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Audit: College manager used unauthorized credit card to buy video games, camera
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Related Topics: BALTIMORE
BALTIMORE (Map, News) - A Baltimore City Community College manager used an unauthorized credit card to make “numerous questionable” purchases, including a digital camera, two video game systems, video games and DVD players, a new audit reveals.
A manager in the Office of Student Activities charged $81,725 on a credit card with a private retailer from August 2004 to August 2007 and made $7,250 worth of “questionable purchases” that the employee described as student prizes, but auditors said they couldn’t identify the students who received them, according to a state audit released Tuesday.
Auditors recommended that if the college determines the purchases were fraudulent, school officials should refer the matter to the criminal division of the state attorney general’s office.
The college has promised to perform an internal review, investigate the credit card use and develop a process to identify and document all students who receive an award worth more than $50.
“We absolutely have to do a better job of documenting specifics,” said Patrick Onley, a college spokesman.
“The audit has pointed to the need to improve processes with credit card and procurement activities, and I see it as an opportunity to improve efficiency,” President Carolane Williams said through a spokesman.
Among other findings, college employees did not verify student grade changes, auditors said.
The college also failed to solicit competitive bids for $455,000 worth of temporary bookstore personnel services and $257,000 worth of advertising for job vacancies, potentially precluding higher-volume discounts, auditors found.
Also instead of seeking competitive bids, the school relied on catering services from a local vendor through an expired contract, auditors said. From 2004 to 2007, catering expenses totaled $266,000.
In addition, auditors faulted the school for not referring delinquent student accounts to the state collection agency.
The college deleted 593 late student accounts totaling $177,000 in July 2007 without obtaining permission from the state to write them off.
“There are a lot of system and control concerns,” said legislative auditor Bruce Myers, “so if somebody wants to do wrong, there’s opportunities.”
kvolkmann@baltimoreexaminer.com
