Cash Management: Diners Club Business Travel Management Program Needs Improvement
AFMD-90-66
Published: Apr 30, 1990. Publicly Released: May 30, 1990.
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Highlights
Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO studied the difficulties surrounding the government's use of credit cards, focusing on the key benefits and problems associated with the Diners Club business travel management program.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Office of Management and Budget | To ensure effective implementation of the Diners Club individual charge card program and to realize additional cash management benefits offered by this program, the Director, Office of Management and Budget (OMB), should issue a directive to the heads of agencies and departments on the government's use of the Diners Club business travel management program. This directive would require that the General Services Administration (GSA) survey federal employees on their views regarding the program and that agencies comply with existing policies governing the Diners Club individual charge card program and related travel policies and procedures, including: (1) limiting travel advances to meals and incidental expenses and miscellaneous expenses, such as taxis, tolls, and parking; (2) paying employee travel reimbursements within 25 working days after the completion of a trip; (3) developing a program to encourage employees to use their Diners Club individual charge cards to purchase transportation tickets; and (4) quantifying the cash management benefits attributable to the Diners Club individual charge card program. The directive should also clearly define the agencies' role and responsibilities with respect to employees who use their Diners Club individual charge cards for personal purposes or are delinquent in paying Diners Club bills. |
Closed – Implemented
OMB did not take any action on this recommendation and is relying on GSA. GSA, however, has no policy oversight over defense agencies on this matter.
|
| Office of Management and Budget | The Director, OMB, should issue, as part of the directive regarding the government's use of the Diners Club business travel management program, a requirement to the heads of agencies and departments to ensure prompt review of past due amounts on the Diners Club centrally billed accounts. This requirement should ensure that unsupported items on those accounts are researched to determine the validity of charges. |
Closed – Implemented
Diners Club initiated development of a GTS Reconciliation/Account Balancing System to assist federal agencies in reconciling their Diners Club centrally billed accounts.
|
| Department of Defense | The Administrator of General Services and the Secretary of Defense should establish regulations for the Diners Club ATM program. Those regulations should include provisions requiring agencies interested in implementing the Diners Club ATM program to perform a cost analysis comparing the ATM method with other methods of issuing travel advances, such as travelers checks, imprest funds, and Treasury checks. Agencies should be required to submit their analysis to GSA for its review and consideration when deciding whether or not to approve an agency for participation in the ATM program. |
Closed – Implemented
The Office of the Comptroller, Department of Defense (DOD), issued guidance directing components considering the adoption of the ATM program to conduct cash-benefit analyses. These are to be submitted to the Office of the Comptroller for review and forwarding to GSA.
|
| General Services Administration | The Administrator of General Services and the Secretary of Defense should establish regulations for the Diners Club ATM program. Those regulations should include provisions requiring agencies interested in implementing the Diners Club ATM program to perform a cost analysis comparing the ATM method with other methods of issuing travel advances, such as travelers checks, imprest funds, and Treasury checks. Agencies should be required to submit their analysis to GSA for its review and consideration when deciding whether or not to approve an agency for participation in the ATM program. |
Closed – Implemented
GSA issued an amendment to the Federal Travel Regulation (FTR) requiring agencies interested in implementing the program to submit to GSA for review a cost analysis comparing the ATM method with other methods of issuing travel advances.
|
| Department of Defense | The Administrator of General Services and the Secretary of Defense should establish regulations for the Diners Club ATM program. Those regulations should include provisions requiring agencies interested in implementing the Diners Club ATM program to establish controls to ensure that ATM withdrawals are for authorized purposes and within allowable amounts. |
Closed – Not Implemented
DOD partially concurred in this recommendation. It felt that abusers can be identified only after the fact. Thus, it plans to identify abusers in reviewing travel vouchers.
|
| General Services Administration | The Administrator of General Services and the Secretary of Defense should establish regulations for the Diners Club ATM program. Those regulations should include provisions requiring agencies interested in implementing the Diners Club ATM program to establish controls to ensure that ATM withdrawals are for authorized purposes and within allowable amounts. |
Closed – Implemented
GSA issued regulations on December 3, 1990 providing for the use of ATMs. These regulations require agencies interested in implementing the ATM program to develop program controls to ensure that ATM withdrawals are for authorized purposes and within allowable amounts.
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Accounts payableBilling proceduresCash managementContractor paymentsCredit salesFederal employeesInternal controlsTravel costsAutomated teller machinesMilitary forces