Report Summary - A-44-01-31051

Information System Controls of the Social Security Administration's Representative Payee System (Limited Distribution) (A-44-01-31051)

Our objective was to assess the representative payee system's input, processing and output (application controls).

We reviewed the significant application controls for the representative payee system. While we found many controls were strong and operating effectively, we also identified areas where controls should be improved. Our specific findings were as follows.

Input controls were strong but should be improved.

Processing controls needed to be strengthened.

Processing alerts needed improvement.

Based on the information obtained from the Social Security Administration (SSA) and the tests we performed, we made 13 recommendations to SSA for improvements in the representative payee system. SSA agreed with our recommendations and is in the process of either implementing the recommended changes or evaluating the extent of system changes needed to implement the recommendations.

This report contains information that is sensitive and confidential. For security reasons, distribution of this report was limited to those with a need to know.