Kane Auditor in process of auditing purchasing card transactions

GENEVA – Kane County Auditor Penny Wegman’s office is doing an audit of purchasing card transactions for the 2019-20 fiscal year, from Dec. 1, 2019 to Nov. 30, 2020.

Wegman said the audit is being done because of the transition to a new administration.

“We have been working two months on it and we should be wrapping it up in the next week or so,” Wegman said. “We will present a report to the Finance Committee and it will be published on the county website as well.”

The next Finance Committee meeting is scheduled for July 28, according to the county calendar.

Purchasing cards – also known as procurement or p-cards – are credit cards the county issues to elected offices and departments to use for purchases without having to go through a purchase order procedure.

Wegman said her office took the initiative to begin auditing procurement card use about the same time that the County Board wanted a review of the transactions.

“The Fifth/Third (Bank) transactions … were vague and there was not enough information on what is being purchased,” Wegman said.

According to the Kane County Open Finance website, kanecounty.finance.socrata.com, p-card spending in 2020 was $950,476 and involved 4,847 transactions.

P-card spending in 2019 was $914,436 involving 4,338 transactions, according to the website.

Wegman said the last procurement card audit was completed April 30, 2014 covering 2012 and 2013 when Terry Hunt was the county auditor.

According to Kane County Open Finance, in 2012, p-card spending was $354,402 involving 1,355 transactions; and in 2013, it increased to $440,381 among 1,800 transactions.

The first recommendation from the 2014 audit was for cardholders, their supervisors and support staff improve the quality and completeness of p-card transaction documentation.

“For example, providing an invoice showing a flight to a distant city should be supplemented with a program document that shows the business purpose of the trip,” according to the 2014 audit report posted online. “If no program document is available, a short memo, showing approval by the cardholder’s supervisor, giving the specifications of the activity, including the date(s), location, sponsoring organization, and the business purpose is adequate.”