You're absolutely right that having accurate information is always needed to make well-informed decisions, and in this case it's needed in order to demonstrate that the outcomes of the program were properly achieved.
What we noted in the audit was that the information being gathered when it came to demonstrating what jobs would be maintained as a result of receiving the funding was often overstated. The applications were just taken at face value. There was very little challenge function.
We noted a few examples. In one case, an agency indicated that 200 jobs would be maintained when the recipient received only $60,000. At times, forms indicated that more jobs would be maintained than the number of employees the applicant had indicated they had. That led us to believe that the number of jobs being maintained through the funding deployed was often being overstated, so it was really evident that a challenge function was needed.