The Oregon Secretary of State (Audits Division) team analyzes huge amounts of data, spots anomalies, and protects taxpayer dollars. The Audits Division provides oversight of public spending within Oregon state. It also oversees state agency compliance with accounting rules and the standards for audits of local governments and reports on the performance of state departments.

A lot of the division’s time is spent getting data, analyzing it and doing the resulting audit work. Jamie Ralls, the audit manager, and her team manage audits of huge programs, with large-scale data systems
and millions of records, across programs like Medicaid, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and foster care. They visit multiple departments, agencies and service providers each year, conducting interviews and trying to identify and solve the problems that might result in fraud, waste and abuse.

“ I found inmates that were in prison on public assistance. But I think the coolest thing was helping to bring down a Mexican drug cartel that was using food stamps and channelling those dollars to Mexico.”

– Jamie Ralls,
Audit Manage