Commission on African American History was loose in its fiscal protocol, audit finds

The Maryland Commission on African American History and Culture did not create sufficient financial recording controls for agency credit cards or purview over historic art and artifacts and financial transactions for events held at an Annapolis Black history museum, an audit found.

According to the audit released Wednesday from the nonpartisan Office of Legislative Audits, which conducts evaluations of state agencies, the commission had not instituted proper protocol for transactions made on its corporate purchasing card.

State records demonstrated that one employee with access to the card had made 518 transactions totaling approximately $239,000 between July 2022 and January 2026. That employee was not logging transactions made with the card, and the purchases were not subject to required independent supervisory reviews.

Per the Maryland comptroller’s Corporate Purchasing Card Program Policy and Procedures Manual, state agencies are to record all transactions made with corporate purchasing cards on an activity log, and supervisors are to perform reviews of cardholder activity.

Additionally, the audits office found that the commission had not appropriately established procedures for financial transactions that occurred regarding private tours, special event rentals and reimbursements for expenses at the Banneker-Douglass-Tubman Museum in Annapolis. Records from the Commission on African American History and Culture state that fiscal collections it received between August 2023 and January 2026 totaled approximately $162,000.

The audit found that the commission was not always recording when it received funding.

Checks given to the museum were not being deposited within one business day of their receipt and were being handled by several employees before being endorsed. The commission was also not independently confirming that the checks were deposited. All of these actions are required under the Maryland comptroller’s Accounting Policy and Procedures Manual.

The Office of Legislative Audits also found that the commission failed to provide adequate accountability and controls over the collection at the Banneker-Douglass-Tubman Museum.

The audit report reads that the museum’s art and historical artifacts collection contains 291 items valued at approximately $478,000.

Per the audit finding, the commission was not performing physical inventories of the collection during the audit period, which occurred between July 1, 2022 and February 17, 2026. However, a test of 15 objects randomly selected by the Office of Legislative Audits found that all of those items in the collection were accounted for.

The Office of Legislative Audits reported that the Commission on African American History and Culture’s written procedures for controlling the collection did not address how to safeguard, record and manage it as is required under the Department of General Services’ Inventory Control Manual, which requires that items be inventoried annually and that record keeping, custody and physical inventory duties be divided.

The Maryland Commission on African American History and Culture responded to the audit finding regarding the purview of the museum’s collection and corrected the way that it is inventoried. The remaining two findings will be addressed by the end of 2026, a letter from Chanel C. Johnson, the executive director of the commission, reads.

“[The Maryland Commission on African American History and Culture] has treated every finding identified in this audit as a priority and acted decisively to implement targeted corrective actions focused on strengthening internal controls, enhancing our collections management, reinforcing cash and check handling procedures, and resuming the Corporate Purchase Card reconciliation activities,” Johnson wrote in response to the audit.