Greater checks on council credit card usage are needed to prevent misuse and fraud, according to a NSW audit of current council policies.
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The Junee Shire Council was one of six to come under scrutiny in the audit, which selected a mix of metropolitan, regional and rural councils among the top ten users of credit cards in their categories.
Lane Cove, Dubbo, Nambucca Valley, Penrith and Shellharbour were also audited, with all six found to have gaps in their policies and procedures around credit card usage.
Junee, which had just one credit card held by the general manager at the time of the audit, was found to have "sufficient management oversight" of the card's use with the general manager reviewing transactions monthly and the mayor or deputy approving them.
The council was also the only one to be able to provide a complete credit card register for the audit period.
However, the audit found the practice of staff making credit card purchases with the general manager's approval to be risky.
"This raises concerns of credit card sharing, which would be a violation of the council's agreement with its credit card issuer. Credit card sharing also increases the risk of misuse and fraud," the report read.
The audit recommended the council update its corporate credit card policy, last adopted in mid 2015, to prevent cardholders from sharing their card with other staff, a recommendation given to all six councils.
59.3 per cent of purchases on the card from June 2016 to June 2019 were from retail and other stores, with business services and transportation/utility accounting for 11.9 and 10.3 per cent respectively.
The introduction of periodic internal audits of the council's card management and a commitment to update the policy every two years were also among the recommendations the council was encouraged to adopt before the end of the year.
Junee Shire Council general manager James Davis said the council had accepted the recommendations in the report and was currently reviewing its credit card policy to accommodate them.
"While the credit card policy is being reviewed additional procedural controls have been activated to support the NSW Audit Office request," he said.
