Management Information Sheet
Purchase Card Audit Recommendations March 2011
The purchasing card has recently undergone an audit by our Internal Audit department. There were a few issues brought to our attention that we need to communicate to Head Teachers, Finance Officers and Cardholders.
Cardholder and Finance Officer Procedures should be adhered to at all times. In practise this is not always happening. For copies of these please go to the Norfolk Schools Website>Finance>Purchasing Card.
The areas of concern are:
Transaction Logs and Receipts - a transaction log must be completed by the cardholder for every transaction. Receipts must be kept and once the monthly statement is received the log, receipts and statement must be passed to the cardholder's line manager/budget holder for authorisation. This must be every month even if there are no transactions. This prevents carelessness and the assumption by the line manager that no log means no transactions.
Cardholders Leaving NCC - the Banking Team must be notified of any cardholder leaving NCC. When a cardholder is leaving NCC we must be notified of this and given confirmation that the card has been destroyed. Under no circumstances is it acceptable for a school to continue using the card of a member of staff who has left Norfolk County Council's employment. As a result of the audit, HR Shared Services have made it part of the leavers check list to ensure that cards are destroyed and cancelled.
Please take a fresh look at the procedures to remind yourself of what you should be doing. If you have any queries regarding this or are aware of any cards being used that should have been cancelled please contact Tina Henderson.
Cardholder and Finance Officer Procedures should be adhered to at all times. In practise this is not always happening. For copies of these please go to the Norfolk Schools Website>Finance>Purchasing Card.
The areas of concern are:
Transaction Logs and Receipts - a transaction log must be completed by the cardholder for every transaction. Receipts must be kept and once the monthly statement is received the log, receipts and statement must be passed to the cardholder's line manager/budget holder for authorisation. This must be every month even if there are no transactions. This prevents carelessness and the assumption by the line manager that no log means no transactions.
Cardholders Leaving NCC - the Banking Team must be notified of any cardholder leaving NCC. When a cardholder is leaving NCC we must be notified of this and given confirmation that the card has been destroyed. Under no circumstances is it acceptable for a school to continue using the card of a member of staff who has left Norfolk County Council's employment. As a result of the audit, HR Shared Services have made it part of the leavers check list to ensure that cards are destroyed and cancelled.
Please take a fresh look at the procedures to remind yourself of what you should be doing. If you have any queries regarding this or are aware of any cards being used that should have been cancelled please contact Tina Henderson.