(a) The following forms or such other forms as may be approved by OMB are authorized for obtaining financial information from recipients.

(1) SF-269 or SF-269A, Financial Status Report.

(i) Each Federal awarding agency shall require recipients to use the SF-269 or SF-269A to report the status of funds for all nonconstruction projects or programs. A Federal awarding agency may, however, have the option of not requiring the SF-269 or SF-269A when the SF-270, Request for Advance or Reimbursement, or SF-272, Report of Federal Cash Transactions, is determined to provide adequate information to meet its needs, except that a final SF-269 or SF-269A shall be required at the completion of the project when the SF-270 is used only for advances.

(ii) The Federal awarding agency shall prescribe whether the report shall be on a cash or accrual basis. If the Federal awarding agency requires accrual information and the recipient's accounting records are not normally kept on the accrual basis, the recipient shall not be required to convert its accounting system, but shall develop such accrual information through best estimates based on an analysis of the documentation on hand.

(iii) The Federal awarding agency shall determine the frequency of the Financial Status Report for each project or program, considering the size and complexity of the particular project or program. However, the report shall not be required more frequently than quarterly or less frequently than annually. A final report shall be required at the completion of the agreement.

(iv) The Federal awarding agency shall require recipients to submit the SF-269 or SF-269A (an original and no more than two copies) no later than 30 days after the end of each specified reporting period for quarterly and semi-annual reports, and 90 calendar days for annual and final reports. Extensions of reporting due dates may be approved by the Federal awarding agency upon request of the recipient.

(2) SF-272, Report of Federal Cash Transactions.

(i) When funds are advanced to recipients the Federal awarding agency shall require each recipient to submit the SF-272 and, when necessary, its continuation sheet, SF-272a. The Federal awarding agency shall use this report to monitor cash advanced to recipients and to obtain disbursement information for each agreement with the recipients.

(ii) Federal awarding agencies may require forecasts of Federal cash requirements in the “Remarks” section of the report.

(iii) When practical and deemed necessary, Federal awarding agencies may require recipients to report in the “Remarks” section the amount of cash advances received in excess of three days. Recipients shall provide short narrative explanations of actions taken to reduce the excess balances.

(iv) Recipients shall be required to submit not more than the original and two copies of the SF-272 15 calendar days following the end of each quarter. The Federal awarding agencies may require a monthly report from those recipients receiving advances totaling $1 million or more per year.

(v) Federal awarding agencies may waive the requirement for submission of the SF-272 for any one of the following reasons:

(A) When monthly advances do not exceed $25,000 per recipient, provided that such advances are monitored through other forms contained in this section;

(B) If, in the Federal awarding agency's opinion, the recipient's accounting controls are adequate to minimize excessive Federal advances; or,

(C) When the electronic payment mechanisms provide adequate data.

(b) When the Federal awarding agency needs additional information or more frequent reports, the following shall be observed.

(1) When additional information is needed to comply with legislative requirements, Federal awarding agencies shall issue instructions to require recipients to submit such information under the “Remarks” section of the reports.

(2) When a Federal awarding agency determines that a recipient's accounting system does not meet the standards in §518.21, additional pertinent information to further monitor awards may be obtained upon written notice to the recipient until such time as the system is brought up to standard. The Federal awarding agency, in obtaining this information, shall comply with report clearance requirements of 5 CFR part 1320.

(3) Federal awarding agencies are encouraged to shade out any line item on any report if not necessary.

(4) Federal awarding agencies may accept the identical information from the recipients in machine readable format or computer printouts or electronic outputs in lieu of prescribed formats.

(5) Federal awarding agencies may provide computer or electronic outputs to recipients when such expedites or contributes to the accuracy of reporting.