Internal audit plans data-driven review of procurement cards after Hurricane Helene

The audit director told the committee the P-card audit will be conducted in two parts: a review of policies and procedures governing procurement cards and a data-driven review of transactions before and after Hurricane Helene. She said the post-storm period saw significant emergency purchases and the audit will compare that activity with pre-storm spending to determine whether problems are storm-related or systemic.

To support the analysis, the director said she will use Power BI and Excel for data analytics. "I plan on using Power BI as well as Excel to do a lot of data analytics and that sort of thing," the director said, describing a first Power BI project for the office. She recommended that procurement's random sampling approach be supplemented with risk-based tests keyed to vendor and dollar thresholds.

Committee members asked about reconciliation responsibilities and whether departments or finance manage P-card reconciliations; the director said there's a hybrid approach with departmental entry and multiple review layers and recommended finance adopt a more risk-based sampling method.