The proliferation of credit cards makes transactions difficult to supervise if we rely on the reports of the general auditors (AG) of four of the largest cities in Quebec.
The AGs of Montreal, Laval, Sherbrooke and Gatineau have all detected problems with the use of credit cards in their respective municipalities.
In 2020, the VG of Sherbrooke, Andrée Cossette, noted that nearly one in four employees had access to a card, which encouraged “last minute” purchases and made the purchasing process inefficient.
Furthermore, Mme Cossette noted the absence of guidelines for many types of charges, including meal charges, which totaled nearly $700,000 on credit cards between 2015 and 2018.
“Controls over expenses for meals, travel, entertainment, alcoholic beverages, flowers, donations and others must be governed by appropriate guidelines, in order to promote ethical behavior,” she wrote.
Overpriced meals
In Laval, the number of credit cards and card transactions is also on the rise, but the policies were not always clear or followed, revealed the General Auditor, Véronique Boily, in her 2022 report.
For example, meals paid for by card did not meet the maximums allowed, and there was no limit on hotel reimbursements. A $100 gift card from the Société des alcools du Québec (SAQ) was even purchased as recognition for an employee, even though this type of expense was not permitted.
In addition, cards were not systematically canceled when an employee left. One card even remained valid almost a year after the official’s departure. Some expenses were not accompanied by supporting documents. Finally, she also noted “a lack of rigor” in the management of fuel cards.
“From 2020 to 2022, more than $17,000 in interest charges were paid due to late payment of gas card balances, without the situation being taken care of,” we can read in his report .
-In Montreal, last summer, the lack of control over card spending was also pointed out by the person who became Montreal’s VG, Andrée Cossette, in the file of the Office de consultation publique de Montréal (OCPM).
“The Finance Department proceeds directly to the payment of expenses incurred on credit cards without, however, being able to validate the justification and merits given that the supporting documents are kept at the OCPM,” she noted.
An analysis that dates
City-wide, however, the last complete audit on credit cards dates back to… 2015.
He revealed that several employees used them outside of permitted frameworks, for example to pay for travel expenses or meal expenses.
Professor at the National School of Public Administration Nicholas Jobidon says such audits are essential at all levels of government, even if credit cards are used to pay for smaller contracts.
“If no publication, no audit is done, nothing prevents the diversion of public funds for private purposes,” he warns.
In Gatineau, in 2018, AG Johanne Beausoleil discovered numerous inadequate processes, notably when employees paid certain travel expenses with their city card and also requested reimbursement for the same stay.
“It then becomes extremely difficult to certify that all the costs relating to the same activity have been claimed or, on the contrary, that some of them have not been claimed in duplicate,” she explained.