Letter Report on The New York City Office Of Payroll Administration’s Controls Over Purchasing Practices For Other Than Personal Services

Executive Summary

This Letter Report concerns the New York City Office of Payroll Administration’s (OPA’s) purchasing practices for Other Than Personal Services (OTPS) expenditures. The objective of this audit was to determine whether OPA maintains adequate financial controls over purchasing practices for OTPS expenditures.

Since 1984, OPA has provided processing and delivery of payroll and employee benefit services to more than 300,000 civil service workers at over 80 New York City government agencies. OPA is responsible for guiding the continued development and innovative enhancement of the Payroll Management System and related sub-systems, distributing employee pay, maintaining payroll bank accounts, coordinating payroll-related matters among central and line agencies and between the City and external organizations (such as the Internal Revenue Service), developing and disseminating uniform payroll procedures, and maintaining the integrity and accuracy of the City’s payroll.

From July 1, 2018 through September 17, 2019, OPA expended a total of $1,341,117 in OTPS expenditures for goods and services (including maintenance and support of hardware and software, off-site storage, database subscriptions, etc.).

Audit Findings and Conclusions

The audit found that OPA generally maintains adequate controls over its purchasing practices for OTPS expenditures. Specifically, the audit found that OPA generally adhered to its own policies and procedures, Citywide Purchasing Card (P-Card) Policies and Guidelines, Comptroller’s Directives, and Procurement Policy Board (PPB) Rules with regards to the sampled purchases. We found that OPA generally initiated and properly processed and approved purchases using its Purchase Request System (PRS); purchased items, when applicable and available, through the use of City requirements contracts; maintained adequate supporting documentation for sampled purchases; tracked the sampled equipment purchased; properly approved transactions; charged the correct object codes; and maintained adequate segregation of duties regarding its purchasing practices.

Audit Recommendations

The audit recommends that OPA ensure that all documents related to its purchases are printed and maintained in its procurement files.

Agency Response

In their response, OPA officials stated that they accept the report’s recommendation and have no further comments.