PROVINCIAL CANDIDATE (Ontario) Return (CR-1) - AUDITOR ENGAGEMENT

When do you Need an Auditor?

The Provincial (Ontario) Candidate's Campaign return (CR-1) must be audited for submission to Elections Ontario if contributions totaling $10,000 or more are accepted and/or campaign expenses totaling $10,000 or more are incurred.

It is important to distinguish between expense and non-expense transactions in your determination of the $10,000 expense threshold for requiring an audit of the CR-1. Non-expense transactions include monetary transfers to affiliated constituency association or registered party bank accounts, loan payments etc.  The non-expense transactions should not be included in your determination of the $10,000 threshold for requiring the CR-1 Audit.  Expense transactions include (but not limited to); campaign expenses transferred in from an affiliated constituency association or the registered party.  These are costs that can be included in the determination of the $10,000 threshold.

Our Audit Services (for new potential clients)

If you are a registered candidate's campaign, and looking to obtain Political Finances Audit services for your campaign you must meet some documentation and record keeping requirements (Engagement Requirements).

Some of these general requirements are;

  • The campaign has opened an campaign bank account, according to requirements as set out in the Election Finances Act, which provides the following services;
    1. Monthly bank statements.
    2. Bank statements include images of cancelled cheques (cancelled cheques are those cheques that are issued to make payment and clear your bank account).
    3. Online account access.
    4. Detailed disbursement e-transfer reports and records that identify date of transaction, amount of disbursement, payee name and payee email address for each
      transaction.
    5. Account transaction download files in *.csv format.
  • Merchant bank transaction reports.  If contributions are received electronically, online (Paypal, Square, Moneris etc.) or intermediate service provider (Stripe, Nationbuilder etc.) to process and manage electronic contributions, the Chief Financial Officer of the campaign is able to provide detailed transaction reports (transaction dates; deposit, fees, transfer amounts, corrections, etc.)
  • The Chief Financial Officer would provide copies of manual official receipts issued for contributions received OR if the registered party is registered with Elections Ontario as having a tax receipt database, provide a tax receipt summary report provided by the registered party included schedule 2 part 2 of the CR-1 (again, provided by the registered party).
  • The Chief Financial Officer would agree to use and completed MS Excel Spreadsheets (templates provided by us) which record details of;
    1. Bank account transactions (deposits and disbursements with income and expense allocations).
    2. Fundraising Events.
    3. Sign Inventory (old from previous election) sent to (non-monetary transfer (if any)) and used by the campaign (in a general election year or if a by-election occurred).
    4. Sign Inventory remaining at the end of the a candidates campaign transferred to the PCA (in a general election year or if a by-election occurred).
    5. Any pre-paid campaign expenses not invoiced to and paid for by the campaign but used by the candidates campaign (in a general election year or if a by-election occurred).
    6. PCA payables as at year end (December 31).
  • The Chief Financial Officer would have organized expense documentation (invoices / purchases receipts / contracts / agreements) according to a voucher system. Generally explained, expense documentation (invoices) etc. are organized according to the order of disbursement transactions as reported on the bank statements. A voucher page, which summarizes the expense(s) that occurred on a specific date is stapled on top of all supporting expense documentation (invoices etc.).
  • The Chief Financial Officer would have photocopies ( or scanned electronic files ) of all cheques deposited into the campaign bank account. For combined deposits, where more than one cheque is deposited at one time, all cheque photocopies or scanned images are grouped together.
  • The Chief Financial Officer would be able to provide all required documentation for audit within 40 days of the filing deadline, in order to guarantee meeting the filing deadline.

If the Chief Financial Officer and campaign able to meet the requirements noted above and is interested in auditor engagement please select the button below to complete our online campaign client intake form.  After completion and submission of this form we will be in touch with you within 24 hours to discuss suitability and the next steps with finalizing auditor engagement.

Info Form for New Candidate Requests for Audit