Short answer: If you’ve received funding under most major Australian state or federal grant programs — including the Cooperative Research Centres Projects (CRC-P) program, the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF), and the Industry Growth Program — your grant agreement almost certainly requires you to submit an independent audit report as part of your end-of-project reporting.

This confirms your spending matched your grant agreement, and in most cases the cost of the audit itself is eligible grant expenditure.

A grant audit is an independent review of how you spent your grant funding. It verifies that expenditure claimed against the grant matches what was actually approved in your grant agreement.

It is distinct from a standard financial statement audit — it’s scoped specifically to the funded project and its budget.

Most major grant programs require an independent audit report at the end of the funded project, submitted alongside the end-of-project report.

Typically this includes:

• A statement of grant income and expenditure, prepared using a specific report template.
• An independent audit of that statement, confirming the expenditure claimed is accurate and in accordance with the grant agreement.

Some granting bodies can also request further information, re-examine claims, or require an independent audit of claims and payments at other points during the project.

This is a common requirement across a wide range of Australian state and federal grant programs, including:

• Cooperative Research Centres Projects (CRC-P)
• Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF)
• Industry Growth Program
• State and Territory Grant Programs

Requirements vary by program, so always check the specific audit and reporting clauses in your own grant agreement.

In many cases, yes. Audit costs are eligible grant expenditure under a number of programs, including CRC-P and MRFF, meaning the audit can often be funded from within your existing project budget rather than being an additional out-of-pocket cost.

Confirm this against your own grant agreement, as eligibility rules differ between programs.

The audit needs to be independent and performed by someone appropriately qualified — such as an accountant holding a Chartered Accountants Certificate of Public Practice or a registered auditor.

Beyond the qualification itself, it helps to work with a provider who understands how grant budgets, milestones and reporting requirements are structured in practice, since grant audits differ from a standard business audit in scope and reporting format.

Intellect Labs provides independent grant audit services in-house, with staff holding the qualifications required to perform this work, including a Chartered Accountants Certificate of Public Practice.

Combined with our experience across grant budgeting and reporting processes, we can prepare and audit your statement of grant income and expenditure, and support you if a granting body requests further information or an audit of claims and payments during the life of your project.