After Your Grant Is Approved (2026): Claims, Compliance and Audit Guide for Singapore Businesses

The Letter of Offer arrives, the celebratory email goes around the office, and everyone feels the grant is done. It isn’t. For every Singapore government grant — from the Enterprise Development Grant (EDG) to the Productivity Solutions Grant (PSG) to the Market Readiness Assistance (MRA) grant — the real work begins after approval. The claims, compliance and audit phase is where poorly-run projects lose their funding, and where well-run ones learn to recycle grant expertise into a repeatable capability.

Raffles Corporate Services works with a panel of experienced Singapore law firms who offer cost-effective and efficient legal service and advice. This article is general information only and is not legal advice.

This guide walks through the post-approval life-cycle of a Singapore grant: what the Letter of Offer actually binds you to, how to run a claim, how audits happen, and the red lines that can trigger clawback.

Read the Letter of Offer Line by Line

Every grant approved by Enterprise Singapore, IMDA or SFA is confirmed through a Letter of Offer (LOF). The LOF is a contract, not a courtesy letter. It sets out four things that determine the entire post-approval phase:

• The project scope — the deliverables the grant is funding.
• The qualifying costs — categorised into manpower, equipment, software, third-party services, and other approved cost lines. Only expenses in these categories at the approved rate are claimable.
• The project period — usually 12, 18 or 24 months, with a hard end-date. Costs incurred outside this window are not claimable, no matter how legitimate they are commercially.
• The disbursement schedule — typically 30% or 50% on completion of interim milestones and the balance on final acceptance.

Sign the LOF only after every line item makes sense. Once signed, the scope, cost lines and end date are binding.

Build the Grant Project Governance Structure

Before the first claim, set up three things:

1. A dedicated project code in the accounting system. Every grant-related invoice, payroll allocation and payment must be tagged to this code. Auditors will trace claims back to the general ledger, and untagged expenses are the most common reason for disallowance.
2. A grant project file. Keep the LOF, project plan, milestone acceptance sign-offs, contracts with vendors, and all invoices in a single indexed folder. Digital is fine, but the audit team will want to see everything in one place.
3. Named project owner. One person, not a committee, must be accountable for the grant. In listed and mid-sized companies this is usually the CFO or a Head of Transformation. In SMEs it is often the Managing Director. See our EDG vs PSG vs MRA comparison for how much internal governance each grant expects.

Submitting a Claim: The Mechanics

Claims are submitted through the Business Grants Portal (BGP) at businessgrants.gov.sg. Each claim requires:

• A Statement of Accounts detailing all qualifying costs incurred to date, split by cost line.
• Supporting documents — invoices, proof of payment, payroll records with CPF contributions where manpower is claimed, contracts, and delivery evidence.
• An Independent Auditor’s Report (IAR) for larger claims — usually required when the claim value exceeds S$100,000 or is the final claim for the project.
• A project completion report demonstrating that the deliverables were achieved.

Claims must be submitted within the timeline stated in the LOF, typically within 12 months of the project end date. Late claims are rejected.

The Independent Auditor’s Report

For EDG claims above S$100,000, the IAR is the gatekeeper. The IAR is a formal audit performed by an independent public accountant against Enterprise Singapore’s grant audit framework. The auditor tests each cost line for eligibility, computes the qualifying amount, and issues an opinion. Companies typically budget S$3,000 to S$10,000 for the IAR depending on project size.

Common issues the IAR flags:

• Manpower claims for staff not actually working on the project.
• Invoices dated outside the project period.
• Related-party transactions without arm’s-length documentation.
• Duplicate claims across grants — for example claiming the same equipment under both PSG and EDG.
• Software licences that renew beyond the project period being claimed in full.

Manpower Claims Are the Highest-Risk Cost Line

More than half of grant clawbacks arise from manpower claims. The rules are strict:

• Only Singapore Citizens and PRs are typically claimable (foreign staff are usually excluded).
• The staff member must be genuinely deployed on the project — a formal timesheet or work log is expected.
• The claim is based on gross salary plus CPF at the actual employer contribution rate, capped at defined salary ceilings per role.
• Bonuses, allowances and non-cash benefits are excluded unless explicitly listed as claimable.

Our Payroll and CPF guide covers the underlying computation rules.

The Post-Disbursement Compliance Period

Receiving the final tranche is not the end. Grantees typically remain under a “post-completion compliance” obligation for two to three years. During this period:

• Equipment funded by the grant cannot be sold, leased or transferred without approval.
• The grantee must remain in operation in Singapore.
• Random audits by Enterprise Singapore or its appointed auditor can be triggered on notice.
• Fraud, misrepresentation or breach of the LOF can lead to clawback with interest, plus disqualification from future grants.

Clawback Scenarios

Enterprise Singapore has published statements confirming that grantees have been asked to return funds where:

• The company was struck off or wound up within the compliance period.
• Key project deliverables were not achieved.
• Equipment purchased with grant money was disposed of prematurely.
• Manpower claims were inflated using non-existent staff or unrelated employees.
• Grants were “stacked” incorrectly — claiming the same cost across multiple schemes. See our multi-grant stacking guide for the rules.

Clawback comes with interest and can trigger regulatory referral in serious cases.

Common Post-Approval Mistakes

The pattern of mistakes is well-worn. Businesses treat the LOF as boilerplate rather than as a contract. They start incurring costs before the LOF is signed. They pay vendors before the payment cut-off but only receive delivery after the project end. They lose track of the milestone-completion sign-off. Or they never build the accounting infrastructure to track the grant project, so when the auditor arrives every invoice needs to be found in a paper stack. Each of these can be avoided by treating the grant as a project with its own governance from day one.

Working with a Grant Consultant

For grants above S$150,000, the fees of a good grant consultant are usually well spent. A consultant handles the BGP submission, coordinates with the IAR auditor, keeps the claim documentation clean, and negotiates variations with Enterprise Singapore when the project scope needs to shift. That said, the LOF binds the grantee, not the consultant — the accountability cannot be outsourced. See our overview of the Singapore SkillsFuture Enterprise Credit for one of the schemes that can pay for consulting fees themselves.

The Compliance Mindset Pays Off

Companies that treat grant post-approval as a discipline — not an administrative afterthought — end up with three lasting benefits. First, they get the full disbursement. Second, they build audit-ready systems that make the next grant application faster. Third, they earn a reputation with Enterprise Singapore as a reliable grantee, which quietly influences approval odds on future applications. The grant is real money. The compliance is what you do to keep it.

Statutory framework: the Enterprise Development Fund is administered under Section 5 of the Enterprise Singapore Board Act 2018, and grant terms are published on enterprisesg.gov.sg.

— The Editorial Team, Raffles Corporate Services