Amsterdam's €188 mln error caused by software

A technical error in the payment system is expected to cost Amsterdam up to 1.5 million euros. In December, about 10,000 households wrongly received a hundred times the annual contribution for housing expenses in their account. The amounts varied from 11,750 to 34,250 euros. Of the 188 million euros paid out in error for living expenses contributions, 185.6 million euros has been recovered, Volkskrant reported on Monday. A research by KPMG has discovered that software being used by the Amsterdam City Council calculates payments in cents rather than euros. The staff was unable to detect the error. On Monday, alderman Pieter Hilhorst said that “this should never have happened.” According to city council, the supervision of its finance office has been increased to avoid such problems in the future. A new board will be appointed to supervise the finance office and make sure the mistake will never happen again.