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The PPP program is already facing backlash for doling out millions of dollars to big-name law firms, Wall Street managers and companies with ties to President Donald Trump and other politicians. Now critics say the data issues make it difficult to evaluate how well the program worked, especially because the names of borrowers were redacted for smaller loans that account for about 87 percent of the number of loans.

“We should know where the money went, how many jobs were saved, and right now with the data, we don’t have that ability to say with any certainty,” said Kyle Herrig, president of Accountable.us, a government watchdog group that often criticizes the Trump administration.

The reported number of jobs is based on information provided by applicants, according to a spokesperson for the Treasury Department, which runs the PPP with the Small Business Administration. While some borrowers may have erroneously omitted the jobs number, the total value of loans approved is consistent with supporting about 51 million jobs based on average small-business employee compensation, the spokesperson said.

Under the program, borrowers file their applications through an approved lender. After the SBA issues a loanguarantee number for banks to disburse funds, the lender and borrower can agree to a lower amount, the spokesperson said. The SBA and Treasury didn’t explain how some million-dollar loans in the data are much higher than the amount some borrowers said they applied for and received.

Some banks said the

problem with the jobs data is that neither the PPP application nor the SBA’S electronic system, called Etran, which lenders use to submit applications, required an input for “jobs retained.” There was a box for “number of employees,” and some lenders said they submitted that number while others said they left it blank.

Washington Trust Bank said that E-tran, normally used for the SBA’S primary 7(a) loan program, offered three fields for job information: existing, created or retained. Lacking guidance from the agency, the bank said it entered its job numbers in the “existing” field. The SBA data set published last week shows only retained jobs, which helps explain why this category has so many zeros.

The Spokane-based bank said it processed more than 5,000 PPP loans, affecting 117,714 jobs, as of July 3. The SBA data show 5,268 loans,

with 6,336 jobs retained.

Washington Trust said it’s reaching out to media outlets to explain why the job numbers are incorrect as well as encouraging the SBA to clarify its process and correct its information.

“The misleading data from the SBA has surprised and dismayed companies and small business owners who are now receiving calls from both media and customers,” Washington Trust President Jack Heath said in a statement.

Getting the jobs number right will matter even more when borrowers apply for loan forgiveness: The business owners will have to prove they maintained headcount and salaries to get their aid turned into a grant. If the SBA determines that a borrower is ineligible, the agency will direct the lender to deny loan forgiveness, the Treasury spokesperson said.

Supporters credit the

PPP, created and implemented in a matter of days, for getting funding quickly to millions of U.S. small firms that self-certified they needed the funds as businesses were shuttered.

Bloomberg News spoke to more than a dozen companies that, according to the government, received loans of more than $1 million with a reported one job retained. The borrowers all said there were errors in the data set.

Frank Demandt, owner of a Miami architectural firm, said that he had four employees and that the loan value was grossly overstated. He said he received $19,700, not the $1 million to $2 million range cited in the SBA data. Demandt’s lender, Bankunited Inc., confirmed the loan amount and said it doesn’t know why the data say otherwise.

Several firms, including scooter rental service Bird Rides Inc., have complained that they appear in the data

even though they didn’t apply for or receive aid.

The SBA inspector general, whose May report criticized the agency for not collecting demographic data to prioritize loans to underserved and rural areas as Congress intended, has a review about the implementation of PPP and is aware of public reporting about anomalies, spokesman Sheldon Shoemaker said.

Miller, the Tennessee accountant whose loan was reported as between $2 million and $5 million in the SBA data, said he learned about the error when a friend saw his name in a list of PPP recipients published on a local newspaper’s website and asked why Miller hadn’t left town yet. The lender, Millennium Bank, couldn’t be reached for comment.

“This whole thing is a farce,” Miller said.

Niquette, Townsend and Levitt write for Bloomberg News.