The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) provides credit cards, known as the TVA One Card, to its employees to make purchases for TVA business, such as materials and supplies, travel, meetings and events, fuel for rental vehicles, management expenses, and services. TVA transitioned from separate corporate credit cards and purchasing cards to the TVA One Card in 2022 and implemented a new expense management system. For the 12-month period of May 1, 2023, through April 30, 2024, purchases made on the TVA One Card totaled $86.6 million.
We conducted an audit of TVA One Card purchases due to the recent introduction of the program and amount of annual spending. Our objective was to determine if purchases made using the TVA One Card complied with TVA policies and procedures. Our audit scope included approximately $59.2 million of TVA One Card purchases, which excluded those for travel/transportation, business meetings, and external relationship events, made during the 12-month period of May 1, 2023, through April 30, 2024.
We reviewed supporting documentation uploaded in the expense management system for a sample of 139 purchases made using the TVA One Card and determined all but one of the purchases appeared to be for TVA business purposes. However, we determined the review and approval process was not operating effectively and did not ensure purchases made with the TVA One Card complied with TVA policies and procedures. Specifically, we found instances where (1) management approved purchases that did not fully comply with TVA policies and procedures, and (2) management’s review of purchases prior to expense report approval did not include reviewing the attached receipts. Additionally, we determined cardholders were not consistently submitting purchases for approval in the expense management system within the required time frame.
