The Social Security Administration’s Travel Charge Card Program
Office Affiliation: The Office of Audit
Audit Report Number: A-13-14-11414
On October 5, 2012, the President signed into law the Government Charge Card Abuse Prevention Act of 2012 (Pub.L. No. 112-194) (Act). The Act addresses agencies’ management of their Government purchase and travel charge card programs. The Act codifies program integrity policies and reporting requirements for Government charge card programs. For example, the Act requires that the programs have certain internal controls and safeguards.
The Act also requires that Inspectors General of executive agencies with more than $10 million in travel card spending conduct periodic audits or reviews of travel card programs to analyze the risk of illegal, improper, or erroneous purchases and payments. In Fiscal Year 2013, SSA reported about $14 million in travel card expenses.
Additionally, the Act requires that internal controls be established and maintained when agencies have employees who have travel charges billed directly to the Government. For example, the Act directs agencies to verify that they do not reimburse centrally billed account (CBA) charges to an employee.
The objective of this report was to assess SSA’s travel charge card program and CBA activities.