AASC Frequently Asked Questions

Yes. In accordance with Office of Management Budget (OMB) Circular A-133, the California Department of Education (CDE) is required to ensure that sub recipients expending $750,000 or more in total federal financial assistance during the sub recipients’ fiscal years have met the audit requirements for that fiscal year. Additionally, in accordance with California Education Code, Section 8448(g), the CDE has the responsibility to obtain the required financial and compliance audits of sub recipients of child development funds. The AASC form assists the CDE in determining whether your organization must provide the Audits and Investigations Division (A&I) with a federal or state required audit report for the fiscal year.

Yes. If your organization is no longer participating in the above CDE programs for reasons such as cancellation, termination, or voluntary discontinuation, the year after discontinuing the program you must sign, date, and return the form with a notation stating the reason.

Instructions are included with the AASC form to assist your organization in completing the form. Agencies that receive any type of Nutrition funding (CACFP, School Nutrition Programs (SNP), or Summer Food Service Program (SFSP)) are required to complete the AASC form online via the Child Nutrition Information and Payment System (CNIPS) at Child Nutrition Information & Payment System (CNIPS) . Instructions for completing the AASC form via CNIPs can be found here.

"Federal and state financial assistance" is assistance provided by a federal and state agency in the form of grants, contracts, loans, loan guarantees, property, cooperative agreements, interest subsidies, insurance, or direct appropriations.

Yes. Title 7 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Section 3016.3 defines a “subgrant” as “an award of financial assistance in the form of money, or property in lieu of money, made under a grant by a grantee to an eligible subgrantee.”

Yes. Court-mandated funds are considered federal financial assistance if paid to the agency, but not if paid to a person.

Yes. The DHHS determined that Title IV-E Foster Care funding is federal financial assistance. The CDE will require agencies to include Title IV-E Foster Care funds in their calculation of total federal financial assistance expended when determining the type of annual audit report that must be submitted to the CDE.

The type of audit report you need to submit depends on the amount of federal and state financial assistance expenditures your agency received over the past fiscal year. For example, agencies expending $750,000 or more in federal financial assistance must submit an organization-wide audit (OWA) or a single audit report of the entire agency. Please see the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-133, “Audits of States, Local Governments, and Non-Profit Organizations” or the Guide for Auditing Child Development, Nutrition, and Adult Education Programs for audit requirements. 

Please see the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-133, “Audits of States, Local Governments, and Non-Profit Organizations” or the Guide for Auditing Child Development, Nutrition, and Adult Education Programs for audit requirements.

Yes. An AASC form must be completed and returned. For-profit agencies receiving $25,000 or more in State funds must submit a contractor audit report. An agency expending $750,000 or more in federal financial assistance during its fiscal year must submit a contractor audit report to the A&I office.

For nutrition programs, a biennial audit report is allowed only if the “auditee” had biennial audit reports for all biennial periods ending between July 1, 1992, and January 1, 1995. For child development programs, biennial audit reports may be submitted if your organization received federal or state child development funds of less than $25,000 for each of the two consecutive years. For qualifying organizations, financial statements for both fiscal years must be included in the audit report.

Yes. According to OMB Circular A-133, all auditees that are required to submit Single Audit Reports must submit the reports to the Federal Audit Clearinghouse (FAC) in addition to the pass-through entity California Department of Education (CDE). Instructions for submitting audit reports to the FAC may be obtained on the FAC Web site , or by contacting the FAC toll-free at 800-253-0696.