Purpose

We examined select purchases made on State-issued Procurement and Travel credit cards, along with travel expenses made by SUNY Maritime College (Maritime) employees. The objectives of our examination were to determine if the PCard transactions and travel expenses were appropriate and complied with Office of General Services (OGS) Citibank and Maritime Citibank-VISA PCard Guidelines and the Office of the State Comptroller (OSC) Travel Manual guidelines.

Background

Certain Maritime employees are responsible for making PCard transactions. The card is used to purchase business related goods and services that are within the guidelines of New York State’s Procurement Card program. The cardholder’s supervisor must review the monthly card statement and receipts and authorize those charges by signing the Visa Card statement before it is sent to Accounts Payable. Furthermore, the supervisor must ensure that all transactions were for the official duties of the cardholder and were in accordance with the OGS and Maritime’s Procurement Card Guidelines.

Maritime has a Travel Card Program to provide their employees with a mechanism to pay for travel expenses. Traveler responsibilities include securing the most economical method of travel and keeping the best interest of the State in mind. It is the responsibility of the agency to ensure all expenses are actual, reasonable, and necessary, all authorized travel is in the best interest of the State and employees receive appropriate approvals prior to traveling.

Key Findings

We found 58 of 59 PCard transactions in our sample: (i) were inappropriate, (ii) did not comply with OGS and/or Maritime PCard guidelines, or (iii) had insufficient documentation to determine appropriateness. This includes $12,340 in inappropriate transactions.
We also found Maritime approved up to $3,750 in unnecessary luxury lodging accommodations over a six-year period for a professor who taught an annual course on a Carnival Cruise ship and $857 in fees incurred by the professor’s family that should not have been reimbursed.

We also found that Metro officials did not effectively implement controls over the assigning and use of PINs, and did not consistently or effectively review logs to ensure that employees (i) recorded all WEX card purchases, (ii) recorded complete and accurate information for each fuel purchase, and (iii) included receipts for each fuel purchase.

Key Recommendations

• Require the Student Government Association to reimburse Maritime $12,187 for State monies used to support Student Government Association activities.
• Review the nine transactions that we identified as lacking sufficient documentation to determine the appropriateness of the charges and recover funds as appropriate.
• Ensure all Maritime employees comply with the OGS Citibank Procurement Card Guidelines and Maritime Citibank-VISA Procurement Card Guidelines.
• Ensure all Maritime employees comply with the OSC Travel Manual Guidelines.
• Recover $857 from the professor for taxes, fees, and port expenses associated with family members who attended the cruise.

For a complete copy of Report 2017-Credit Card-01, click here.