Yellow Book vs Single Audit for federal award recipients
Your auditor follows the Yellow Book in every Single Audit, but a Yellow Book audit is not always a Single Audit. If you receive federal funding, you can owe one, the other or both in the same year.
Yellow Book vs Single Audit, the two frameworks for federal awards
If you receive government assistance, you have to meet federal expectations for internal control, program oversight and financial management. Your auditor tests those areas against two frameworks:
The Yellow Book, GAO's Government Auditing Standards
The Single Audit, the compliance audit OMB requires through the Uniform Guidance above a spending threshold
What is the Yellow Book
The Yellow Book is Government Auditing Standards, issued by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). GAO issues it to set out generally accepted government auditing standards, known as GAGAS, for audits of government programs and of organizations that spend public money.
Auditors apply it to federal agencies, state programs and nonprofits that spend federal grants, and work to the same standard of consistency, integrity and competence on each.
Yellow Book audit requirements for the auditor
GAO built the standards around these principles:
Auditor competence. Auditors hold the qualifications, skills and continuing education required for the work.
Integrity and objectivity. Auditors act honestly and fairly and keep an unbiased mindset.
Independence. Auditors stay free of outside influence, in fact and in appearance.
Consistent quality. Auditors document and report their work to the same standard of rigor, whatever the sector.
When is a Yellow Book audit required
Auditors apply Yellow Book standards to audits of:
- Government entities at the federal, state and local levels
- Programs and activities funded by public money
- Nonprofits, contractors and subrecipients that receive government awards or grants
Your auditor must follow GAGAS when your funder, a statute or a regulator requires it. A Yellow Book audit has no dollar threshold, so your funder, a pass-through entity or your state can require one even when you spend less than the Single Audit threshold. Some organizations choose GAGAS without a mandate to add credibility.
Types of Yellow Book audits
Financial audits.
The auditor reports whether your financial statements are presented fairly, in all material respects, under the applicable financial reporting framework.
Attestation engagements and reviews.
The auditor performs an examination, a review or agreed-upon procedures on subject matter such as internal control, compliance or performance measures.
Performance audits.
The auditor evaluates whether you achieved the program's intended results with public money, and how economically and efficiently you ran it. Agencies that must show value for taxpayer dollars, or meet performance-based grant objectives, commission these.
What is a Single Audit
A Single Audit is an organization-wide audit of your financial statements and your compliance with federal award requirements. You need one when you spend $1,000,000 or more in federal awards in a fiscal year beginning on or after October 1, 2024, under 2 CFR 200.501. If you spend it all under one federal program, other than research and development, you can choose a narrower program-specific audit. You qualify only when neither the program's rules nor your award terms require a financial statement audit.
Federal agencies rely on it for reasonable assurance that you handle federal money within the rules, openly and accountably. The auditor tests whether:
You spent the funds appropriately, on authorized purposes in line with your grant agreements, approved budgets and the cost principles.
You met the compliance requirements for each major program under the Uniform Guidance.
Your financial statements are presented fairly, in all material respects, and your schedule of expenditures of federal awards is presented fairly in relation to those statements as a whole.
Congress designed it to cut the audit burden on recipients and agencies, replacing many grant-by-grant audits with one organization-wide audit.
The two parts of a Single Audit
Financial statement audit.
The auditor follows generally accepted auditing standards (GAAS) and GAGAS to judge whether your statements are free of material misstatement, and tests your internal control over financial reporting.
Federal compliance audit.
The auditor selects major programs by size and risk and tests whether you met federal rules and grant terms in areas such as eligibility, allowable costs, reporting, procurement and subrecipient oversight.
An independent auditor completes both parts. In a schedule of findings and questioned costs, the auditor reports significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in internal control over major programs, material noncompliance and reportable questioned costs, under 2 CFR 200.516.
The Single Audit Act and the Uniform Guidance
- Single Audit Act of 1984, amended in 1996.
- Congress passed it to require organization-wide audits of non-federal entities that spend federal assistance above a threshold.
- Uniform Guidance, 2 CFR Part 200, Subpart F.
- The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issues it, and in Subpart F sets the audit threshold, auditor responsibilities, reporting deadlines and the criteria for choosing major programs.
Your auditor tests you against both, so read your award terms with them in mind.
Key differences between Yellow Book and Single Audit
| Feature | Yellow Book audit | Single Audit |
|---|---|---|
| Scope | A framework for several audit types, financial and performance among them | A combined financial statement and compliance audit focused on federal awards |
| Applies to | Public entities and recipients of government awards | Non-federal entities at the threshold, unless you elect a program-specific audit |
| Standards | GAGAS | GAAS, GAGAS and the Uniform Guidance |
| What it includes | A financial audit, an attestation engagement or a performance audit | A financial statement audit and a compliance audit |
| Reports you receive | Financial audit: an opinion on your statements, plus a report on internal control and compliance, with no opinion on either. Performance audit: findings on the program. | Four reports. The statement opinion, with the federal awards schedule judged in relation to it. The Yellow Book report. An opinion on compliance for each major program, with a report on internal control over compliance. A schedule of findings and questioned costs. |
| Trigger | No dollar threshold; a law, regulation or funding agreement requires it | $1,000,000 in federal expenditures, for fiscal years beginning on or after October 1, 2024 |
Recent Yellow Book vs Single Audit updates
The 2024 Yellow Book revision
GAO issued the 2024 revision in February 2024. Auditors apply it to financial audits, attestation engagements and reviews of financial statements for periods beginning on or after December 15, 2025, and to performance audits beginning on or after that date.
GAO moved audit organizations from quality control to quality management, a risk-based system. Nonfederal audit organizations had to design and implement one by December 15, 2025, and must evaluate it for the first time by December 15, 2026. GAO also added optional engagement quality reviews and guidance on key audit matters for financial audits.
If you expect a Yellow Book audit, ask your auditor what it will do differently under the revision.
The Single Audit threshold change
OMB raised the federal expenditure threshold from $750,000 to $1,000,000 for fiscal years beginning on or after October 1, 2024, in its April 2024 Uniform Guidance revision.
Nonprofits, municipalities and tribal organizations that spend between $750,000 and $999,999 in federal awards no longer need a Single Audit. If you spend close to the new threshold, check your federal spending before year end to see whether you need a Single Audit.
How to plan for a Yellow Book audit or a Single Audit
- Step 01
Track federal spending.
Record federal award spending across all programs, so you know whether you reach the threshold.
- Step 02
Engage your auditor early.
Talk to your auditor well before year end about which standards apply and what to prepare.
- Step 03
Submit the reporting package on time.
File your Single Audit reporting package within 30 calendar days after you receive the auditor's reports or nine months after your audit period ends, whichever is earlier, under 2 CFR 200.512.
- Step 04
Stay informed.
Watch GAO for Yellow Book revisions and OMB for changes to the Uniform Guidance and Single Audit rules.
Yellow Book vs Single Audit FAQs
Audit requirements in your federal award
Send us the award terms or your funder's letter. We will tell you whether you need a Yellow Book audit, a Single Audit or both, and what it costs, before you commit.
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“Make sure to reach out as soon as you have the question. Don't wait until the questions pile up. Get all your questions answered right away.”
Audit and attestation services
Treat the information as general, and ask a CPA to read your award terms before you plan an audit.
Plan for a Yellow Book audit, a Single Audit or both
Request a callGAO and OMB update standards and thresholds, so plan before your fiscal year ends. Tell us what your funder requires, and we will scope the audit with you.
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