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Internal audit of city P-cards begins
By BRIAN PORTER/Managing Editor
An investigation into public records by a citizen has led to an internal audit of procurement cards of all city employees.
Laurieann Dygowski presented her findings to the Rowlett City Council on Sept. 4 and Brian Funderburk said Tuesday an internal audit is being performed on all procurement cards in all departments.
An independent auditor will conduct an analysis of employee use of procurement cards, in addition to an internal audit.
“Safeguarding of public funds is our highest priority,” Funderburk said. “We will review 100 percent of the transactions.”
Funderburk explained procurement cards are used by many entities because tracking of expenditures is easier than use of store accounts.
The city of Rowlett entered into an agreement with JP Morgan Chase to provide authorized employees procurement cards to purchase materials and services costing less than $3,000. The procurement cards allows the city to promptly pay suppliers, reduce processing costs and decentralize purchasing responsibility.
Card misuse would include purchasing items for personal use, exceeding card credit limit without authorization, failure to report lost or stolen cards in a timely manner, failure to report identity theft or fraud to supervisor, failure to return card upon termination or reassignment, failure to submit original receipt or transaction record to accounts payable, failure to submit documentation by designated date and using the card for recurring charges like Internet usage.
Employees were assigned cards after signing a card agreement. A three-strike policy is in place which could result in loss of the card and termination in some cases.
The internal audit is examining use of procurement cards based on purchases prior to the resident complaint and after the resident complaint. Funderburk indicates the findings from the audit thus far are pleasing to the city.
The review of parks and recreation is complete. There was one alcohol purchase, a violation of the card policy, but it was required because of a Festival of Freedom contract. There have been 74 violations noted, which account for 0.3 percent of all transactions in the 27,000 evaluated.
“We thought we would see that number around one percent,” Funderburk said.
No procurement cards have been revoked and one card is currently under appeal with the employee.
Contact Brian Porter at bporter@acnpapers.com or comment on this story at www.scntx.com.
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