Report Contents
What OIG Audited
In FY 2025, improper and unknown federal payments government-wide totaled approximately $186 billion. The Payment Integrity Information Act of 2019 (PIIA) requires Inspectors General to annually determine whether agencies complied with the act and establishes requirements for agencies that are deemed noncompliant. The Office of Inspector General (OIG) conducted this audit to determine whether the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) complied with PIIA for FY 2025. As part of this objective, OIG also evaluated USAGM’s efforts to prevent and reduce improper and unknown payments.
What OIG Recommends
OIG concluded that USAGM did not comply with payment integrity requirements for FY 2025. OIG made one recommendation to improve compliance with PIIA. Based on USAGM’s response to a draft of this report, OIG considerers the recommendation resolved, pending further action. USAGM’s response is reprinted in its entirety in Appendix B.
What OIG Found
For FY 2025, OIG found that USAGM did not comply with payment integrity requirements, as presented in Table 1. OIG found that USAGM did not publish required payment integrity disclosures with its FY 2025 financial statements or in the required accompanying material. In addition, USAGM did not include a required link to paymentaccuracy.gov in its FY 2025 agency financial report. The reduction in USAGM’s workforce as well as organizational changes affected the agency’s financial reporting environment and impacted its ability to prepare a complete agency financial report. However, USAGM conducted program-specific risk assessments and made appropriate conclusions related to those risk assessments. These programs are presented in Tables 1 and 2 in the Audit Results section of this report. OIG did not identify any needed improvements involving improper and unknown payments determination or actions necessary to improve prevention and reduction.