IWD Statement in Response to the Iowa State Auditor

Iowa Workforce Development Communications
For Immediate Release
Date: January 30, 2025
Contact: Jesse Dougherty
Telephone: 515-725-5487
Email: communications@iwd.iowa.gov

IWD Statement in Response to the Iowa State Auditor

DES MOINES, IOWA – Iowa Workforce Development reported potentially fraudulent activity to the Office of the State Auditor on June 7, 2022, shortly after being notified by the local workforce board. In addition, the US Department of Labor and the US Office of Inspector General were also notified by IWD. Since that time, IWD has worked diligently with the auditor’s office to fully discover the extent and nature of the fraudulent activity. 

Auditor Sand stated that his office has advised IWD to improve their monitoring process in five of six of their most recent reports and no action was taken. It is simply inaccurate to say that IWD took no action to improve its monitoring and oversight responsibilities. IWD implemented enhanced sub-recipient monitoring beginning in January 2020. IWD received only one other additional comment about sub-recipient monitoring from the auditor prior to June 2022 (Link). The remaining four audit reports referenced by Auditor Sand were issued to IWD after June 2022, including three reports that were issued in late 2024, more than two years after the incident had already been reported.

IWD remains committed to continuing its concerted efforts to identify and prevent fraud as part of its mission to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars.