Issues with Usage Controls on US Government Purchasing Cards

The US Government Accountability Office has published a report titled "Governmentwide Purchase Cards - Actions Needed to Strengthen Internal Controls to Reduce Fraudulent, Improper, and Abusive Purchases" concluding that 'internal control weaknesses in agency purchase card programs exposed the federal government to fraud, waste, abuse, and loss of assets. When testing internal controls, GAO asked agencies to provide documentation on selected transactions to prove that the purchase of goods or services had been properly authorized and that when the good or service was delivered, an individual other than the cardholder received and signed for it. Using a statistical sample of purchase card transactions from July 1, 2005, through June 30, 2006, GAO estimated that nearly 41 percent of the transactions failed to meet either of these basic internal control standards.'