Purpose

We examined select purchases made on State-issued WEX Bank fuel credit cards (WEX card) by Metro New York Developmental Disabilities State Operations Office (Metro) employees of the Office for People With Developmental Disabilities during the period July 2014 through March 2018. The objective of our examination was to determine whether the WEX card purchases were for legitimate business purposes.

Background

Certain Metro staff are responsible for driving fleet vehicles to transport people with developmental disabilities. Officials typically assign a WEX card to each fleet vehicle but provide employees their own unique personal identification number (PIN) to establish accountability over each employee’s fuel purchases. Metro officials are required to maintain vehicle use logs (logs) and review and approve the logs for completeness and accuracy on a regular basis. At the time of a fuel purchase, drivers are required to (i) enter their PIN at the fuel pump, (ii) document details pertaining to the fuel purchase and trip on the log, and (iii) maintain fuel receipts with the logs.

Key Findings

We found 119 WEX card purchases totaling nearly $8,000 made by one employee (Employee) were not for legitimate business purposes, but instead for personal use. As a result of our examination, the Employee was terminated, arrested, pled guilty to petit larceny (a Class A misdemeanor), and is required to make restitution to the State. We found the Employee was able to make these transactions undetected because Metro officials did not implement and/or follow proper controls surrounding the use of the WEX card. We also identified another 84 transactions totaling approximately $6,000 that contained one or more characteristics indicating the transactions could be improper.

We also found that Metro officials did not effectively implement controls over the assigning and use of PINs, and did not consistently or effectively review logs to ensure that employees (i) recorded all WEX card purchases, (ii) recorded complete and accurate information for each fuel purchase, and (iii) included receipts for each fuel purchase.

Key Recommendations

• Establish, post and distribute written policies and procedures outlining agency-specific requirements for the use of WEX cards to ensure employees authorized to use cards are aware of these policies and procedures.
• Ensure WEX cards are properly secured and employee PINs are kept confidential.
• Train employees and supervisors on proper use and accounting for WEX cards.
• Ensure employees complete logs accurately and timely.
• Ensure supervisors review, approve, and monitor logs and WEX card purchases on a regular basis and follow up as appropriate.
• Investigate other potentially improper purchases to determine whether the purchases were for legitimate business purposes.

For a complete copy of Report 2018-BSE7-02, click here.