Grant Auditing: A Maze of Inconsistency, Gaps, and Duplication That Needs Overhauling

Federal grants will total about $85 billion in fiscal year (FY) 1979. The government relies on audit as the basic control to see that these funds are spent as Congress intended and to prevent unauthorized expenditures and loss of funds from fraud and abuse. The ideal in auditing grant programs is to have a single audit of a recipient that would be acceptable to all the funding organizations. Such audits would be made periodically when needed, and would ensure that the recipient is complying with the terms of the grants and that financial records and controls are adequate. Funding organizations would then be free to perform additional audits of economy and efficiency and program results.