Local Purchases and Payments – Otisville, MI, Main Post Office
Background
This report presents the results of our self-initiated audit of Local Purchases and Payments – Otisville, MI, Main Post Office. The Otisville Post Office is located in the Detroit District of the Great Lakes Area. This audit was designed to provide U.S. Postal Service management with timely information on potential financial control risks at Postal Service locations.
The Postal Service prefers to use eBuy2 to pay for goods and services. But if a purchase cannot be satisfied through eBuy2, authorized postal employees may use the SmartPay2 credit card. Cash can be used for emergency one-time expenses, not to exceed $25. No-fee money orders can be used for emergency one-time local expenses, not to exceed $1,000. In addition, local payments made to individuals, proprietorships, or corporations with cash or money orders must be reported for tax purposes.
Account Identifier Code (AIC)5 587, Miscellaneous Services, is used to record purchases or expenses associated with payment for non-custodial, custodial and all miscellaneous services only. The U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) data analysis identified Otisville, MI, Main Post Office had local purchases totaling $5,668, or 62 percent of all local purchases in the Detroit District, for the period October 1, 2017, through April 13, 2018. It is unusual for one office to have such a high percentage of local purchases as it relates to other offices in the same district.
Our objective was to determine whether local purchases and payments were valid and properly supported at the Otisville, MI, Main Post Office.