Do you ever wish you could get a do-over? 7 Top Grant Management I love the benefit of hindsight and this New Year’s holiday is no different.

During the last week, I’ve been reflecting what articles I shared on the MyFedTrainer.com blog have had the most impact on our community. (One of the ways I recognize them is that the topic had audiences sitting up in my presentations and saying WHAT ???)

So here’s my “do-over” to pick my seven top grant management articles for 2016 on the MyFedTrainer.com blog. Click on the titles below to enjoy the re-release of these articles.

#1) Top 2016 Grant Management Trends

Who could have predicted many of the things that happened in the last topsy-turvy year? Last year I ran my predictions for 2016 and I’m happy to say that I pretty much nailed it. Though I didn’t 7 Top Grant Management anticipate quite how much the new risk assessment would impact grant recipients. (More about that later…)

In fact, the grant management trends that we’ve talked about over the last year have accelerated dramatically and show no signs of slowing down. Even more changes have been slipped into 2CFR Part 200 as shown in my three top federal grant management trends for 2016 7 Top Grant Management.

#2) Five Big Changes to Grant Management

The increased focus on performance and the new risk assessment surfaced again in this article summarizing the main changes in 2 CFR Part 200. The “old” way of doing things in the world of grant management will no longer suffice.

Here are the five big changes in the world of Federal grant management I expanded on in this article:

• Internal Controls – broadened to impact every area of the organization
• Risk assessment –before receiving Federal funds and as part of being a pass-through entity
• Procurement –strengthen processes and procedures
• Performance Measurements – more accountability while also allowing some flexibility
• Protecting Personally Identifiable Information – new privacy rules affect nearly everyone.

3) How to Write A Corrective Action Plan-Part II

The new emphasis on cooperative audit resolution in 2 CFR Part 200 has grant recipients scrambling to get their corrective action plans in place and completed. This refresh on a how-to article from a few years ago seemed perfectly timed.

The funding agencies want to work with you to get problems cleaned up so they don’t occur again in the future and reduce the risk of audit findings. (Just in case you think you are the only one who has experienced audit findings or other deficiencies…it is more common than you may realize.) Our research in 2010 noted audit findings of varying levels of severity in nearly one in three organizations in our sample.

4) Decoding Grant Management-Success Tip: Subrecipient Monitoring

My latest book “Decoding Grant Management” was released in 2016 and I shared some of the hottest topics on my success tip series. Subrecipient monitoring is a perennial favorite, but the new Uniform Guidance has left many pass-through entities scratching their heads about implementing the risk assessment of their sub-recipients.

The monitoring responsibilities of the pass-through entity start prior to awarding funds with a risk assessment (there’s that hot topic again) of the potential subrecipient and then continue throughout the period of the award. The recipient must be able to demonstrate to the federal agency that subrecipients are being monitored for compliance.

5) 10 Essential Questions (and Answers) for Grant Managers-Part III

Communication is an essential part of great grant management, strong internal controls and a supportive community. In this series we listened to your top questions in one of our regular webinars and shared the FAQ with the broader grant community. One of the questions concerned the expanded risk and integrity assessment.

“How do pass-throughs assess integrity? We have implemented risk assessments, but I haven’t seen anything about the integrity piece.” As part of the changing grant management landscape, the integrity assessment was added to the risk assessment in one of the revisions to 2 CFR Part 200.

6) How to Spot the Warning Signs of Waste, Fraud and Abuse on Your Grant

The General Accounting Office (GAO) estimated that over $125 Billion was lost to waste, fraud and abuse in government programs for 2014 alone! As federal grant recipients, we know that ensuring federal funds are spent on our awards as intended is part of managing our grants.

New innovations like audit analytics implemented with the advent of the stimulus funding back in 2008 and new mandates like the DATA Act are helping the federal government spot waste, fraud and abuse of federal funding. How about you? Are you wondering what constitutes fraud waste and abuse of your government program or award? This mini-training walks you through the warning signs of waste, fraud and abuse on your grant.

7) 10 Areas of Grant Risk to Consider

The stories in the press certainly give that impression as you witness headline after headline talking about grant mis-management and the latest Inspector General report. The new grant regulations in 2 CFR Part 200 call for federal agencies to conduct a risk assessment prior to awarding federal funds to minimize the risk of waste, fraud and abuse of taxpayer dollars. (Here it is folks…) In this article I shared ten things to focus on when preparing for your own risk assessment.

The new risk assessment continued to grab people’s attention and the new “naughty” list tracking in FAAPIS had everyone raising their hand with questions when I spoke at the GPA conference in Atlanta in November. I expect this to be a hot topic in 2017 as well.

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Author:

Lucy Morgan CPA, MBA

CEO, Compliance Warrior

Author of “Decoding Grant Management-The Ultimate Success Guide to the Federal Grant Regulations in 2 CFR Part 200” The 2nd Edition is now available on Amazon in Paperback and Kindle versions.