Financial Management Risk Reduction Act

Floor Speech

I rise in support of S. 4716, the Financial Management Risk Reduction Act, led by my esteemed colleague, Chairman Gary Peters of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, with Senator Ron Johnson as his co-lead. I also thank Representative Greene for leading the House companion.

Mr. Speaker, it appears financial management risk reduction is, indeed, an issue that speaks to everybody on both sides of the aisle. The bill would improve the quality and usability of independent audit data and enhance oversight of Federal funds.

The Single Audit Act of 1984 requires Federal grant recipients that receive more than $750,000 to report an independent audit of their internal financial controls annually to the government. It sought to increase accountability while reducing burden on grant recipients by mandating a single, consolidated audit rather than audits on a discrete grant-by-grant basis. In 2022, over 40,000 State, local, Tribal, and territorial governments and not-for-profits submitted single audits.

The Financial Management Risk Reduction Act addresses recommendations made by the GAO, which were aimed at increasing the usability of single audit information to reduce Federal financial management risk. The bill codifies certain portions of OMB's Uniform Grants Guidance requiring agencies to conduct quality control reviews on its audits and directs OMB to coordinate a governmentwide audit quality review every 6 years.

Finally, the bill would direct OMB to create a governmentwide strategy on financial risk regarding single audits and instructs GSA to create analytic tools to use single audit data more effectively.

This is a good bill that will improve the quality and accessibility of audit data, increasing the transparency and accountability of Federal spending.

Mr. Speaker, I urge passage of the legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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