Accountable Paper, Postal Funds and Voided PVI Label Refunds – Orlando, FL, Orlo Vista Branch
Background
The Orlo Vista Branch is in the Suncoast District of the Southern Area. OIG data analytics identified all Orlo Vista Branch’s retail floor stock inventory counts in fiscal years (FY) 2019 and 2020, Quarter (Q) 1, to be outside of tolerance levels. In addition, the last two counts of retail floor stock resulted in overages and shortages in excess of $4,000 (absolute value). Accountability examinations include retail floor stamp stock (stamps sold on the retail floor), unit reserve stamp stock (stamps used to replenish those sold on the retail floor), cash credits (cash retained in drawers after daily deposit), and money orders. Inventory can be transferred between segments; therefore, all segments of inventory must be counted to ensure accuracy.
Further, we determined there was a significant increase in account identifier code (AIC) 509, Voided Postage Validation Imprinter (PVI) Labels, refunds from FY 2019 to FY 2020, Q1. The Orlo Vista Branch had a total of $15,432 voided PVI label refunds for FY 2020, Q1 — an increase of 141 percent from the amount for the same period in FY 2019 ($6,403).
Our fieldwork was completed before the President of the United States issued the national emergency declaration concerning the novel coronavirus disease outbreak (COVID-19) on March 13, 2020. The results of this audit do not reflect operational changes and/or service impacts that may have occurred at this facility as a result of the pandemic.
Our objective was to determine whether internal controls over accountable paper and postal funds at the Orlo Vista Branch were managed effectively and whether voided PVI label refunds were properly supported and processed.