We have tried for years—with little success—to convince our clients that corporate credit cards represent a large risk unless they are properly controlled. This nearly million-dollar fraud loss at HP is a good reminder that we can’t give up!
The problems we most often see with corporate credit cards are:
- Wasteful & improper spending
- Lack of documentation, e.g., receipts, invoices, etc.
- No explanation of business purpose
- Personal charges to be “reimbursed later”
- Lack of adequate policies
- Expectations not communicated to employees
- Lack of second review of all charges
We highly recommend a periodic outside evaluation of corporate credit card charges and policies. Data mining or data analytics of credit card and P-card transaction can be a cost-effective secondary monitoring mechanism if there’s a high volume of transactions.
Don’t let the risk in your corporate credit card program fly under the radar—make sure you’re addressing this risk so you don’t get caught by surprise.
Learn more about issues related to corporate credit cards and expense reimbursement on bkd.com.
Angela has 20 years of experience and leads BKD’s forensic accounting and investigations team, providing fraud investigation and prevention, complex litigation support and forensic accounting services for a variety of business clients. She regularly provides consulting and expert witness assistance to attorneys in a variety of litigation matters. Angela and her team have investigated some of the largest fraud cases in the United States. Her clients include the FBI, U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Angela Morelock – who has written 13 posts on BKD Forensics.
