Accountants hired to help TVA with its financial management are accused of mismanaging their own contracts with the federal utility.
An audit by TVA’s Office of Inspector General found that financial advisers Deloitte Consulting overbilled TVA by $4.8 million from 2003 through 2008.
Inspector General Richard Moore said his office reviewed $51.2 million of costs billed to the Tennessee Valley Authority by Deloitte and found nearly 10 percent of the bills “were unsupported or not in accordance with the terms of the contracts.”
Deloitte spokesman David Thompson said the accounting firm “strongly disagrees with the inspector general’s assertions” and insisted Deloitte provided TVA “the utmost professionalism and good faith” for nearly seven years.
“We worked in accordance with the terms of the contracts and the needs of TVA and always have immediately rectified any legitimate issues concerning our invoices,” Thompson said.
TVA spokesman Scott Brooks said TVA and Deloitte Consulting “are currently working together to fully understand the findings in the audit.”
“If, after a thorough review, TVA concludes that we are due a payment adjustment, we will pursue reimbursement from Deloitte,” Brooks said.
Deloitte was hired by TVA under two contracts reviewed by the inspector general to perform independent reviews and provide advisory services related to programs ranging from computer services to proposed legislation. Most of the financial advice was offered for projects in Knoxville and Chattanooga.
Moore declined to release the entire audit of Deloitte’s work. A summary of the review shows more than $3.3 million was overbilled because Deloitte didn’t limit overtime billings as promised in its original proposal to TVA. More than $1 million was billed for work done outside the scope of the contract, the summary shows.
Deloitte incorrectly billed $514,669 for work that was not properly approved and $51,233 for improper or unsupported travel expenses, the TVA audit reported.
Additionally, the inspector general found another $108,877 that had been double-billed.