Since 1995, Metaphor has sold software and IT services. Metaphor has several dozen consultants who are full-time employees. These consultants work out of Metaphor’s head office and they also travel the world in order to install software, provide training courses, and initiate and maintain sales relationships.
Metaphor also has administrative and professional staff members in the head office. In addition, metaphor has sales agents in various locations around the world who are not employees.
Metaphor credit card policies
Most employees have a company credit card. When an employee purchases products or services for the company, he or she must use a company credit card. Employees entertain clients and prospective clients as appropriate, both in Metaphor’s home city and while travelling. They are also responsible for their own professional development, and are expected to charge expenses to the company credit card for courses, books, journal subscriptions, and professional memberships. Some employees are also responsible for purchasing supplies for the office. Thus, Metaphor Corporation incurs significant expenses in several categories:
■ Travel
■ Entertainment
■ Client service
■ Professional development
■ Internal office expenses
Metaphor’s policy is that all purchases must be assigned to a customer number. Although most of the customer numbers correspond to external clients, customer numbers that start with zero correspond to internal departments. Employees are aware that certain categories of transactions are unacceptable. For example, employees must not use corporate credit cards for gambling. Although the company sometimes approves transactions in other categories, permission must be granted in advance. Some categories are prohibited entirely.
By using ACL to analyze the credit card transactions of Metaphor employees, you can find transactions that are contrary to policy and transactions that might be erroneous or