Federal Reports

Our review determined that the purchase card program does not pose a high risk to the Department and an audit of the program was not necessary. We reviewed the Department’s purchase card policies and procedures, Office of Management and Budget guidance, corrective action the Department has taken in response to previous OIG purchase card audit findings, documentation from the Department’s purchase card monitoring efforts, and data on disciplinary action the Department has taken in response to purchase card misuse. Additionally, we used OIG data analytic resources to identify and assess high-risk categories of potentially inappropriate purchases. Although we found that the program does not pose a high risk to the Department, we offered two suggestions to help the Department further strength its purchase card program: (1) ensure the Department documents and implements internal controls to fully address applicable requirements and guidance; and (2) improve coordination between Department units when reporting disciplinary actions taken against purchase card abusers to the Office of Management and Budget.

We collaborated with the consulting firm InfoTrends to analyze three months’ worth of customer billing data from a major U.S. utility. We also jointly interviewed executives who manage bill delivery and payment processing to help determine how the utility’s delivery-and-payment costs and customer preferences compare with those at other utilities and even in other industries. This white paper details how we found that despite a clear preference to pay bills online, 91 percent of customers prefer receiving their bills by mail. Even among the utility’s newest customers — those expected to be more digitally savvy — an average of 89 percent opted to have their bills mailed to them, though, like the others, most preferred paying online.