Audit of the Massachusetts State Employee Retirement Board (November 3, 2025)

This is a performance audit of the Massachusetts State Retirement Board, focused on certain activities during July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2024.

“In accordance with Section 12 of Chapter 11 of the Massachusetts General Laws, the Office of the State Auditor has conducted a performance audit of certain activities of the Massachusetts State Retirement Board (MSRB) for the period July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2024.”

The audit was done to see whether the board’s website followed accessibility rules so people with different abilities could use it.

“The purpose of our audit was to determine whether MSRB’s website adhered to the World Wide Web Consortium’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 for user accessibility, keyboard accessibility, navigation accessibility, language accessibility, error identification, and color accessibility.”

Government websites are a major way people get public information and services, so they need to work for people with disabilities too.

“Government websites are an important way for the general public to access government information and services.”

If you use the retirement board’s website, especially with a disability or assistive technology, this audit says the site met the accessibility areas the auditors tested.

“Adherence to WCAG helps ensure that all users, regardless of ability, can access the content and functions of MSRB’s website.”

The auditors concluded that the website complied with the accessibility policy and WCAG 2.1 areas they reviewed.

“Did MSRB’s website comply with the Executive Office of Technology Services and Security’s Enterprise Information Technology Accessibility Policy and the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 for user accessibility, keyboard accessibility, navigation accessibility, language accessibility, error identification, and color accessibility?”

Because the audit found no reportable problems, there are no findings in the report requiring corrective action.

“Our audit revealed no significant instances of noncompliance by MSRB that must be reported under generally accepted government auditing standards; therefore, this report contains no findings.”

This matters because many Massachusetts adults have disabilities, and accessible websites help them use government services online.

“The impact of these standards can be significant, as the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 1,488,012 adults (26% of the adult population) in Massachusetts have a disability, as of 2022.”

WCAG is a set of web accessibility guidelines meant to make websites easier to use for people with disabilities, including people using tools like screen readers or keyboard navigation.

“In 1999, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), an international nongovernmental organization responsible for internet standards, published the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 1.0 to provide guidance on how to make web content more accessible to people with disabilities.”