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FLORIDA TECH
OFFICE OF PURCHASING |
POLICY NO.: 194 |
PAGE NO.: 1 OF 2 |
SUPERSEDES NO.: All previous policies. |
TITLE: Purchasing Card Audit Policy |
SUBMITTED BY: Purchasing |
REVISED DATE: May 1, 2003 |
APPROVED BY: Purchasing |
Purchasing Card Program Audit
Purchasing Card Program audits are to be performed by the Office of Purchasing as part of routine oversight of business procedures or when suspected infraction of University policy has occurred within a unit. The steps listed below are intended for use as a management tool and fall within the use of the purchasing card policy.
Assessment Objectives:
1. Obtain a list of cardholders within the unit under review, including single and monthly purchase
limits.
- Confirm that each cardholder is an active employee.
- Determine that each card is properly safeguarded and where the card is kept.
- Determine whether card-sharing occurs, i.e., if someone other than the cardholder is using the card.
2. Select a sample of purchases. Include in the sample:
- All purchases from suppliers that MAY indicate the potential for personal purchases.
- Purchases from e-Marketplace suppliers and other suppliers.
3. Perform the following:
- Make sure that the cardholder maintains an orderly and easily retrievable file containing all supporting documentation for their transactions. Compare each transaction to the required documentation (i.e., order form, sales receipt, statement, or packing slip) and determine that the supplier, date, amount, description of item(s) purchased, and the account number charged are proper. List exceptions.
- Determine why the cardholder might have made purchasing card purchases from e-Marketplace suppliers.
- Compare each transaction to the list of restricted commodities. List exceptions.
- If sales tax, finance charges, or fees have been incurred, determine whether cardholder's supporting documentation shows that these were warranted.
- Splitting transactions are considered a personal misuse and a possible indication that the cardholder is using the incorrect procurement tool. Determine whether this is occurring by looking for multiple transaction amounts for the same supplier, on or around the same date, and at or just below the cardholder's single purchase limit.
4. Determine that the selected monthly cardholder statements:
- Contain the cardholder's signature indicating that the cardholder reviewed and reconciled the statement. List exceptions.
5. For grant accounts, confirm that grant mangers are determining that purchasing card purchases are:
- allowable, allocable, and reasonable.
- not prohibited by the sponsor or federal guidelines.
- authorized by the Principal Investigator (PI).
6. Ensure that segregation of duties is adequate so that no one person controls all phases of the purchasing card usage (transaction initiation, authorization for payment, and reconciliation) and to reduce the likelihood of errors and irregularities going undetected.
7. Review the roles and cardholders periodically to ensure that card privileges are still appropriate.
8. Communicate the results of the review to appropriate levels of management.
9. Advise staff members that the university will impose various degrees of sanctions for careless or blatant misuse of the card:
- Verbal warning.
- Loss of purchasing card privileges for a specific period of time or permanently.
- Written warning added to the employee's personal file.
- Termination of employment and possible civil and/or criminal prosecution for suspected serious infractions of university policy and violation of the law.
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