Securities and Exchange Commission
The SEC assesses its payment integrity in a number of ways each fiscal year. During FY2025, the agency conducted internal controls activities to assess its financial reporting processes including assessment of the strength and accuracy of its payment processes. During FY 2025, the agency conducted its triannual improper payments risk assessment as directed by the Payment Integrity Information Act of 2019 (PIIA). The results of this assessment validated that the SEC's six major programs were still at low risk for improper payments. Assessments during the year showed a very low level of improper payments and the agency’s processes for self-identification of these payments were well developed. In addition, during FY 2025 the agency underwent the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) annual audit which evaluated the SEC’s FY 2024 Compliance with the Payment Integrity Information Act of 2019 (PIIA) as required by this legislation. Based on this evaluation, the OIG concluded that the SEC complied with the PIIA in FY 2024 and reported efforts to prevent and reduce improper payments.
Show full executive summaryRecovery information
Why recovery audits are not cost effective in certain programs
The benefits of recaptured amounts associated with implementing and overseeing the program do not exceed the costs— including staff time and payments to contractors— of a payment recapture audit program. In making this determination, the SEC considered its low improper payment rate based on testing conducted over several years. The SEC also considered whether sophisticated software and other cost efficient techniques could be used to identify significant overpayments at a low cost per overpayment, or if labor intensive manual reviews of paper documentation would be required. In addition, the SEC considered the availability of tools to efficiently perform the payment recapture audit and minimize payment recapture audit costs. The SEC will continue to monitor its improper payments across all programs and activities it administers and assess whether implementing payment recapture audits for each program is cost-effective.
Supplemental Information
The SEC utilizes the Do Not Pay (DNP) Initiative by evaluating possible improper
payments flagged by the DNP Portal to ascertain whether flagged payments are
actual improper payments. Historically, the agency has had very few improper
payments, and this has continued during FY2025. After payment has been sent, the SEC monitors the system once a week to be proactive if DNP marks a payment as possibly improper in order to research and request return of a payment, if needed.
The Working System has reduced/prevented improper payments:
SEC has not identitied incorrect information in the Working System.
SEC was found compliant during the most recent PIIA compliance review.
Show full list of compliant programs 
Compliant programs:
- Disgorgement & Penalty Distributions
- Filing Fee deposit refunds
- Salaries & Benefits
- Travel Payments
- Vendor Payments
- Whistleblower Payments
| Program name | When was the last improper payment risk assessment conducted? | Likely to be susceptible to significant improper payments? | Substantial changes made to the assessment methodology used for the reporting cycle |
|---|---|---|---|
| Disgorgement & Penalty Distributions | 2025 |
 No
|
|
| Filing Fee deposit refunds | 2025 |
No
|
|
| Salaries & Benefits | 2025 |
No
|
|
| Travel Payments | 2025 |
No
|
|
| Vendor Payments | 2025 |
No
|
|
| Whistleblower Payments | 2025 |
No
|
The SEC conducted its latest full improper payments risk assessment in FY 2025 and an additional assessment on one additional program in FY 2023. The SEC’s
determination that all of its evaluated programs are low risk is based upon the results of these assessments, in which none of its programs/activities were deemed susceptible to significant improper payments at or above the threshold levels set by OMB. These programs have historically had low volumes and risks of improper payments given the controls and processes in place.