Commission an independent grant spend audit when the award is material to your turnover, when conditions are complex, or when a previous claim drew queries you have not fully closed. Boards also ask for an audit before signing a new multi-year agreement if prior controls were informal.
A health check may be enough when systems are mature and the risk is a single upcoming claim. Choose a full spend audit when clawback exposure would be significant, when staff who ran the grant have left, or when you are preparing for a formal investigation.
Scope the engagement carefully. Ask for a written opinion, a findings schedule, and a remediation list—not a generic letter that restates your own narrative. The value is in the exceptions, not in reassurance alone.