Audit Objective
Determine whether the Primary Hall Preparatory Charter School (School) debit card charges were properly approved, adequately supported and for School purposes.
Key Findings
Certain debit card purchases were not properly approved or adequately supported and lacked documentation to demonstrate that the charges were for a valid School purpose.
Debit cards pose significant risks because individuals using them have direct access to a school’s bank account and unauthorized use may not be readily detected.
We reviewed 186 debit card purchases totaling $170,941; 138 totaling $130,295 were not properly approved or adequately supported and 76 totaling $39,398 lacked documentation to demonstrate that the charges were for a valid School purpose.
In addition, none of the 186 purchases had evidence of pre-approval by the Executive Director or the Board Treasurer as required by the School’s policy.
When debit card purchases are not pre-approved or supported, it could result in inappropriate or fraudulent charges or unauthorized purchases being made and undetected.
Key Recommendations
The audit report includes nine recommendations that, if implemented, will improve the School’s financial practices related to the use of debit cards. School officials generally agreed with our recommendations and indicated they plan to initiate corrective action.