TLDR
The Federal Audit Clearinghouse at fac.gov is where single audit submissions go — and where anyone can look them up. Late submission is a compliance deficiency. The FAC record follows an organization for years and is reviewed by every federal funder and pass-through entity considering a new or renewed award.
The Federal Audit Clearinghouse is not just a filing system. It is a public record of your organization’s compliance history.
Every single audit submission — including the findings, questioned costs, and corrective action plans — is publicly searchable at fac.gov. Federal program officers review it before approving new awards. Pass-through entities use it to verify subrecipient audit status. The record persists for years.
What Must Be Submitted
The complete single audit reporting package includes:
The auditee’s financial statements (if required by the terms of the audit) and the auditor’s report on those statements. The Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards. The summary schedule of prior audit findings, documenting the status of any findings from prior single audits. The auditor’s reports on internal control over financial reporting and compliance with requirements applicable to each major program. A corrective action plan if the audit identified any findings.
The SF-SAC (data collection form) is also required. It captures machine-readable data from the audit — including finding descriptions, questioned cost amounts, and federal program information — that allows federal agencies and researchers to aggregate single audit data across organizations.
The Submission Deadline and Its Consequences
The submission deadline is the earlier of 30 days after the auditor issues the reports or nine months after fiscal year end. For organizations with calendar fiscal years, this means September 30 is the deadline for the prior year’s audit.
Late submission does not go unnoticed. Federal agencies monitor FAC submission timeliness and use it as a risk indicator when making future award decisions. An organization with a pattern of late submissions is signaling control weaknesses, even if the audit itself was clean.
Using the FAC for Subrecipient Verification
If your organization is a pass-through entity, you are required under 2 CFR 200.332(b)(4) to verify that subrecipients expending $1,000,000 or more in federal awards annually have a single audit. The FAC is the standard verification tool.
Search fac.gov by the subrecipient’s organization name or EIN. Check whether a submission exists for the relevant fiscal year. If a submission exists, review whether it includes any findings relevant to the program you funded. If no submission exists for an organization that should have one, that is a subrecipient monitoring issue requiring follow-up.
See Also
Free resource
Get the Single Audit Prep Timeline
A 90-day countdown timeline for single audit preparation — working backward from fiscal year end with specific tasks at each milestone. Delivered by email.
Q&A
What is the submission deadline for the Federal Audit Clearinghouse?
The single audit reporting package must be submitted to the FAC within the earlier of: (1) 30 calendar days after the auditor's report is issued, or (2) nine months after the end of the fiscal year under audit. For a fiscal year ending June 30, the latest acceptable submission date is March 31 of the following year. Submissions after this deadline are a compliance finding.
Q&A
Is the FAC submission public?
Yes. All submissions to the Federal Audit Clearinghouse are publicly available and searchable at fac.gov. Any person or organization can search for and download single audit submissions by organization name, EIN, state, or federal program. This includes the audit findings and any corrective action plans.
Q&A
What happens if an organization misses the FAC submission deadline?
Late submission is itself a compliance deficiency. Federal agencies track submission timeliness through the FAC and may flag late submissions in enhanced monitoring decisions for future awards. In some cases, late submission can affect eligibility for renewal funding. The late submission is noted in the FAC record and is visible to any organization that searches for the entity.
Frequently asked