What is the SEFA (schedule of expenditures of federal awards)?
The SEFA is the schedule the auditee prepares listing every federal award it expended in the period, by Assistance Listing number, including pass-through awards and amounts passed on to subrecipients (2 CFR 200.510(b)). It is management's document, not the auditor's, and the single audit is built on it.
Last verified: 2026-09-20 · Every figure links its source.
What is the SEFA?
It is a schedule covering the same period as the financial statements that shows total federal awards expended, determined under the rules for when an award is expended (2 CFR 200.502). The auditor gives an in-relation-to opinion on it (2 CFR 200.515(a)), and the dollar total on it decides the threshold test, the Type A cut-off and which programs are major.
Source: 2 CFR 200.510 · 2 CFR 200.502 · 2 CFR 200.515 · Last verified: 2026-09-20
What does SEFA stand for?
Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards. Auditors also say “the schedule”; the data collection form calls the same content the federal awards section.
Source: 2 CFR 200.510 · Last verified: 2026-09-20
What must be on the SEFA under 2 CFR 200.510?
| Element | What 200.510(b) requires |
|---|---|
| Programs by agency | Federal programs identified by federal agency using the applicable Assistance Listing numbers, with cluster names where applicable |
| Pass-through awards | For awards received as a subrecipient, the name of the pass-through entity and the identifying number it assigned |
| Expenditures | Total federal awards expended for each individual federal program |
| Subawards | The total amount provided to subrecipients from each federal program |
| Loan balances | For loan programs, the balances outstanding at the end of the audit period, in the notes |
| Notes | The significant accounting policies used to prepare the schedule, and whether the auditee elected to use the de minimis indirect cost rate of up to 15 percent |
Source: 2 CFR 200.510 · Last verified: 2026-09-20
Who prepares the SEFA?
The auditee. Preparing the financial statements and the schedule is listed as the auditee's responsibility (2 CFR 200.508), and an auditor who built the schedule would be auditing its own work. In practice the finance team assembles it from grant coding kept current through the year — which is why the coding matters more than the spreadsheet.
Source: 2 CFR 200.508 · GAO Government Auditing Standards · Last verified: 2026-09-20
What are common SEFA mistakes?
- Omitting pass-through awards, or leaving out the pass-through entity's identifying number.
- Using an outdated or wrong Assistance Listing number, or splitting a cluster.
- Reporting cash received instead of amounts expended.
- Leaving federal loans off, or omitting the outstanding balance note.
- Missing the subaward column when money was passed to subrecipients.
- No note on the de minimis indirect cost rate election.
- A schedule that does not reconcile to the general ledger.
Each of these can become a reported finding; the mechanics are in common SEFA mistakes.
Source: 2 CFR 200.510 · 2 CFR 200.516 · Last verified: 2026-09-20
How does the SEFA relate to the single audit threshold?
The threshold test runs on the SEFA total: $1,000,000 or more in federal awards expended in the fiscal year means a single audit (2 CFR 200.501). A SEFA that omits awards can therefore hide an audit requirement, and one that double counts can create an audit you did not need. For audit year 2024, the median nonprofit single audit reported $2,625,160 of federal awards expended across a median of 4 programs (Federal Audit Clearinghouse, data as of 2026-09-20).
Source: 2 CFR 200.501 · Federal Audit Clearinghouse · Last verified: 2026-09-20
Questions and answers
What is SEFA?
The schedule of expenditures of federal awards: the schedule an auditee prepares listing every federal award expended in the period by Assistance Listing number, including pass-through awards and amounts passed on to subrecipients.
What does SEFA stand for?
Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards.
Not sure whether you cross the threshold? Check it here.
This is public-record information, not accounting or legal advice.