Millions of government dollars sent to wrong bank accounts in last fiscal year

The federal government sent nearly $26 million worth of payments to the wrong bank accounts in the 2020-21 fiscal year, representing a surge in misdirected funds compared to previous years.

Volume three of the 2021 Public Accounts report notes that money was sent to the wrong accounts in 22,170 cases, amounting to $25.9 million, between April 1, 2020 and March 31, 2021. While $7.1 million has been recovered, it's expected that $10.2 million will be permanently mislaid.

Comparatively, in the previous fiscal year, the government misdirected 9,619 payments totalling $6.6 million. This is the second largest amount of misdirected deposits since 2009.

A misdirected direct deposit occurs when a payment is made to an account other than that of the intended payee. This often happens when a government department or agency mistakenly provides the Receiver General's office – the department responsible for overseeing all funds coming in and going out of government accounts – with an incorrect bank account number.

Common reasons for this include manual errors, the recipient entering the wrong information or not advising the department or financial institution of changes, or fraud.