GAO: Millions wasted on gov't cards (for internet dating,lavish dinners,lingerie, etc.)

AP on Yahoo ^ | 4/8/08 | Hope Yen - ap

[Timeout]

I was the approving official for 7 card holders...I had to reconcile every purchase every month down...audited annually by the finance Nazi's who questioned every purchase that I approved.

You hit the nail on the head.

The problem is the first line supervisor who is supposed to be monitoring the abusers. You obviously did careful reviews because you knew YOU would be reviewed. That cannot have been the case in these abuse stories.

The answer is not a "reward" program. The answer is holding first line (and up) supervisors responsible for these transgressions. Reviewing expense accounts is no fun and, as has been pointed out, certainly doesn't win one "friends". But the supervisor is obligated to review expenses with a suspicious eye (especially when a company- or government-issued card is involved). By giving the employee the temptation you increase your responsibility to keep an eye on him/her. In order to avoid abuse a system has to be in place where card holders are fairly certain fraud will be detected AND THEY HAVE TO FEAR THE CONSEQUENCES.

Every one of these abusers had a superior who was supposed to be reviewing purchases. THAT SUPERIOR IS THE ONE WHO SHOULD HAVE BEEN FIRED. No allowing them to say "I don't have an accounting degree" or something like that. If they can't do the job, demote them. And the job includes reviewing ALL expenditures, especially on government-issued cards.

Hold first line supervisors accountable. If that's not happening, then fire the supervisors' supervisors.

[xzins]

The military had this strange idea that they could dump these credit cards on every rank of soldier, and they act surprised when the cards get misused. I never took one. Always put it on my own card and then let them reimburse me. As long as I filed the paperwork quickly, there was never a finance charge.

But, I had resources that a young enlisted guy simply didn’t have. And I understood how per diem and reimbursements worked.

[DieHard the Hunter]

When I worked for a large accounting partnership we were issued with American Express cards. Each card had was in the employee’s name, and the employee was personally responsible for purchases placed on the card. The Firm, naturally, picked up the cost of the card.

You could use the card for any expense you encountered in the course of doing business. And you claimed back your expenses using a very pragmatic rule: all expenses had to be chargeable to a Client, and the Billing Manager for that Client needed to approve them. No approval, no reimbursement.

You would get reimbursed your expenses by direct deposit into your bank account. You were then expected to pay your card balance yourself.

It would have been fine to buy women’s undies on the card — but just try to get a Billing Manager to charge his Client for it! It would never happen: the Client would rip the Billing Manager a new one if it were ever on-billed. And the Partner would rip the Billing Manager a new one if it were ever written off. This tended to make the Billing Managers very vigilant and very intolerant of bogus expenditures...

And so, no reimbursement for Women’s Undies — out of your own bank account it would come.

It was a very fair, very self-policing system, full of commonsense. Real expenses would be met without demur, and bogus expenditures just didn’t happen.