WASHINGTON, D.C. – Bipartisan legislation authored by U.S. Senators Gary Peters (D-MI) and Ron Johnson (R-WI) to improve the quality, usability, and completeness of grant recipient audit data has advanced in the Senate. State, local, Tribal, and territorial (SLTT) governments receiving more than $1 million in federal grants must submit annual independent audits of their financial controls, but the resulting public data is often fragmented, limiting federal oversight and informed decision-making in grant allocation. This bill would enhance the federal government’s responsiveness to audit findings, safeguard taxpayer dollars, and improve fraud risk identification by making audit data more accessible. The bill was advanced by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee where Peters serves as Chair, and now moves to the full Senate for consideration.
“Effective oversight of federal grants is crucial to ensuring taxpayer dollars are spent wisely and efficiently,” said Senator Peters. “My bipartisan bill will improve the quality and accessibility of audit data, which will enhance our ability to fight fraud and increase transparency of federal grant program spending for the American public.”
“The federal government doles out billions of dollars in federal funds to state, local, tribal, and territorial governments each year, and it is imperative for the grant recipients to submit financial audits of their use of taxpayer-funded grants. This is a good government bill to help eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse of federal grants,” said Senator Johnson.
“I am very pleased that the bill incorporates multiple GAO recommendations to help improve the quality and completeness of information on single audit results. It is a step in the right direction in helping to ensure federal award recipients are complying with the requirements of their awards. If effectively implemented, the provision in the bill will strengthen accountability and transparency over federal funds,” said Eugene Dodaro, Comptroller General of the United States and head of the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO).
A recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report highlighted issues affecting the reliability and usefulness of independent audits for state, local, Tribal, and territorial governments receiving over $1 million in federal grants. These issues include inconsistent audit data quality, instances of noncompliance with auditing requirements, and difficulties in accessing and analyzing the resulting data. This fragmented financial information hinders federal agencies’ ability to conduct effective oversight and make informed decisions about grant allocations.
The bipartisan Financial Management Risk Reduction Act would act on key recommendations from the GAO’s report to streamline how the government analyzes independent audit data. The bill would improve the federal government’s ability to combat fraud by leveraging existing single audit data to minimize financial risk. The bill directs the Office of Management and Budget and the General Services Administration to additionally identify fraud risk with a new cross-governmental strategy and advanced analytical tools. To improve the quality of independent audit data, the bill requires periodic government-wide reviews of audit quality that incorporate findings from federal oversight entities. The bill would also increase federal agency coordination to ensure recipients of federal awards are complying with requirements and submitting their required audits.
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