Harrisburg, PA — Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity today released the Pennsylvania Treasury Department’s first-ever Payment Production and Improper Payments Report, giving taxpayers an unprecedented look at the rigorous audit process that protects Commonwealth funds before they go out the door.
“As State Treasurer, making government more transparent isn’t just a priority, it’s my mission,” Treasurer Garrity said. “For the first time ever, Treasury is offering a clear look at the tangible savings generated by our robust auditing process — this is proof to taxpayers that they have a dedicated fiscal watchdog on their side, relentlessly safeguarding every dollar.”
In Fiscal Year 2024-25, Treasury’s Bureau of Fiscal Review audited nearly 10 million payment requests totaling more than $181 billion submitted by the more than 70 state agencies Treasury services. Through its audits, Fiscal Review identified and prevented 18,765 improper payments worth nearly $820 million — and documented $88.1 million in direct taxpayer savings by catching overpayments, duplicate payments and payments to incorrect payees before they were issued.
In adherence to the Fiscal Code, Treasury audits payment requisitions and may issue payment only for requests that are “lawful and correct.” Payments that don’t meet that standard are rejected as “improper” and returned to the submitting agency for correction or cancellation.
The most common rejection reasons in FY 2024-25 were incorrect addresses, missing or incorrect supporting documentation, incorrect payees and agency-requested rejections. Report highlights include a $2.9 million duplicate payment, a $1.2 million payment rejected because of an incorrect address and a rejected quarterly allocation worth more than $40 million after the submitting agency flagged calculation errors.
Over the previous five fiscal years (FY 19-20 through FY 23-24), Treasury prevented 106,806 improper payments totaling nearly $4.9 billion, generating approximately $290.5 million in documented savings.
The report is part of Treasurer Garrity’s commitment to expanding transparency by bringing more resources to OpenBookPA. Fiscal Review has long shared this data with the Office of the Budget, the Department of General Services and the Department of Revenue to help prevent future errors — but this marks the first time it’s been made public.
Pennsylvanians can find the Payment Production and Improper Payments Report at patreasury.gov/openbookpa.
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