Audit: ‘Risk of fraud’ in state-issued credit card spending

TRENTON » An audit of spending by New Jersey state employees on stateissued credit cards found records missing and a lack of oversight, which its says puts state funds at risk of fraud and misuse.

The state comptroller’s office said Thursday it reviewed a sample of spending by employees in the New Jersey departments of corrections, human services and environmental protections on state-issued credit cards. The audit covered transactions between 2014 and 2017.

“Our report found that as many as 30 percent of the purchases we sampled made on state-issued credit cards were documented incorrectly,” acting state Comptroller Kevin Walsh said in a statement.

The report found some employees at the departments of human services and corrections were approving their own purchases and failing to request multiple bids for certain purchases as required. All three departments were missing required records.

“State agencies that allow employees to approve their own transactions increase the risk of fraud and misuse of state funds,” the comptroller’s report said. State rules require different employees to be involved in each step of these purchases and documentation.

In total, 17 state agencies made over $42 million in purchases on stateissued credit cards during the time period the audit covered. The comptroller’s office reviewed a small sample of that spending.

The state-issued credit cards are meant to allow departments to make purchases under a certain amount for items or services that are not covered by existing state contracts.