MS SB2741

State Auditor shall contract with private consultants to conduct recovery audits identifying overpayments made by state agencies to individuals, vendors, and other entities.

Overpayments include failure to meet eligibility requirements, duplicate payments, invoice errors, failure to apply discounts, non-compliance with purchasing agreements, and other inadvertent errors.

Recovery audits are mandatory for state agencies with total expenditures exceeding $50 million per biennium and for agencies receiving audit findings for internal control weaknesses in payments and contracts.

Consultant compensation is based on a specified percentage of recovered amounts, with contractors potentially pursuing judicial action to recover overpaid funds; audits cannot begin until 90 days after payment is made.

State Auditor must provide recovery audit reports to the Governor, Department of Finance and Administration Director, and Joint Legislative Budget Committee within seven business days of receipt, with annual summaries reported to the Legislature by December 31.