Is Your Tribe Able to Prevent or Catch Credit Card Abuses?

We recently read that the Bois Forte Reservation Tribal Council (RTC) censured one of its representatives for misusing band funds. The council has begun the process to remove the member from office. The irregularities were detected by the Band’s internal review process, and in accordance with the band’s fiscal policies. As Bois Forte Secretary-Treasurer noted, though this was an unfortunate incident, it was good that the tribe had the procedures in place to discover it.

Credit card abuses among government employees and elected officials is very common, in fact the GAO recently issued a report on abuses in the federal government. As tribes become more prosperous, tribal or corporate credit cards for employees and elected officials are becoming more commonplace. But how many tribes have controls in place to control the use of the credit card and to catch abuses?

Here are few basic controls that tribal government should consider if they issue credit cards to employees and elected officials:

• Demand that receipts be submitted for all expenditures and that the employee who made expenditure provide a written justification for the purchase.
• Expenditures over a certain amount should require prior approval.
• There should be policies in place to revoke privileges if abuses occur.
• Consider restricting credit card use to certain situations, such as hotel expenses during pre-approved travel.
• Enact a policy that credit cards can never be used for personal expenditures.
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  Richard Phelps
  CEO, Falmouth Institute