2 CFR Part 200, the Uniform Guidance, explained

What it is, and who it binds

The Uniform Guidance replaced a scatter of separate circulars, including A-122 and A-133, with a single rulebook covering federal awards to states, local governments, tribes, universities and nonprofits. If you receive federal money, directly or passed through a state agency, a city or a larger nonprofit, this is the rulebook you agreed to.

Two things people get wrong at the start. Pass-through money still counts. A state grant or subaward paid with federal money carries the federal rules, and an organization that believes it has no federal funding may be a subrecipient that has not made the connection. And the rules apply from the first dollar. The $1,000,000 figure decides whether you need a single audit, not whether the rules apply to you.

What changed in the October 2024 revision

A substantial revision took effect on 1 October 2024. Agencies were allowed to put it into effect at different times, from June 2024 to as late as 1 October 2025. The Department of Health and Human Services adopted some sections in October 2024 and the rest on 1 October 2025. Your award terms say which version applies. If a guide, template or funder form predates it, assume the numbers are stale. The changes that matter most to small organizations:

What	Before	Now	Where
Single audit threshold	$750,000	$1,000,000	§200.501
De minimis indirect rate	10% of MTDC	15% of MTDC	§200.414(f)
Subaward share in the MTDC base	First $25,000 of each	First $50,000 of each	§200.1
Equipment: per-unit cost, and the disposition line	$5,000	$10,000	§200.1, §200.313
Leftover unused supplies: the value above which the agency gets a share	$5,000	$10,000, all supplies combined	§200.314
Fixed amount subaward ceiling	The simplified acquisition threshold ($250,000 at the time)	$500,000	§200.333
Salary documentation standards	§200.430(i)	§200.430(g)	§200.430

MTDC means modified total direct costs: roughly your direct costs, minus equipment, rent, participant support and the part of each subaward above $50,000. The audit threshold follows your fiscal year: it applies to fiscal years beginning on or after 1 October 2024. Citations you find online can still point at §200.430(i) for salary records. The standards now sit at (g).

OMB proposed another revision in May 2026 (the proposal). Nothing in it is final yet; the figures above are the eCFR text as read on 28 September 2026.

The six subparts, in one line each

Subpart	What it covers
A Acronyms and Definitions	§200.1 defines the terms the rest of the regulation uses. When a section seems ambiguous, check its terms here first.
B General Provisions	Scope, applicability, and which agencies and award types are covered.
C Pre-Federal Award Requirements and Contents of Federal Awards	How agencies announce funding, review applications and make awards, and what an award must contain.
D Post Federal Award Requirements	The day-to-day rules you follow once you have an award: financial management, internal controls, procurement, property, subrecipient monitoring, reporting, record retention.
E Cost Principles	What you may charge and how. Allowability, direct vs indirect, compensation, travel, equipment.
F Audit Requirements	Who needs a single audit, how it is conducted, and what happens to findings.

The sections a small nonprofit actually meets

Every one but §200.334 links to a plain-English guide you can read next.

1. §200.430 Compensation, personal services

   How salaries charged to a grant must be supported. If you pay anyone from federal money, this section sets the standard your records must meet. The documentation standards are at (g).

2. §200.414 Indirect (overhead) costs

   The de minimis rate, now up to 15% of modified total direct costs, that lets you recover overhead without negotiating a rate.

3. §200.501 Audit requirements

   The $1,000,000 threshold that decides whether you need a single audit, and the fact that it is measured on what you expend, not what you were awarded.

4. §200.502 Basis for determining Federal awards expended

   The companion to 200.501. Defines what counts toward the threshold, including non-cash items, commodities and program income.

5. §200.403 Factors affecting allowability of costs

   The general test every cost has to pass: necessary, reasonable, allocable, consistently treated, adequately documented.

6. §200.302 and §200.303 Financial management and internal controls

   Your accounting system must identify every award and produce accurate, current reports. 200.303 asks for effective internal controls in general terms, and points to two frameworks: the Comptroller General's standards (the Green Book) and COSO.

7. §200.331 and §200.332 Subrecipient vs contractor, and monitoring

   Whether the money you passed on created a subrecipient or bought a service, decided by the substance of the relationship rather than the title on the agreement. If it is a subaward, you owe monitoring.

8. §200.313 Equipment

   Title, use, management and disposition of equipment bought with federal money, including what happens when you no longer need it.

9. §200.318 to §200.327 Procurement standards

   Written procurement procedures, conflict of interest rules, and the thresholds that decide how much competition a purchase needs. The methods themselves, and which one each threshold calls for, are at §200.320.

10. §200.334 Record retention

    Three years from submission of the final financial report, with exceptions that extend it.

11. §200.512 Single audit report submission

    The deadline for submitting to the Federal Audit Clearinghouse once a single audit is required.

12. §200.305 Payment

    Advance or reimbursement, and the rule to keep the time between getting federal cash and spending it as short as you can.

13. §200.306 Cost sharing

    What counts as match, and how to value donated volunteer time toward it.

14. §200.405 Allocable costs

    Which award a cost belongs to, and how to split a cost that benefits more than one.

15. §200.333 Fixed amount subawards

    When you may make one, and the prior written approval you need first.

16. §200.344 Closeout

    The closeout deadlines, and the shorter clock a subrecipient runs on.

17. §200.516 Audit findings

    What an auditor has to write up as a finding, including the $25,000 line for questioned costs.

How to use Part 200 without reading Part 200

1. Read your award agreement first

   It tells you which agency, which program, and which additional terms apply on top of the Uniform Guidance. Agency-specific rules can be stricter.

2. Write the policies the regulation assumes you have

   Procurement, allowability, time and effort, record retention. Part 200 asks for some of them in writing, such as procurement procedures (§200.318(a)) and procedures for deciding what costs are allowable (§200.302(b)(7)). When someone asks for your written policy, the answer should be a document.

3. Track federal expenditures as you go

   By program, monthly, using the §200.502 definition. You do not want to discover in month eleven that you crossed $1,000,000.

4. Check the date on anything you copy

   Guidance written before the October 2024 revision carries the old numbers.

5. Go to eCFR for the text itself

   Summaries, this one included, are a map. The regulation is the territory.

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.

The Ember tool for this

Ember Time

Ember Time lets your team log time by program, and you approve the week. Approved hours for hourly staff become each program's staff cost at the rate you set. Unlimited users on every tier.

Sources: 2 CFR Part 200 (eCFR), the final rule, 89 FR 30046, and OMB's 2025 Compliance Supplement, Part 1. Verified 28 September 2026; §200.303 and §200.501 re-checked against eCFR 3 October 2026. Section numbers and thresholds change; read the sections themselves before relying on any summary.