Audit of Purchasing Card Program, July 2018

9 |  A u d i t o f t h e P u r c h a s i n g C a r d P r o g r a m  J u l y 2 0 1 8 2. Compliance with Purchasing Limits Observation  The P‐Card Manual, chapter 4.1, states that "the purchasing card program cannot be used to  split transactions to circumvent county purchasing laws/ordinances". Splitting a transaction is  when a cardholder allows a merchant to take a higher dollar transaction and process it across  multiple transactions on the same day or on multiple days to avoid an established single  transaction limit.  The auditor utilized data analytics software to identify individual transactions that were  purchased on the same P‐Card, to the same vendor, within a specified period of time.  The  transactions were then grouped together and the total purchase amount was calculated for  each instance. If the calculated total exceeded the single transaction limit, supporting  documentation was obtained and reviewed for further analysis.  In total, the auditor identified 71 instances where multiple transactions exceeded the single  transaction limit of the P‐Cardholder. Upon review of supporting documentation, it was  determined that three instances (4.2%), made by two different cardholders, occurred over 9  transactions, circumventing established single transaction spend limits.  Recommendation To ensure compliance with the P‐Card Manual, management should enhance training materials  in order to reinforce that splitting transactions to circumvent established spend limits is not  allowed and could result in the revocation of P‐Card privileges.  Management Response  The Purchasing Card Administrator will enhance training materials to reinforce that splitting  transactions to circumvent established spend limit is prohibited and could result in the  revocation of P‐Card privileges.   Upon receipt and review of the audit findings, a letter was sent to the Department Director  responsible for each case on July 19, 2018. The Procurement Division will obtain a written letter  of explanation from the Department Director and each case will be reviewed for corrective  action. Department Directors will be contacted for explanation by August 1, 2018.  The expected date of implementation is July 19, 2018.