For three years....I had to do monthly internal audits within a gov’t agency over their visa cards. It’s the easiest job possible to do audits over....everything comes to you at the conclusion of a monthly cycle and you start to compare against the authorizations list and how they were used. You can knock out a hundred transactions in about two hours. If people are that stupid over misuse....you can identify it, cite evidence, and trigger immediate disciplinary action, including firing them. You’d have to be an absolute idiot to carry the card and abuse it.
I am required to provide both an Itemized list of expendatures along with a reciept of the transaction every month when the Card Statement arrives. I am then required to fill out a Purchase Order request and charge each transaction to it’s proper internal account...ie, travel, equipment, maintenence and repair. This is for a Organization that has a 20 Million Dollar a year Budget.
It’s stories like this that make me laugh when the discussion turns to NeroCare and how the Government is going to handle everyone’s health care.
As a former federal manager I gave quite a few employees days on the beach for for misuse of travel cards.
What this article fails to mention is that the travel cards are in the name of the employee. The employee is fully responsible for all charges be they authorized or unauthorized.
Failure to timely pay your bill will result in disciplinary action up to removal. The employee takes the credit hit on their record and is still responsible for the debt even if separated from employment. If the employee has completed their travel voucher and not been reimbursed from the GOV they still have to pay or the debt goes to collections.
I hated the stupid cards and would much rather have used my own card so I would get the points. However use of the card is mandatory for all official travel.
What I want to know is what is the government doing with all the points they rack up every year. Great way to fund projects off budget or line someones pocket.
STRIIIIIIIIIIIIIKE!!!!
I worked for a private company where I had my own credit card to use for business functions. At the end of every month I sat down in front of a computer and pulled up software where I had to code every charge to match the receipts, print it out and then interoffice everything to accounting. I am sure they then checked it as well.