I’ve audited these types of card programs before. The government has two main types of cards, travel and purchase. The travel card is like a credit card, where you get the bill and are responsible to pay it each time you charge. You get reimbursed through a voucher for your travel expenses, but you still have to pay it. The purchase card is automatically paid to the issuer of the card. The cardholder and an approving official (which is not supposed to be the direct supervisor to prevent collusion) are supposed to sign off on the purchases as legitimate. The data in the system they used should have identified the vendor, and all of those purchases should have been a red flag to any reviewer, based upon the companies she bought them from. No excuses.
The data in the system they used should have identified the vendor, and all of those purchases should have been a red flag to any reviewer,
Or maybe not. Can't say that I've ever seen a "Hot Gals of the IRS" in any men's magazines.. d:^)
Absolutely correct. I am a retired DoD employee who was issued a charge card to be used for official travel related expenses only. Every month, my organization received a detailed report from Bank of America showing who used their card during the previous month, what was purchased, where, when, etc. Despite the fact that there is a audit trail every step of the way, and a 100% chance you would get caught, we've had a number of people over the years who abused the use of the card, and were either disciplined or fired (don't know if any were prosecuted.) What got me was how incredulous some of these people were when confronted about their misuse of the government issued travel card. In my opinion, a big part is the "entitlement" mentality - "but you gave it to me! I should be able to use it for whatever I want!" Amazing.
Wonder if she claimed the value of what she charged as “imputed income”?