Forensic audit finds generally adequate purchase‑card controls but recommends stricter limits and periodic reviews

Costa Chakrabarti, senior manager at iBailey’s forensic accounting group, presented a forensic review of city purchase‑card (P‑card) and fuel transactions from FY2019 through the present.

Chakrabarti said the team reviewed about 17,000 P‑card transactions totaling roughly $2.7 million over the period and performed a detailed sample of about 500 transactions with supporting documentation. He said documentation rates were high — itemized receipts were present in about 95% of sampled cases and charge‑card logs were available in roughly 96% — and Munis integration (FY2024) and the Fifth Third Bank card controls have digitized many approvals and limits.

At the same time, auditors found historic inconsistencies: the prior policy set a $1,000 per‑transaction expectation and roughly 1.7% of transactions exceeded that amount, and about 35% of sampled transactions lacked the historical two formal signature approvals (though the rate of missing approvals fell to ~10% in FY2024). "Based on documentation available, we didn't notice anything systematic that was concerning," Chakrabarti said, while recommending routine periodic audits, stricter cardholder criteria, preset bank limits and vendor account management to improve preventive controls.

On fuel purchases, auditors recommended a formal fuel‑purchase policy and noted operational items such as inconsistent odometer vs. trip‑meter entries that reduce the reliability of usage data. Staff said steps are underway to limit cardholders and to evaluate surplus vehicles and fleet needs to reduce unnecessary purchases.