Purchasing Card Program
Internal Control and Compliance Audit

Conclusion

The state’s purchasing card program generally had adequate internal controls to ensure that card purchases complied with the state’s policies and procedures. However, we found some control weaknesses and some purchases that did not comply with state policies and procedures.

Findings

• Some state agencies did not retain adequate supporting documentation related to the purchasing card program’s administrative requirements and certain purchasing card transactions.
• Several state agencies used the state purchasing card to buy items prohibited by state or department policies.
• Half of the state agencies we tested did not consistently pay sales and use taxes to the Minnesota Department of Revenue when vendors failed to charge the tax at the time of purchase.
• Several agencies had weak controls over cardholder limits.
• The current purchasing card policy lacked a few controls.

Audit Scope and Objectives

Our objectives were to determine whether the state had adequate internal controls for its purchasing card program and whether employees complied with the state’s purchasing card policies. We tested 943 purchases, totaling about $639,000, made by employees of 18 state agencies using purchasing cards from July 2007 through July 2009.