Post Audit Group (PAG)

In carrying out its responsibilities, the Post Audit Group:

• Oversees audit follow-up for the Department

• Resolves findings in single, cash management, subrecipient monitoring and direct project grant audit reports. Resolving an audit report means making a management decision (i.e. program determination letters) as to whether or not to sustain the auditor's findings.

• Puts together the Semiannual Report to Congress on Audit Follow-Up. That's the report that tells the Congress how ED is doing in its job to issue management decisions on findings identified in audit reports of grantees and take corrective actions on audit recommendations involving the Department's internal activities.

• Leads ED's "triage strategy" for GEPA (General Education Provisions Act) audit reports. The word "triage" comes from the strategy used in dealing with wounded soldiers on the battlefield -- that is, the type of care you receive depends upon the seriousness of your injuries. In the Department's case, the amount of attention an audit report receives is based on the seriousness of its audit disclosures. This replaces a less efficient system in which each audit report was accorded the same attention regardless of the severity of the problems disclosed.

• Participates in implementing CAROI (the Cooperative Audit Resolution and Oversight Initiative). CAROI is an innovative partnership among federal, state and local officials, auditors and program managers to provide alternative and creative approaches for resolving audit findings as well as their underlying causes. The goal of CAROI is to improve education programs and student performance at state and local levels through better use of audits, monitoring and technical assistance.

• Tracks the status of internal audit reports. These are audits of the Department conducted by either the Government Accountability Office or our Inspector General. PAG tracks the progress made by the audited entity within ED to correct the problems cited in the audit report.

• Review and approve waiver requests. ED grantees, if they meet criteria under OMB Circular A-133 "Audits of States, Local Governments and Non-Profit Organizations", may request a waiver for low-risk auditee status, provided they have demonstrated they can effectively manage their federal grants. This waiver reduces the scope of an entity's audit.

• Annually update the OMB Circular A-133 Compliance Supplement. The Compliance Supplement serves to identify existing important compliance requirements of the Single Audit Act Amendments of 1996, and provides auditors with a source of information concerning audit objectives and suggested audit procedures for determining compliance with OMB Circular A-133 requirements.

• Maintains AARTS (Audit Accountability and Resolution Tracking System), which is ED's single database system for tracking the post-audit activity for all audits, internal and external, of the Department. AARTS is ED's tool for monitoring and reporting on the audit follow-up status of GAO audits; OMB Circular A-133 audits; as well as ED-OIG issued internal audits, external audits, and alternative products.

• Serve as the central point in the Department for information regarding audit follow-up. In Related Links you will find information pertaining to other ED related sites as well as federal-wide sites containing laws and regulations governing ED programs.

For more detailed information about any of the above, please see PAG Contacts, or get in touch with us at (202) 377-3816.

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