA

We build a complete SEFA from your grant list and general ledger, or review the one you have. Independence rules mean we can review and reconcile, but ownership stays with management. What we check:

Reconciles to Your GL

Every number on the schedule ties back to the general ledger. A SEFA that doesn't reconcile is the first thing fieldwork will flag.

Right Assistance Listing Numbers

Every program tagged with the current Assistance Listing number (formerly CFDA). No retired or wrong codes — one of the easiest ways to invite a finding.

Subrecipient Totals Captured

Every pass-through amount accounted for. 2 CFR 200.510(b) specifically requires the total passed to subrecipients for each program — easy to overlook.

Ties to the Audit

Lines up with the rest of the Single Audit — Type A/B sort, major program selection, notes on indirect cost rate elections — so nothing surprises you at fieldwork.

How We Run a SEFA Review

Inventory the funding

We list every federal program you ran in the year — direct awards from federal agencies AND pass-through awards from states or other nonprofits. Pass-through is the most-missed category.

Build or reconcile the schedule

Either from your grant list and general ledger, or against the draft you already have. Every program tagged with the right Assistance Listing number, every subrecipient amount captured, every non-cash award (commodities, vaccines, equipment) included.

Tie it to the audit

Schedule reconciles to GL, lines up with how the auditor will sort Type A/B programs, and includes the required notes (accounting policies, de minimis indirect cost rate election). Nothing surprises you at fieldwork.

Why Organizations Trust Dimov Tax

SEFA work runs alongside the Single Audit and year-round federal grant compliance. One CPA team for the whole picture.

$1.5B+

in tax savings identified for clients

63%

of clients return year after year

70+

tax and financial services under one roof

15+

years of senior experience per engagement

What SEFA Help Costs

There is no flat price. SEFA work scales with how many programs you run and the state of your records. The main drivers are how many federal programs and funding sources the schedule has to capture, whether we build the SEFA from your grant list and general ledger or review a draft you already have, how much funding you pass through to subrecipients (which has to be tracked on the schedule), and how clean your general ledger is, since the SEFA has to reconcile to it.

Getting the schedule right before fieldwork is part of a broader audit readiness assessment, and it ties back to the federal grant compliance behind your spending. Send us your draft or your grant list and we will give you a fixed quote before you commit.

Send us your draft or your grant list. We will give you a fixed quote before you commit to anything.

Where SEFAs Go Wrong

Most SEFA problems are a handful of recurring mistakes: reporting awards received rather than awards expended (the schedule is about what you spent); leaving off pass-through funding because it came from a state or another nonprofit instead of directly from a federal agency; using a wrong or retired Assistance Listing number; omitting amounts passed to subrecipients; forgetting non-cash awards such as donated commodities, vaccines, or equipment.

The SEFA is the part of a Single Audit you can get ahead of. A clean, reconciled schedule before fieldwork is the difference between a smooth audit and a slow one.

Expended

not received — what you SPENT in the year, the single most common SEFA error

$1M

audit threshold — the SEFA total decides whether you need a Single Audit at all

5 errors

recurring SEFA mistakes — pass-through, listing numbers, subrecipients, non-cash, received-vs-expended

Source: 2 CFR 200.510(b) — Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards requirements

Who Needs SEFA Help

A good fit if you:

Are preparing a SEFA for the first time
Run multiple federal programs across several funding sources
Pass federal funding through to subrecipients
Took on new grants mid-year and aren't sure how to capture them on the schedule
Had reconciliation issues or findings on last year's SEFA
Want a draft reviewed before submitting it to the auditor

The audit itself is covered on our A-133 audit requirements page. Want a broader pre-audit check? See audit readiness assessment. Year-round side: federal grant compliance.

Get Help With Your SEFA

Send us your draft schedule, or your grant list and general ledger if you do not have one yet, and we will check it for completeness against the rules.

If you are not sure yours is complete, that is exactly what a short review settles — before fieldwork, when there is still time to fix it.

Confidential, no obligation. A CPA firm handles the work, with a fixed quote before you commit.

Reviewed by George Dimov, CPA

Founder of Dimov Tax

15+ years on Single Audits and federal grant compliance.