Conference Audit

In cases where an audit is required, the Conference Chair may select, with the concurrence of the IEEE Operations Audit Department, an outside accounting firm or another fully qualified resource.  He/she may also ask the IEEE Operations Audit Department to arrange for and/or perform the audit.

Conferences where IEEE has a greater than 50% financial responsibility and where the actual or budgeted income or expense is less than US$100K will be audited on a periodic basis.  The IEEE Operations Audit Department will schedule and arrange for the audits of these conferences. For those conferences not scheduled for an operations audit review in a given year, an audit should be conducted by a committee composed of individuals who have no direct or indirect responsibility for the financial transactions of the conference.

The evaluation of conference financials by either IEEE Internal & Operations Audit Department or the independent audit firm will be performed, using a common set of criteria which has been developed to ensure that:

1. conference receipts and disbursements are adequately controlled;
2. reports fairly represent the financial results of the conference.

Conference budgets and actual financials should include an amount for audit fees. 

The fees for IEEE Internal & Operations Audit Department are:

If using IEEE Internal & Operations Audit Department a Memorandum of Understanding will be provided.

The Conference Treasurer may choose to have an independent audit firm complete the required audit. The independent audit firm should perform an agreed upon procedures review, using the IEEE Conference audit steps (DOC, 34 KB).  A copy of their audit report must be submitted to IEEE Conference Finance for review by IEEE Internal & Operations Audit Department.

For those conferences with revenues or expenses of less than US$100,000, not scheduled for an IEEE Internal & Operations Audit Department review in a given year, an audit should be conducted by a committee, composed of individuals who have no direct or indirect responsibility for the financial transactions of the conference.

Selection of Data for Testing

A representative sampling of 10% of the conference financial data is suggested. If the number of exceptions in the sample is above an acceptable level, the sample should be expanded until an acceptable level of confidence is achieved.

Suggested Procedures for Testing

The following procedures should be followed by a committee conducting an internal audit. (PDF, 60KB) Based on findings and recommendations of prior year conference audits, the procedures may need to be adjusted, accordingly.