Boston Public Schools employees manipulated receipts to pay a consultant a whopping $2,000 a day for work instead of the $40 an hour required by contract, according to a city watchdog report that calls for immediate oversight at BPS.

And while BPS officials say no one is alleged to have made a profit from the manipulations, Boston Finance Commission executive director Matt Cahill said taxpayers were still on the hook.

“Was this a breach of protocol? Absolutely. Did this cost taxpayers more money than they were obliged to pay? Absolutely,” Cahill said. “This could be throughout the system as far as we know.”

According to a report from the city’s Finance Commission, an independent agency tasked with monitoring city contracts and payments, BPS’ English Language Learner department hired a consultant from 2014 to 2016. Contracts for training do not have to go out for bid, but vendors cannot be paid at more than $40 per hour or $250 per day unless the superintendent approves otherwise, according to the report.

The ELL contract initially called for paying the consultant $2,000 a day, but the report found no indication ELL ever sought or received superintendent approval for the higher amount, and the contract was re-written at the payment rate of $40 per hour. But the vendor started sending invoices at the $2,000 per day rate — which should have immediately been flagged as not matching up with the contract, Cahill said.

Instead, an employee or employees in the department created receipts — verification that the vendor had provided services in the contract — and sent them for payment at the $2,000 figure. At one point, the vendor sent an invoice for two days work at $2,000 a day, or $4,000 total. The BPS-created receipt attached to that invoice calls for $4,000 in payment, but at the rate of $40 per hour, that’s 100 hours for work that reportedly took place over a 48-hour period.

“Boston Public Schools is committed to ensuring public funds are spent responsibly and that all proper protocols are followed when issuing contracts,” a BPS spokesman said in an emailed statement. “The report did not indicate that anyone profited from these irregularities, but stated that procedure was not followed in past practice. In the fall of 2016, BPS conducted an internal review into this contract process. BPS worked cooperatively with the Finance Commission and has provided additional training for staff.”