2 CFR 200.512, explained in plain English

The deadline, verbatim

This is the audit deadline in the Uniform Guidance, word for word:

Read that again, because the second half is easy to miss. Whichever is earlier. It is easy to plan around the nine months and treat the 30-day clause as a formality. It is not. If your auditor delivers the report in month six, your deadline is month six plus 30 days, not month nine.

For a fiscal year ending 30 June, the nine-month outer limit is 31 March. If the report lands on 10 January, the deadline is 9 February.

Two mechanical details worth knowing

• Weekends and federal holidays roll forward. If the due date falls on one, submission is due the next business day.
• Extensions exist but are not yours to grant. The cognizant or oversight agency for audit may extend the deadline where the nine-month timeline would place an undue burden on you. You ask; they decide. “Our auditor was slow” is rarely the kind of burden meant.

What actually gets submitted

Two things go to the Federal Audit Clearinghouse. The data collection form is paragraph (b); the reporting package is its own paragraph, (c). They are often described together and they are cited separately:

1. The data collection form

   Information about your organization, your federal programs, the audit results and compliance with Part 200. A senior-level representative of the auditee signs a statement that the form is accurate and authorizes the FAC to make the material publicly available.

2. The reporting package

   The financial statements, the schedule of expenditures of federal awards, the auditor's reports, the summary schedule of prior audit findings and the corrective action plan.

The auditor completes the applicable data elements and signs a statement identifying the source of the information, the auditor's responsibility, and that the form does not replace the complete reporting package.

One narrow exception on publication: an auditee that is an Indian Tribe or a tribal organization may choose not to authorize the Clearinghouse to make its reporting package publicly available. For everyone else the submission is public.

It is public, and people read it

The FAC submission is published. Anyone can read it, including funders. That is not a reason for anxiety, but it is a reason to make sure the corrective action plan reads like a plan rather than a shrug. A finding with a specific, dated remedy attached reads very differently from a finding with “management will review procedures” under it.

How to not miss it

1. Book the auditor early

   Firms with Subpart F experience fill up. If you are anywhere near the $1,000,000 threshold, start the conversation before year end, not after.

2. Put both dates in the calendar

   The nine-month date the day your fiscal year ends, and the 30-day date the day the report arrives.

3. Build the SEFA through the year

   The schedule of expenditures of federal awards (SEFA) is easy to leave until the end. Maintaining it monthly turns a week of work into an export.

4. Draft the corrective action plan with the finding

   Not at the end. It is easier to write while you still remember what happened, and §200.303 on internal controls already requires you to act promptly when you find noncompliance.

This is general information, not legal or accounting advice. Federal grant rules change and are applied differently by different agencies and auditors. Check with your auditor, your grant officer, or an attorney before relying on any of it.

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Sources: 2 CFR Part 200 (eCFR), §200.512. Verified August 2026. Read the section itself before relying on any summary.