OAR 603-042-0010: Monitoring of Fiscal Practices and Procedures

(1) To facilitate the monitoring of the fiscal practices and procedures of all commodity commissions by the Department under ORS 576.066, in order to assure that commodity commissions are complying with applicable laws and administrative rules and are maintaining good business management practices, and pursuant to ORS 576.395, all commodity commissions shall comply with the requirements of this section. (2) As soon as practicable after preparation, copies of the following documents shall be submitted to the Commodity Commission Oversight Program Office of the Department: (a) Minutes of regular or special meetings; (b) Administrative rules, including all related statements of the rules; (c) Executed contracts, agreements, memoranda of understanding or similar documents, and addenda thereto; (d) Statements of internal operational policies; (e) Periodic reports or summaries of the fiscal status of the commissions; and (f) Fidelity bonds covering authorized agent who receives or disburses funds, filed with the commissions under either ORS 576.385, 577.550, or 578.110. (3) Not later than 60 days after the end of each fiscal year, commission must prepare an annual financial statement of commission revenues and expenses, which shall be made available to the public, submitted to the Commodity Commission Oversight Program Office of the Department, and provided to the Secretary of State. An annual financial statement must include the following: (a) A balance sheet combining all funds; (b) A statement of budgeted and actual revenues and expenditures, indicating thereon any changes in fund balances; and (c) Any appropriate notes of explanation or disclosure. (4) Every five years, or with greater frequency as determined by each Commission, each Commission will acquire either an independent fiscal evaluation or a financial statement audit of the Commission’s accounting records, books and fiscal procedures. The constitutional and statutory audit authority of the Secretary of State is recognized as applicable to commodity commissions, and upon either a request of the Secretary of State or a request of a commodity commission, the Secretary of State may audit a commission either in lieu of or in addition to an Independent Fiscal Evaluation or audit: (a) Each Commission shall determine the number of years that will be evaluated or audited; (b) Each Commission will write a letter to the Secretary of State Audits Division seeking permission to obtain a financial statement audit, and obtain permission from the Audits Division before conducting an audit; (c) Commissions shall follow competitive bidding procedures to obtain financial evaluation or audit services when the value of service is in excess of $10,000, pursuant to OAR 122-050; (d) Financial statement evaluations and audits shall follow generally accepted accounting principles. (5) Independent Fiscal Evaluations shall be an option only for those Commissions with annual assessment income of $50,000 or less and shall follow the Fiscal Evaluation Tool adopted by the Commodity Commission Oversight Program Advisory Committee. Each commission that selects the Independent Fiscal Evaluation method shall take official action to name a committee to conduct the evaluation. The committee shall not contain any member who was authorized to sign commission checks during the period that will be evaluated. (6) One copy of the draft Independent Fiscal Evaluation report or the audit report, whichever the case, shall be mailed via certified mail to the home address of the Commission chairman or chairwoman for review, and one copy shall be mailed via first class mail to the Department’s office of the Commodity Commission Oversight Program. (7) One copy of the final report shall be mailed to the home address of the Commission chairman or chairwoman; a second copy of the final report shall be provided to the Commission’s administrator. In addition, one copy of the final report shall be mailed to the Department’s office of the Commodity Commission Oversight Program and one copy shall be mailed to the Secretary of State Audits Division. (8) Whenever a Commission administrator changes, the Commission shall cause an audit to be conducted pursuant to ORS 297.210(2). (9) The accounting records, books and procedures of all commodity commissions shall be established and maintained in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. (10) All new contracts, memoranda of understanding or similar documents committing commissions' funds or actions, and all addenda thereto, shall be submitted to and reviewed by the Department of Agriculture’s office of the Commodity Commission Oversight Program prior to execution. (11) The Attorney General's Model and Uniform Rules of Procedure under the Administrative Procedure Act shall be followed in all matters except where a different procedure is prescribed by a commodity commission's statute or rule. [Publications: Publications referenced are available from the agency.]