Federal Reports

Observations on the SEC’s Rulemaking Process, Report No. 588

Over the last 5 years, the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) has been unable to pass a financial audit, receiving disclaimers of opinion year after year. The independent public auditor has been unable to offer an opinion on the financial state of SBA because it has not received sufficient evidence to support a number of balances. We reviewed SBA’s history of disclaimers and material weaknesses from fiscal years 2020 to 2024, open recommendations, and SBA’s new strategy for addressing material weaknesses and obtaining a clean audit opinion.

SBA’s accounting deficiencies were primarily related to administering an unprecedented amount of disaster assistance aid and guaranteed loan funds to help eligible small business owners and entrepreneurs adversely affected by the pandemic. Over the course of 18 months, the agency delivered 22.1 million pandemic assistance loans and grants, totaling $1.2 trillion. To address the systemic financial reporting deficiencies, SBA launched its Financial Statement Audit Remediation Strategy in January 2025 to resolve the seven material weaknesses and 56 open audit recommendations.

We made four recommendations to enhance implementation of SBA’s financial statements remediation strategy. We recommended the Administrator appoint a senior executive to lead the effort and emphasize audit remediation priorities through consistent agencywide communication. We also recommended that the remediation strategy be incorporated into SBA’s next strategic plan and individual performance plans to ensure accountability. SBA management agreed with all four recommendations.

Our objectives were to determine whether the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (Wisconsin) designed and implemented (1) application processes that adequately assessed nonpublic schools’ eligibility for Emergency Assistance to Nonpublic Schools (EANS)-funded services or assistance and complied with other applicable requirements, and (2) oversight processes to ensure that EANS-funded services or assistance were used for allowable purposes. Although we found Wisconsin’s processes to assess nonpublic schools’ eligibility for EANS-funded services and assistance ensured that funds were obligated within 6 months of receipt and that applications for the EANS programs were generally approved or denied timely in accordance with Federal regulations, we found that Wisconsin allocated ARP EANS funds to nonpublic schools that did not meet program eligibility requirements and did not verify some information that nonpublic schools provided in their applications for EANS funds. Additionally, Wisconsin’s oversight of its contractor’s administration of EANS expenditures and inventory processes could be improved. Specifically, Wisconsin did not effectively monitor its contractor to ensure that expenditures were properly accounted for, supporting documentation was maintained, and assets purchased with EANS funds were tracked. Further, Wisconsin’s processes did not ensure that fees charged to the nonpublic schools’ EANS funds were reasonable and appropriate. However, Wisconsin’s oversight was adequate to ensure that EANS-funded services and assistance were for allowable purposes.  Wisconsin’s improper approval of ineligible nonpublic schools’ applications resulted in providing over $20 million in ARP EANS-funded services and assistance to 184 nonpublic schools. Further, because Wisconsin did not verify certain information in nonpublic schools’ applications, it provided $838,829 for EANS-funded services and assistance to one ineligible school and did not have assurance that all schools that were approved to participate in the programs had a nonprofit status. We made seven recommendations to address the issues we identified in Wisconsin’s administration and oversight of its EANS programs.

The objective of our audit was to determine whether West Virginia Department of Education (WVDE) implemented selected components of its statewide accountability system in accordance with West Virginia’s approved Every Student Succeeds Act State plan and any approved amendments. The selected components were (1) indicators used to measure student academic achievement and school success, (2) annual meaningful differentiation, and (3) identification of schools needing additional support. We evaluated WVDE’s processes for implementing selected components of West Virginia’s statewide accountability system for school year 2021–2022.  We found that WVDE generally implemented selected components of the statewide accountability system in accordance with West Virginia’s State plan and amendments and WVDE’s policies and procedures and correctly allocated additional funding to local educational agencies (LEA) with schools identified in the fall of 2022 as needing additional support. However, WVDE incorrectly identified for additional support and improvement 12 schools that were not eligible for additional support services. Additionally, WVDE did not always keep records showing that it provided additional support services, such as planning and collaboration, diagnostic and monitoring activities, and technical assistance, to LEAs with schools identified as needing additional support. We made three recommendations to strengthen WVDE’s implementation of selected components of its statewide accountability system.