General Information

The IEEE is responsible for maintaining accurate and timely financial records for all its Units worldwide.By maintaining these records locally in appropriate formats, Unit Treasurers assist IEEE in this effort.  The consistency, completeness and accuracy of financial reporting and compliance with the Institute’s financial policies and procedures are important so IEEE can maintain its nonprofit tax-exempt status with the United States government. 

Geographic Units of IEEE are not independent organizations but are integral parts of IEEE itself. As a result, IEEE is responsible for the consolidation of all Unit financial reports into a single financial report for the organization each year. 

No financial activity in the fiscal year?  A signed annual financial report noting beginning and ending balance must still be submitted. Include a copy of any applicable year-end bank statements. If there is no bank account and no financial activity, submit a letter stating this, along with a signed copy of the "General Information and Certification" page of the L50 financial report form.

A delay in submitting the annual financial report (L50) and any accompanying paperwork will result in significant delays in processing your Section’s rebate.  

Each Sub-unit must provide a financial report for the fiscal year to the Section (or Council) Treasurer.   Subsections, Chapters and Affinity Groups are sub-units of Sections (alternatively, Chapters and Affinity Groups may be sub-units of a Council). The Section Treasurer should create a consolidated financial report for the Section that includes the financial information related to the Subsections and Chapters. If unable to provide a consolidated report, the Section Treasurer is required to provide separate and complete financial reports for each Sub-unit. 

We strongly recommend the use of accounting software to help maintain accurate financial records and reduce the time necessary to prepare the Unit’s annual report. Quicken software is a user-friendly financial package which can track Unit disbursements and receipts, create reports and can be used to write checks. If Unit Treasurers opt to use it, the recommended chart of accounts can be downloaded from the menu at left or the IEEE MGA can provide a copy at your request ( financial-report@ieee.org ) .

An electronic version of the annual financial report (L50) form can be downloaded from the Geographic Unit Support web page in Excel format .  Once completed, it can be sent back as an e-mail attachment to financial-report@ieee.org (pages which require signatures and copies of backup such as bank statements, can be  faxed, mailed, or scanned and e-mailed). 

For your reference, throughout these pages, notations are made in parenthesis referring to the official source of information. The sources are IEEE Bylaws, Member and Geographic Activities Operations Manual, Financial Operations Manual (FOM) and IEEE Policies (Policies).