Staff at North Carolina Central University spent $235,764 on purchases that violated university policies from July 2025 through February 2026, according to a state audit released Monday.
The auditor reviewed 477 procurement card transactions from July 2025 through February 2026. The audit found $35,098 in prohibited purchases, in addition to more than $22,000 in improper travel expenses. Procurement cards, or p-cards, are credit cards issued to university employees for work-related purchases.
The state initiated the audit due to “identified risks” from internal audit reports and in response to updated UNC System p-card regulations, according to the report.
In addition to the prohibited purchases, which are not described in detail, the audit identified other purchases that violated university policy because they were not properly reviewed. Nearly $84,000 in purchases were reviewed up to 267 days late and $21,000 in purchases were not reviewed at all.
Other purchases the audit flagged had missing receipts, were made by employees without p-card training, or were split into smaller amounts to avoid exceeding p-card limits.
“As a result, inappropriate, unauthorized, or prohibited purchases may occur and go undetected, increasing the risk of fraud, waste, abuse, and misuse of University resources,” the audit states.
The reviewed purchases—totaling more than $371,000—account for only a small portion of total p-card spending; the university processed more than 6,000 p-card transactions during the audit period, totaling $2.8 million.
The state’s audit office recommends NCCU increase its oversight of p-card spending and provide recurring training to cardholders. A September 22 letter to the auditor signed by Chancellor Karrie Dixon, states the university will implement the auditor’s recommendations by December 31. Dixon stated that NCCU has already been improving its p-card standards since April 2025, having implemented online training and a streamlined reporting process for violations.
“The University agrees with the recommendations and remains committed to safeguarding public resources and strengthening the oversight, monitoring, documentation, training, and system controls supporting its procurement card and travel card programs,” the letter states.
NCCU did not respond to questions from The Assembly about the findings.
Dixon’s chancellorship has been defined by her efforts to improve NCCU’s finances. When she was hired in 2024, a state audit of the university showed $45 million in financial reporting errors. The 2025 audit came back clean for the first time in three years.
But this year, NCCU was the only UNC System school not to meet the threshold for adequate financial health, according to a rating process done by the system. This spring, more than half of the board that oversees raising private donations resigned, which the university said was necessary to bring the board into compliance with its term-limit rules.
P-cards are for “small dollar purchases” and are given to university employees to reduce the paperwork and time associated with purchase requests. NCCU has 115 total active cardholders, representing about 5% of the university’s employees.
Based on NCCU’s p-card manual from October 2025, cardholders must pass a training exam which details allowed purchases, such as classroom supplies, professional development services, and certain food and beverages. P-cards cannot be used to purchase alcohol and tobacco, cell phone and computer equipment, and any use of third-party billing such as PayPal.
The manual details that cardholders are restricted to spending $1,000 in a single transaction, $2,500 per day, and $5,000 per month, with higher limits for some cardholders. The audit found that 16 transactions totaling nearly $7,000 were used to split five purchases into smaller amounts, in order to fall under the required limits.
