Audit Objective
Did Twin District Fire Company (Company) officials ensure credit card purchases were properly supported and for appropriate Company purposes?
Audit Period
January 1, 2024 – July 31, 2025.
We extended our scope period to September 2025 to review a relevant policy.
Understanding the Audit Area
Credit cards can be a useful purchasing tool because they allow cardholders to acquire goods and services efficiently. However, the convenience of credit cards also increase the risk that purchases may be improper, not properly supported or not in a company’s best interest. As a result, effective internal controls and oversight are essential to ensure that expenditures are properly supported and for appropriate purposes. This oversight should include clear policies, independent review of purchase and supported documentation and periodic monitoring of credit card activity. To ensure that credit cards are used only for approved and necessary expenses, a fire company must have both a credit card policy and a system of internal controls in place.
From January 1, 2024, through July 31, 2025, the Company made credit purchases totaling $255,200, including $54,763 related to travel expenses and training.
Audit Summary
Company officials did not always ensure that credit card purchases were properly supported and made for appropriate Company purposes. Although the Company’s credit card policy assigned responsibility for monitoring credit card activity to the Board of Directors (Board), the Board did not review credit card purchases, statements or supporting documentation before approving payment. Instead, the Board relied on card holders to monitor usage and review and approve their own purchases. Without independent Board oversight, the risks of misuse, excessive spending and improper purchases remains high. Allowing credit card users to review and approve their own purchases also weakens internal controls and increases the risk that questionable or potentially fraudulent expenditures will occur and not be detected.
We reviewed 932 credit card purchases totaling $255,200 and identified 140 credit card purchases totaling $25,950 that lacked sufficient supporting documentation. Of them, we physically located 15 purchases totaling $3,977. We selected 28 of the remaining 125 unsupported purchases totaling $15,740 to further review and determined that officials did not have adequate support for three of the purchases totaling $1,161 made at a warehouse club, a local restaurant and online retailer. As a result, we could not determine whether these purchases were for appropriate Company purposes.
In addition, of the 932 credit card purchases, 100 credit card purchases totaling $29,929 were related to meals and lodging for conferences and training. Because the Company did not adopt a travel policy establishing allowable travel expenses and spending limits, officials incurred unnecessary costs. Had officials followed rates established by the United States General Services Administration (GSA),1 the Company could have saved approximately $12,000, or 40 percent of these travel-related costs.
This report includes five recommendations that, if implemented, will improve Board oversight and accountability for credit card and travel expenditures, and reduce the risk of inappropriate or unsupported spending and help safeguard Company resources. Company officials generally agreed with our recommendations and indicated they are taking corrective action. Appendix C includes our comment on the Company’s response.
This audit was conducted pursuant to Article V, Section 1 of the State Constitution and the Office of the New York State Comptroller’s (OSC’s) authority as set forth in Article 3 of the New York State General Municipal Law (GML). The audit’s methodology and standards are included in Appendix D.
The Board has the responsibility to initiate corrective action. The Board is encouraged to prepare a written corrective action plan (CAP) that addresses the recommendations in this report and forward it to OSC within 90 days. For more information on preparing and filing the CAP, please refer to the OSC brochure, Responding to an OSC Audit Report, which was provided with the draft audit report. The Board is encouraged to make the CAP available for public review.
1 The GSA establishes the per-diem rates that federal agencies use to reimburse employees for lodging and meals and incidental expenses incurred while on official travel.