Issued according to the CICA Elect...

Issued according to the CICA Elections Task Force

Under amendments made to the Canada Elections Act, which were assented to in succession June 19, 2003, and effective as of January 1 2004 federal electoral district associations are permitted to register with Elections Canada. Although registration is not mandatory, unregistered associations can solitary receive transfers from their registered party. They cannot accept contributions, provide religiouss or services, or transfer stocks to election candidates, the registered party, or another registered association of that party; and they cannot accept permanent funds from a candidate, leadership contestant, or nomination contestant.

Upon registration, a registered electoral district association has to appoint the two a financial agent and an auditor. The application for registration must include their acquiescence to so act. Chartered accountants who are considering accepting the appointment as financial agents should have reference to the Registered Association Handbook issued from Elections Canada (www.elections.ca), which identifies the eligibility requirements for financial agents, as well as their responsibilities (including a checklist). With look up to to the responsibilities of the auditor, the CICA's Elections Task Force has issued a Guide, which is placeed on the CICA website at www.cica.ca/index.cfm/ci_id/25636/ la_id/1.htm.

Within five month of the expiration of a fiscal (calendar) year, the financial agent of the registered association must submit to the Chief Electoral Officer a Financial Transactions answer which includes a declaration by means of the financial agent that the information contained in the revert is correct. An audit of the turn back is only required if the registered association has, in a fiscal period, accepted contributions or incurred costs of $5,000 or more in total. In like instances, the auditor is to report to the financial agent in succession the Financial Transactions Return, and shall, in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards, make any examination that will enable the auditor to give an opinion in the report as to whether it not absents fairly the information contained in the financial records forward which it is based. If as it is is not the case, or if it appears that specific accounting records have not been kept the auditor should indicate that like is the case in the auditor's report.

The Financial Transactions revert comprises four parts: Part 1 comprises a declaration on the financial agent; Part 2 comprises several statements relating to contributions received, for which the legislative requirements are similar to those relating to contributions received by the agency of federal election candidates; Part 3 comprises a statement of transfers made at the association and a statement of unpaid claims; and Part 4 comprises the association's financial statements-a Statement of Assets and Liabilities, including any surplus or deficit, and a Statement of incomes and Expenses, both of which must be prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP).

The Guide issued by way of the CICA's Elections Task Force locates out the eligibility requirements for the auditor; these are identical to those for the auditor of a candidate in a federal election. It also remarks on a number of issues that the auditor is likely to face, including unless not restricted to: auditor independence and objectivity; audit of opening balances (in the words immediately preceding [i]or[/i] following that audits are only required for certain, and not all, fiscal periods); contributions received (the audit issues are similar to those for the audit of a federal election candidate); and the GAAP requirement for the association's financial statements. Samples of concurrence engagement, and representation letters are also included in the Guide, along with an auditor's report that is considered appropriate for this pattern of engagement.

Staff Contact: Andr?©e Lavigne, CA, principal, research studies: andree.lavigne@cica.ca

Copyright Institute of Chartered Accountants of British Columbia May 2005

Provided by means of ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved