Political Finances

MUNICIPAL ELECTION (ONTARIO)

Requirements before engagement:

The candidate and/or appointed campaign financial manager must:

1. Engage with Chaplin & Co. LLP, Chartered Professional Accountants (Chaplin & Co.) at the latest 1 month prior to polling day. (It is highly recommended that the candidate and the campaign financial manager meet with a representative from Chaplin & Co. prior to starting the campaign to discuss election finance practices and procedures.)

2. Have a campaign bank account that provides monthly bank statements for the audit period.  The bank statements must include images of cheques issued (if any) that cleared the bank account.

3. Be able to provide campaign bank account e-Transfer Transaction Details.  The bank statements should report the recipient or sender name if any e-transfers were sent or received.  Some banks statements do not report the details, however, offer detailed e-transfer history reports.  These reports can be provided in such cases.

4. Be able to Provide a campaign bank account deposit book (or similar record) used to record cheque and cash related deposit transactions.

5. Be able to Provide copies of any cheques deposited into the campaign bank account.

6. Be able to Provide Merchant Bank Transaction Reports – if the campaign received contributions process through a merchant bank service provider (eg, Paypal, Stripe), then a comprehensive transaction report for all transactions must be provided for audit.

7. Be prepared to use Microsoft Excel Workbooks and spreadsheets we provide to record bank transaction information and fundraising details.

8. Be able to provide invoices for all campaign expenses organized and submitted for audit using a voucher system.

9. Items 2-8 above must be available within 3 weeks after the campaign period end date if a general election, or withing 1 week after the campaign period end date if a by-election.

10. If the candidate runs their campaign in the City of Toronto and uses the municipal EFFS system, the candidate must input all contributor information into EFFS and provide an auditor user account

Engagement Process:

1. In order for Chaplin & Co. LLP, Chartered Professional Accountants to become your campaign auditor an agreement must be signed by you. The agreement in this case is called an Engagement. If you meet and agree to the requirements noted above and would like to request Chaplin & Co. to become your appointed campaign auditor you will need to complete and submit the engagement request form to begin the process. Chaplin & Co. will be in touch with you shortly after your submission to discuss the possibility of working as your campaign auditor.