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TVA One Card

Report Information

Date Issued
Report Number
2024-17501
Report Type
Audit
Description
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) provides credit cards, known as the TVA One Card, to its employees to make purchases for TVA business, such as materials and supplies, travel, meetings and events, fuel for rental vehicles, management expenses, and services.  TVA transitioned from separate corporate credit cards and purchasing cards to the TVA One Card in 2022 and implemented a new expense management system.  For the 12-month period of May 1, 2023, through April 30, 2024, purchases made on the TVA One Card totaled $86.6 million. We conducted an audit of TVA One Card purchases due to the recent introduction of the program and amount of annual spending. Our objective was to determine if purchases made using the TVA One Card complied with TVA policies and procedures. Our audit scope included approximately $59.2 million of TVA One Card purchases, which excluded those for travel/transportation, business meetings, and external relationship events, made during the 12-month period of May 1, 2023, through April 30, 2024.  We reviewed supporting documentation uploaded in the expense management system for a sample of 139 purchases made using the TVA One Card and determined all but one of the purchases appeared to be for TVA business purposes.  However, we determined the review and approval process was not operating effectively and did not ensure purchases made with the TVA One Card complied with TVA policies and procedures.  Specifically, we found instances where (1) management approved purchases that did not fully comply with TVA policies and procedures, and (2) management’s review of purchases prior to expense report approval did not include reviewing the attached receipts.  Additionally, we determined cardholders were not consistently submitting purchases for approval in the expense management system within the required time frame.
Joint Report
No
Agency Wide
Yes (agency-wide)
Questioned Costs
$0
Funds for Better Use
$0
View report on Oversight.gov

Recommendations

We recommend the Vice President and Controller, Corporate Accounting, include specific training for expense approvers (managers and delegates) as a part of annual TVA One Card training or as a separate module to be completed periodically.

We recommend the Vice President and Controller, Corporate Accounting, consider creating a report in the expense management system that Expense Administration personnel can use to periodically test for split transactions.

We recommend the Vice President and Controller, Corporate Accounting, for exceptions identified during the audit, contact the approving managers and reinforce their responsibilities for ensuring TVA One Card expenses are appropriate.

We recommend the Vice President and Controller, Corporate Accounting, configure the expense management system to require management review of purchase receipts/documentation prior to expense approval.

We recommend the Vice President and Controller, Corporate Accounting, configure the expense management system to notify cardholders when purchases are still pending submission prior to 30 days.