GAE2103. The Impact of Covid-19

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress appropriated around $5 trillion in emergency assistance for people, businesses, the health care system, and state and local governments. The large amount of funds and the urgency to get money to those in need caused multiple challenges for the overseers of this effort, from transparency and uncertainty around the accuracy of reporting, to timeliness of making this information available, as well as the risk for improper payments. This panel of senior officials from GAO, Treasury, the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee and a federal OIG will discuss the following:

• How has financial reporting been impacted as to its timeliness and the accuracy/quality of information?
• Has transparency in financial information reporting been sufficient and easily accessible, for example on USASpending.gov?
• What challenges did COVID-19 create that affected payment integrity and the risk of fraud and improper payments?

Learning Objectives:

• Participants will learn of the challenges in overseeing of this effort, including transparency and uncertainty around the accuracy of reporting
• Participants will learn of the challenges in overseeing of this effort, including the timeliness of making this information available, as well as the risk for improper payments.