Calgary city hall is vowing to tighten oversight of gift card spending after an internal audit of employee expenses found significant gaps in tracking and compliance, along with gift card purchases far exceeding the city's suggested limits.
The City Auditor's Office reviewed $98,000 in gift card spending over an eight-month period, from Jan. 26 to Aug. 25, 2025, as part of its Employee Expenses Continuous Auditing Project. The audit found that 38 per cent of gift card transactions did not identify a recipient, while more than half of gift cards used for employee recognition exceeded the city's guidelines of a $25 limit by an average of four times.
Significant Risk Identified
The audit report, presented to the city's audit committee on Thursday, flags a 'significant risk' with gift card spending tied to current practices. The report recommends that city administration create a corporate framework governing gift card use and develop a policy with clearer rules on gift card spending and record-keeping requirements.
'Improvement is needed in accountability for gift card purchases and consistency in their use in employee recognition,' the report states.
City Auditor Liz Ormsby told the audit committee that the review initially focused on whether purchases adhered to the $25 guidelines but uncovered a 'bigger gap … around what was supposed to happen with gift cards.'
Councilor Raises Concerns
Ward 12 Coun. Mike Jamieson questioned how such a large portion of transactions lacked basic tracking information. 'How do we have 38 per cent, and have no idea who they went to?' he said during the committee meeting.
Ross Visscher, Audit Manager IT with the city, said it is 'entirely possible' that the missing recipient information was tracked informally within departments, underscoring the need for consistent tracking standards. 'This speaks to the need for the recommendation to have some more standardization in terms of making sure we identify who the gift card is for,' he said.
Jamieson added that he is not opposed to using gift cards but said the numbers related to lack of recipient documentation are 'way, way too high,' and he supports the report's recommendation for a centralized tracking system.
Excessive Spending on Recognition
Spending on gift cards for employee recognition totalled $30,352 during the audit period. More than half (55 per cent) of those gift cards exceeded $25 — the suggested value under the city's Corporate Recognition Guideline — with a median gift card amount of $100, the report states.
Cautionary Tale from Richmond
Ward 2 Coun. and audit committee chair Jennifer Wyness raised concerns about reputational risk, pointing to a recent case in Richmond, B.C., involving a lack of accountability related to spending on gift cards. As reported by Richmond News, the City of Richmond last year filed a civil lawsuit in B.C. Supreme Court against a former employee, claiming she was responsible for $295,000 worth of unaccounted gift cards. Among the lawsuit's allegations is that the employee, a corporate assistant in the office of the chief administrative officer, was responsible for administrative tasks related to the tracking of gift cards.
Wyness said the optics of government gift card spending could also draw public scrutiny at a time when many Calgarians are facing financial pressure. 'We are entering a time where the gift card gravy train is very concerning to the public,' she said.
