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SDLA Compliance Resource

Operationalize the 2026–27 Audit Guide

A July-start audit readiness review that assigns every applicable procedure, evidence source, responsible office, system owner, and year-end control.

  • Annual Audit
  • Audit Guide
  • Internal Controls
Date(s)July 1, 2026
Applies toLEAs, independent auditors, and programs subject to the 2026–27 annual financial and compliance audit

In Plain Language: Obtain the adopted 2026–27 Audit Guide, determine which procedures apply, compare them with local processes and prior findings, and begin retaining evidence before transactions and decisions become difficult to reconstruct.

Why this matters

The guide is not just an auditor’s year-end manual. It tells the LEA which controls, records, calculations, and populations may be tested during the year.

Primary ownership

Primary owner: chief business official/internal controls lead. Partners: independent auditor, program owners, payroll, procurement, attendance/data, nutrition, expanded learning, special education, governance, and records.

From guide to evidence: the SDLA ITO workflow

The audit readiness review turns an adopted guide into assigned owners, tested evidence, and a retained repository. This SDLA ITO (Input, Transformation, Output) graphic shows how the Audit Guide, prior findings and policy, and the partner offices and systems become an applicability matrix, a responsibility calendar, control-test results, and an evidence repository.

SDLA ITO: eleven steps from obtaining the 2026–27 Audit Guide and gathering prior findings, policy, partner offices, and systems, through procedure inventory, owner assignment, crosswalk, and testing, to the applicability matrix, responsibility calendar, control-test results, and retained evidence repository.
Read down each column, then move to the next: Input identifies what to collect; Transformation covers the procedure inventory, owner assignment, crosswalk of changes, and testing and correction; Output covers the applicability matrix, responsibility calendar, control-test results, and the retained evidence repository. Decide applicability procedure by procedure; do not send the whole guide to every department.

Open the full-size workflow graphic

Operational workflow

  1. Download and archive the adopted guide/version and adoption notice.
  2. Inventory audit procedures, applicability triggers, sampled populations, required representations, and evidence.
  3. Assign executive, program, data, fiscal, and records owners with collection dates.
  4. Crosswalk new/changed procedures to prior findings, policy, systems, and control gaps.
  5. Test evidence availability during the year and correct deficiencies before closeout.

Implementation pathway

Guide/version
Applicability matrix
Owner/evidence map
Control testing
Year-end readiness

Evidence to retain

  • Archived guide/version
  • Procedure applicability matrix
  • Responsibility calendar
  • Control-test results
  • Evidence repository index

Official guidance and help

Source review completed August 30, 2026. Verify current federal and California requirements, live reporting instructions, grant or audit year, local policy, source records, and final submitted state before acting.