Reports

The Mississippi Department of Employment Security (MDES) administers Mississippi’s unemployment benefits programs. With the influx of jobless claims and COVID relief aid as a result of the pandemic, total unemployment benefit claims increased from $59.6 million in FY 2019 to $2.1 billion in FY 2020. With this infusion of money came massive fraud and misspending. For example, from FY 2020 to FY 2021, known overpayments increased from $118 million to $474 million. The massive loss of money from Mississippi’s unemployment fund is partially the result of MDES bypassing or altering their own...

Objective: To determine whether the Social Security Administration had and used management controls over the service its 800 number employees provided callers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The audit will cover the expenditures and obligations of HAVA Requirement Payments, Election Security grants, and the CARES Act grants from the date of award through March 31, 2023. The objectives are to determine 1) if the State used funds for authorized purposed in accordance with requirements; 2) properly accounted for and controlled property purchased with HAVA payments; and (3) used the funds in a manner consistent with the informational plans provided to EAC.

The audit will cover the expenditures and obligations of HAVA Requirement Payments, Election Security grants, and the CARES Act grants from the date of award through March 31, 2023. The objectives are to determine 1) if the State used funds for authorized purposed in accordance with requirements; 2) properly accounted for and controlled property purchased with HAVA payments; and (3) used the funds in a manner consistent with the informational plans provided to EAC.

The audit will cover the expenditures and obligations of HAVA Requirement Payments, Election Security grants, and the CARES Act grants from the date of award through March 31, 2023. The objectives are to determine 1) if the State used funds for authorized purposed in accordance with requirements; 2) properly accounted for and controlled property purchased with HAVA payments; and (3) used the funds in a manner consistent with the informational plans provided to EAC.

Objective: To determine how the COVID-19 pandemic affected the disability determination services’ (DDS) processing of disability claims.

This Single Audit identifies federal funds spent by state agencies from July 1, 2020, to June 30, 2021. During this time, many state agencies were drawing down federal stimulus dollars from the Coronavirus Relief Fund. In this audit millions of questioned costs were discovered. Notable findings include that the Mississippi Department of Employment Security saw a 301 percent increase in known overpayments from the previous year and made at least $473 million in improper or fraudulent unemployment payments this year. This included unemployment payments to prisoners and people outside of...

Objective: To determine whether the Social Security Administration (SSA) complied with its enumeration policies and procedures and had adequate controls over managing evidentiary documents submitted to support Social Security number (SSN) card applications during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The audit will cover the expenditures and obligations of HAVA Requirement Payments, Election Security grants, and the CARES Act grants from the date of award through March 31, 2022. The objectives are to determine 1) if the State used funds for authorized purposed in accordance with requirements; 2) properly accounted for and controlled property purchased with HAVA payments; and (3) used the funds in a manner consistent with the informational plans provided to EAC.

Objective: To determine whether the Social Security Administration (SSA) had adequate controls over mail processing during the COVID-19 pandemic.