I run or serve a nonprofit

A monitor reads your file for what is missing, not just what is there. An expense summary does not show authorization, receipt, or the terms of the award. Start with what the record can support today.

An independent accountant's clean opinion on financial statements and an unsuccessful monitoring visit can happen to the same organization. Those reviews answer different questions. Your award's conditions still apply; a clean opinion does not replace supporting records.

Try locating four records: the grant agreement and amendments, contemporaneous approval for a sampled expense, supporting time or service records, and a reconciliation with evidence of independent review. Requirements vary by award. These are starting questions, not a universal compliance list.

Your board owes the organization attention, questions, and recorded follow-up. Read the agreement, request source records, record missing evidence as observations, and assign someone to resolve each gap. Do not backdate an approval or present a reconstruction as an original.