UA officials are unsure if changes will be made to the Purchasing Cards system after two UA employees have come under investigation for fraud as a result of unauthorized purchases.

Purchasing Cards, P-cards for short, are issued to some school departments to make small purchases that don't require a purchase order, said Johnny Cruz, a UA spokesman.

The P-cards work like credit cards but with several restrictions. The cards are meant to eliminate the need for purchase orders and direct reimbursement.

The University of Arizona Police Department is currently investigating an accountant who racked up over $9,000 in unauthorized charges on her P-card, according to search warrant documents filed in Pima County Superior Court.

The woman, who worked in the agricultural and resource department, is one of two UA employees who have come under investigation in the past few weeks on suspicion of misusing their cards, said UAPD spokesman Sgt. Eugene Mejia. Neither has yet been charged with a crime.

The accountant paid back the debt before resigning her position, according to a UAPD affidavit.

Cruz said he is unsure if changes will be made to the P-card system as a result of the investigation. He said there are already several safeguards in place.

"It is a very, very small percentage of employees who use them and there are internal controls," he said.

About 2,000 UA employees have the cards and everyone who has a P-card must go through an application process. Each application must be approved by the employee's department head and by the department head of the P-card program, Cruz said.

Those who are approved for the P-cards must then go through a training program before they can use the cards.

UA policy forbids personal purchases on the cards, and the university is liable for the purchases. The cards do not affect the holder's personal credit, according to a university Web site.

Every transaction requires the approval by the purchaser and someone else within the department, Cruz said. There are also weekly audits to ensure that users are using the card correctly.

"There are multiple points of checks and balances," he said. "When something is amiss it is generally found."

Cruz said he did not know enough details of the case to comment on why the accountant's purchases were not discovered sooner.

The accountant spent $9,000 on American Express gift cards, which she purchased at Safeway, and on books, CDs and clothes, which she bought on www.Amazon.com between April 1 and July 18, according to the affidavit.

The accountant's boss reported the unauthorized charges to police on Jan. 5, according to the affidavit.

The accountant's home was searched the next day and police seized clothes, a book, CDs and a Cuisinart food processor, according to the search warrant documents.

Police have served at least one other search warrant, Mejia said.

Mejia could not comment on the details of the two cases because the investigation is ongoing, but said authorities are sorting through pages and pages of P-card statements.

Mejia said this paper trail will likely help the investigation, but said there is much to go through.

"It'll take time to determine if this is a criminal violation or if the employees were unaware of the regulations on the use of the card," he said.

Mejia said UAPD may work with the UA after the investigation is over to review the P-card procedures to see if some safeguards can be improved or if other procedures can be implemented to thwart unauthorized use of the cards.