Learn More: Submission of Financial Reports

Please Note: All amounts should be entered in your local currency.  IEEE Staff will make the conversion to US dollars.

Before proceeding with step 1, you should review prior year financial reports from your geographic Unit.

Step 1 - Prepare Schedule I - Receipts and Expenses (3 Pages)

As you prepare Schedule I, note if any of the receipts or expenses would require you to prepare support Schedules III, IV, V, or VI.  If yes, complete those schedules and transfer the balances to Schedule I as instructed.

Step 2 - Prepare Schedule VII - Reconciliation of Checkbook to Bank Statements (1 Page)

The total of Column A in Schedule VII must agree with the total in Line A, Column D of Schedule II.

Step 3 - Prepare Schedule I I - Statement of Net Worth (1 Page)

As you review Schedule II, note if any of the assets or liabilities would require you to prepare support Schedule V or VI.  If yes, complete those schedules as instructed.

Step 4 - Prepare The General Information and Certification Schedule (Required) and the Conflict of Interest Disclosure Statement (COI) (Required)

Make sure the Treasurer and Chair profiles for current and incoming Officers are completed and signed on the General Information and Certification Schedule.

Step 5 - Prepare the Checklist (must be included with the L50 report)

Prepare the Checklist to confirm that all of the necessary schedules and materials have been provided for submission to the IEEE Member and Geographic Activities department (MGA).

Step 6 - Photocopy for Your Records

Photocopy all of the prepared schedules, checklist, and bank and/or investment statements for your file copy in the event that there are questions asked subsequent to submitting the L50 to MGA.

Step 7 - Submit

Submit the completed form L50, checklist, applicable bank signature cards, and bank and/or investment statements to MGA, via the Submission Portal (IEEE Account required).

Top 10 Reasons for Unapproved Section Financial Reports

Busy volunteers have limited time to spend doing the paperwork requested of their positions.  Having that paperwork rejected as incomplete or incorrect can cause frustration and possibly a delay in receiving funds in the form of the annual Section rebate.  Knowing the most common causes for a Section financial report (L50) to fail in obtaining approval may assist in getting the report right the first time.  Here is a listing of the most frequent errors/omissions in submitted Section L50s. 

1. Pages omitted or not signed.  These are usually one of the following three pages: General Information and Certification page, Conflict of Interest form, and the Bank Disclosure Statement. 
2. All Bank Statements must be dated December 31 from the current year and must be submitted. 
3. End of year bank balances are off slightly (i.e., Schedule I/II does not agree with the Schedule VII book balance total).
4. Advances/accounts receivable are not tracked (Schedule VI).  This is often due to turnover in the Treasurer position.  The new Officer may not be aware of outstanding amounts.
5. Accrued accounts payable are not tracked (Schedule VI).  Again, this is usually due to position turnover.
6. Any accruals for the current year must be resolved in the following year. If not, please provide an explanation (Schedule I).
7. Prior year balances are listed incorrectly.  Hint: do not “plug” last year’s ending balance to “fix” a problem in this year’s report. 
8. Depreciation expenses are not recorded (Schedule V).
9. Investment information is filled out incorrectly (Schedule V).
10. Bank accounts are not reconciled each month.  Doing a bank reconciliation each month can help reduce errors on the L50 financial form.
11. Payroll taxes (Schedule I.pg.2 -line 5.40), submit copies of any returns with your L50 financial report 
12. Purchase of Other Assets (Schedule I-Pg.3 – line 8.15) such as furniture, property, vehicle etc., submit the purchase receipt and depreciation schedule

Please e-mail MGA Staff if you have questions or need assistance.

Each Unit that has a bank account at a local bank (i.e., not in the IEEE Concentration Banking Program) is required to submit a bank account disclosure form.  The submission of this form is required since IEEE will be providing this information to the external auditors.  The auditors will confirm each Unit's bank account balances as of the end of the year via the bank account disclosure form.  It is requested that all Units complete this form as soon as possible and no later than 30 January.

For Units outside the US, where local laws do not allow the IEEE Staff Director of Financial Services to be an authorized signer on the accounts, we are requesting that the local Unit Officer sign and mail the original Bank Account Balance Confirmation Letter to us in addition to submitting this information electronically.

All US Geographic Units are obligated to comply with the Internal Revenue Service’s information reporting requirements for taxable income payments made to individuals.  The reporting threshold is the total of payments to an individual that equals or exceeds US$600 for services rendered and for awards, honorariums, and prizes.  As you make payments during the year to individuals please be sure to collect:

1. name and address of the individual;
2. social security number;
3. the total amount paid;
4. a brief description of the payments. 

It is recommended that IRS Form W-9 (PDF, 268 KB) be used to obtain the names, addresses, and social security numbers of each individual.  The 1099 information is requested by the IEEE Tax Department at the end of the year.  If you did not provide this information to the IEEE Tax department last year, please do so via e-mail.

Volunteers with signing authority or responsibilities that could represent a potential conflict of interest should complete a Disclosure Statement and Principles of Business Conduct on an annual basis. 

All Section Chairs and Treasurers are required to complete these statements as provided in the annual financial report.  If you wish, any Section Officers may complete an IEEE Disclosure Statement and a Principles of Business Conduct form.

January 

• Deadline for submission of 1099 reports - 21 January
• Deadline for submission of Bank Account Disclosure Form - 31 January
• Section Budget approved by the Section Executive Committee
• Summary of prior year financial activity presented to the Section Executive Committee

February

• Deadline for submission of Section Financial Report to receive the 10% bonus - 3rd Friday in February

March

• Deadline to submit the completed Financial Report.  If all reports (Officer, meeting, and financial) are not received prior to this date, the Section will not be eligible to receive the annual rebate - 31 March
• Summary of current year financial activity presented to the Section Executive Committee

April

• Rebates will be distributed by 30 April to all Sections whose Officer, financial, and meeting activity reporting is received complete by the third Friday of February and subsequently approved.  Those Sections submitting their reports at a later time will receive their Rebates as soon thereafter that eligibility is established

May

• Summary of current year financial activity presented to the Section Executive Committee

June

• Deadline to submit Audit Report - 30 June

July

• Summary of current year financial activity presented to the Section Executive Committee

September

• Summary of current year financial activity presented to the Section Executive Committee

November

• Review, verify, and reconcile Unit reports, 1099 recollection information

December

• Financial Report for current year is available on the web
• Begin preparation of the annual report on the finances of the Section
• Start to prepare preliminary budget for review by the Section Chair and obtain financial records from outgoing Treasurer
• If the Chapters or Affinity Groups of the Section have separate bank accounts, follow up with the Chairs of these Units to ensure that financial activity of the Chapter is incorporated with the financial activity of the Section