After Election Day: FEC Records, Vendor Credit and the Client Hand-Off

1. Who is responsible

Under 11 CFR 102.9, the treasurer of a political committee, or an agent the treasurer authorizes to receive contributions and make expenditures, carries the recordkeeping duties. Under 11 CFR 104.14(d), each treasurer is personally responsible for the timely and complete filing of reports and for the accuracy of what they contain.

If you received contributions or made payments as the treasurer's agent, the records you hold are the committee's records. Plan the hand-off with that in mind.

Sources: 11 CFR 102.9, Accounting for contributions and expenditures (eCFR); 11 CFR 104.14, Formal requirements regarding reports and statements (eCFR)

2. What must be kept for contributions

The committee must keep an account of all contributions received. For each contribution over $50, that means the contributor's name and address and the date and amount. For anyone whose contributions add up to more than $200 in a calendar year, the account must identify the person. Contributions from political committees identify the committee.

For contributions over $50, the committee also keeps a record of each one. A check or other written instrument needs an image of it, and each record must link the contribution to its deposit, for example with a batch number.

Sources: 11 CFR 102.9, Accounting for contributions and expenditures (eCFR)

3. What must be kept for payments

For every disbursement, the committee records the payee's name and address, and the date, amount and purpose. A payment made for a candidate also records the candidate's name and office.

For each disbursement over $200, the committee keeps a receipt or invoice from the payee, or a canceled check or record of electronic transfer. If one is missing, best efforts require at least one written effort per transaction to get a duplicate. That is why vendors are often asked for invoice copies after the race ends.

Sources: 11 CFR 102.9, Accounting for contributions and expenditures (eCFR)

4. How long to keep them

Records and accounts must be kept for 3 years after the report they relate to is filed. Section 104.14 adds that reports and the records behind them stay available for audit, inspection or examination by the Commission for at least 3 years after filing.

A candidate who took certain loans, such as bank loans or advances from a brokerage account, credit card or home equity line, must keep the loan records for 3 years after the election.

Because the clock runs from each report's filing date, the last records you hand over may need to be kept well past the election year.

Sources: 11 CFR 102.9, Accounting for contributions and expenditures (eCFR); 11 CFR 104.14, Formal requirements regarding reports and statements (eCFR)

5. If your firm extended credit

Under 11 CFR 116.3, a commercial vendor may extend credit to a candidate or political committee. The credit is not a contribution as long as it is extended in the ordinary course of the vendor's business, on terms substantially similar to credit for nonpolitical clients of similar risk and size.

To decide whether credit was in the ordinary course of business, the Commission considers whether the vendor followed its established procedures and past practice, whether it was paid promptly and in full when it gave the same client credit before, and whether the credit matched normal practice in its industry.

In practice, bill on your normal terms, follow up on unpaid invoices the way you would for any other client, and keep a record of each follow-up.

Sources: 11 CFR 116.3, Extensions of credit by commercial vendors (eCFR)

6. A hand-off checklist

Close out in this order, so nothing is lost when access ends.

1. List every system where you hold committee records: payment processor, bank portal, CRM, email and shared drives.
2. Export contribution and payment records in a format the committee can open without your accounts.
3. Send copies of every invoice you issued, and confirm which are paid.
4. Confirm in writing who now holds each record and where.
5. Only then remove your staff from the committee's systems, and remove the committee's users from yours.

When the hand-off is done

The hand-off is done when the treasurer has every record you held, knows where it is, and can open it without you, and when nobody has access they no longer need.