2015-01 Performance Audit Report: County of Hawai'i's Purchasing Card (pCard) Program

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Treasury Deposit Slip was included in the transaction's supporting documentation to confirm the reimbursement. Some reimbursements were not made timely: Days For Reimbursement For Personal & Miscellaneous Purchases Days from transaction to reimbursement # of transactions % of transactions Amount % of Amount <_ 30 52 33% $ 13,333.09 49% <_ 100 50 31% $ 6,426.82 23% <_ 500 48 30% $ 6,574.78 24% <_ 1,000 9 6% $ 1,121.95 4% Total 159 $ 27,456.64 Our audit also identified four miscellaneous or personal transactions totaling $282.95 that were not reimbursed until our audit brought this information to management's attention. The Department of Finance stated that interest was paid on the reimbursements; we did not review or assess the accuracy, reasonableness, or completeness of these calculations. Since occasional accidents and errors do occur, department pCard coordinators are responsible to take the necessary steps to recover or dispute the cost of any inadvertent, improper, or erroneous charges. The County's pCard Program and Procedures requires notices of disputed items must be made within 60 days of the cycle in which the item first appears on the cardholder statement. However, these procedures do not address the timeliness of reimbursements of erroneous personal purchases, thereby facilitating the non -intentional, potentially interest free loan or lending of credit. Lending of credit is when a borrower receives something of value now and agrees to repay the lender at some date in the future, generally with interest. Lending of credit to employees for personal use of purchasing cards is inconsistent with of Article 7, Section 4 of the Hawai"i State Constitution, which states: "No tax shall be levied or appropriation of public money or property made, nor shall the public credit be used, directly or indirectly, except for a public purpose...." [emphasis added] Purchasing Card Program :: Audit Results 110