A state audit released Tuesday identifies a lack of financial controls and millions of dollars in questionable purchases in the state welfare department, including state employees using taxpayer funds to sell welfare clients cars the employees purchased and the bulk purchase of gift cards in large denominations.

Due to a failure to separate accounting duties for purchases in the Department of Human Services, the same state employees in many cases created invoices, processed invoices, and then approved the checks to pay the invoices, said the report by Michigan Auditor General Thomas McTavish.

Also, the department reimbursed state welfare employees for the purchase of personal computers and other electronic items without documenting the items were ever provided to state welfare clients, or in some cases, ever purchased in the first place, the audit said.