Citi Commercial Card
announced the release of a Web-based audit tool to help program managers
monitor card activity, policy compliance, fraud and card misuse. Going
beyond flagging noncompliant transations, the Program Audit Tool provides the means for program managers
to "automate the evaluation and audit process" and notify employees,
managers and other stakeholders of violations, said Citi Commercial Card
director Paul Horn.
Available free to
corporate customers in most global markets, PAT was "initially developed
in response to public sector and corporate clients who hold government
contracts, where a high level of visibility, control and auditing is required
over expense management," Horn said. "But we've found broad interest
and acceptance across all client profiles by industry, size and geography. The
driving force in each case varies and includes contractual commitments,
regulatory requirements, internal policies and general management tracking and
reporting."
To use the proprietary tool, program managers must
request that PAT be enabled in the CitiManager reporting interface and
establish workflow hierarchies. Transactions are updated daily, so a program
manager could review information that frequently, opt to be notified of
specific violations or receive other reports. "PAT is based on different
reviewer roles or hierarchies," Horn said, "so depending on what
portion of the process a reviewer oversees, they may need to access PAT more or
less frequently than other reviewers. Program managers can also choose to
receive automated weekly or monthly notifications of program statistics and
outstanding review items."
Managers also may establish rules, for example, to
restrict a type of merchant by category code or actual name. "When a
cardholder makes a purchase at any of the restricted merchants, the built-in
workflow will engage the level of hierarchy necessary to escalate or approve
the noncompliant transaction," according to Citi.