(The following was excerpted from a recent article in the Single Audit Information Service.) The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently released an exposure draft containing proposed revisions to the Government Auditing Standards (GAGAS), also known as the Yellow Book. Among the expanded discussions and new requirements or guidance addressed in the draft is a new continuing professional education (CPE) requirement for auditors conducting engagements on GAGAS topics.

You may have seen reports in the news lately about efforts by the Trump administration to crack down on so-called “sanctuary cities,” which are jurisdictions that have essentially declined to assist federal attempts to identify and potentially deport people living in the U.S. illegally. To ratchet up the drama, the U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) has now sent a letter to seven cities, one county and one state threatening to withhold federal grant funding if they don’t cooperate with federal immigration authorities.

(The following is excerpted from a recent article in the Federal Grants Management Handbook.) The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) has issued final regulations for the Veterinary Services Grants Program (VSGP). Effective March 27, these regulations are contained in the Code of Federal Regulations in a new subpart Q at 7 C.F.R. Part 3430.

We’ve been taking a trip around the bases of the Crystal City Marriott this week attending sessions at the National Grants Management Association’s annual training conference, which has been focusing around its baseball theme, “Grants Management: In Full Swing.” Following NGMA’s suggestion before the conference, many attendees wore jerseys of their favorite baseball (or other sports) teams to make it a bit more fun and exciting.

(The following was excerpted from a recent article in the Single Audit Information Service.) The Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), in response to a recent DOT Office of Inspector General (OIG) audit, plans to fully implement certain reforms by the end of April that encourage the pace of awards under the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) (Pub. L. 112-141). Some of these reforms aim to free federal officials from conducting environmental reviews and to allow for categorical exclusions.

And down the stretch they come! That’s how it must feel for federal agencies preparing to comply with the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act (DATA Act) (Pub. L. 113-101), as they now have about one more month to get ready to meet the DATA Act's requirement that federal agencies begin reporting spending data in accordance with the act by May 9, and publicly post spending data in machine-readable formats by May 2018.