Foreign Organization Audits FAQs

A foreign organization is defined in 45 CFR § 75.2 as an entity that is:

• A public or private organization located in a country other than the United States and its Territories that is subject to the laws of the country in which it is located, irrespective of the citizenship of project staff or place of performance;
• A private, nongovernmental organization located in a country other than the United States that solicits and receives cash contributions from the general public;
• A charitable organization located in a country other than the United States that is nonprofit and tax exempt under the laws of its country of domicile and operation, and is not a university, college, accredited degree-granting institution of education, private foundation, hospital, organization engaged exclusively in research or scientific activities, church, synagogue, mosque, or similar entity organized primarily for religious purposes; or
• An organization located in a country other than the United States but not recognized as a Foreign Public Entity.

The audit requirements should be specified in the terms and conditions of the grant agreements or Notice of Award documents. If audit requirements are not specified in the award documents, the organization should contact the Grants Management Specialist identified in the award documents to inquire about the audit requirements for its U.S. Federal programs.

Audit submission requirements will be identified in the terms and conditions of the grant agreements or Notice of Award documents.

Audits of foreign organizations with HHS programs should be sent to the HHS Audit Resolution Division (ARD) via email at Foreign_Audit@hhs.gov.

Foreign organization audit submission questions should be sent to ARD via email at AuditResolution@hhs.gov.

Because audits of foreign organizations are not covered by the Uniform Guidance, the organization would need to contact each Federal awarding agency from which it received Federal financial assistance to request an audit submission extension.  For HHS programs, inquiries related to audit submission extensions should be sent to the HHS Audit Resolution Division (ARD) via email at AuditResolution@hhs.gov.

Official audit submission extension requests should be sent to ARD via email at Single_Audit_Extension@hhs.gov. 

Although it is not required, the organization is encouraged to notify the Federal awarding agencies of the impending late submission of its non-Federal audit. Federal agency contacts are listed in Appendix III of the Office of Management and Budget Compliance Supplement.

The HHS contact is the HHS ARD via email at AuditResolution@hhs.gov.

Federal agency contacts are listed in Appendix III of the OMB Compliance Supplement.

In addition, contact information for the Federal program’s Grants Management Specialist is identified in the Notice of Award documents. At HHS, audit specific questions can be submitted to HHS-OIG via its technical assistance email at SingleAudit.TA@oig.hhs.gov.

Please provide sufficient details in your email to enable the technical assistance group to provide a well-researched and well-developed response. The group will review the request and promptly either provide appropriate responses or request clarifying information.