WelcomeYour membership has elected you to a

position of trust.This training will provide additional

information about your fiduciary responsibilities, as related to administrative functions of your office.

You will be provided with information relating to federal laws, constitutional responsibilities, and suggestions for building a stronger local/state union.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me or Roosevelt Stewart.

Yours In Union Solidarity,Elizabeth Powell

LM-2

APWU NationalSecretary-Treasurer’s Training

Mark Dimondstein, President Elizabeth Powell, Secretary-Treasurer

Getting Started on the LM-2

• Get the bookkeeping wrong, and you’re behind from the start.

• There is no software just for preparing your LM report, however, QuickBooks can assist you in properly categorizing

• My Accountant handles this, we’re fine. Maybe”…But this is NOT a tax form. If your accountant or CPA fills out your LM, they should be provided this presentation.

LM-2 Filing has been made easier!

Local unions no longer have to obtain a digital signature to file their LM-2 report.

All that will be needed is a personal

password, and the unique union passcode.

How To Prepare Yourself

• Understand information required on each schedule

• Sign up online for DOL updates (FAQs) – http://www.olms.dol.gov

How To Prepare Yourself (cont’d)

• Evaluate current accounting software • Can you:

• Code and sort cash disbursements information by DOL functional categories?

• Capture and export: • Vendor name; vendor address; vendor type • Purpose description (for itemized disbursements) • Date (for itemized disbursements) • Amount

How To Prepare Yourself (cont’d)

• Design all accounts payable (cash disbursement) processing forms including – Functional coding – Purpose descriptions – maximum number of

permissible characters is 50 (only for individual items of $5,000 or more)

• Design processing forms for “Other Cash Receipts”

How To Prepare Yourself (cont’d)

• Review all significant/frequent vendors – How should invoices most likely be coded by function,

determine now, not later? – Do you need more detail on vendor invoices to code

functionally (tell them now what is needed)? – Avoid journal entries to correct postings of accounts

payable (cash disbursements) • May not export with accounts payable files • Requires manual editing of export files

• Determine how officers and employees will track and report time on a functional basis

Recordkeeping

The officers required to file Form LM-2 are responsible for maintaining records that will provide sufficient detail information and data necessary to verify the accuracy and completeness of the report. This includes any electronic documents and recordkeeping software used to complete, read, and file the report.

These records must be kept for 5 years plus current year. 2011, 10, 09, 08, 07, 06

How To Prepare Yourself (cont’d)

• Expand chart of accounts to add 5 new functional categories

• Write down the definitions of the five new categories in your own words that fit your activities

• Review accounts payable (cash disbursement) “Master” files – Verify information to export is appropriate – Edit vendor information – now!

• Use a one month sample of real vouchers to practice on

Schedules 15-19

Functional Categories Schedule – Representational Activities (15) – Political Activities and Lobbying (16) – Contributions, Gifts, and Grants (17) – General Overhead (18) – Union Administration (19)

Schedule 15 Representational Activities

– Preparation for and participation in the negotiation of collective bargaining agreements

– Administration and enforcement of the agreements

– Recruiting new members

Representational Activities (cont’d)

– Examples of adequate descriptions: • Contract negotiation • Grievance arbitration • Litigation regarding the interpretation of a collective

bargaining agreement • Preparing organizing campaign pamphlets • Staffing a help desk • Opposition research • Litigation regarding representation issues • Litigation regarding a refusal to bargain

Political Activities and Lobbying Includes (cont’d):

– Political disbursements or contributions that are intended to influence the selection, nomination, election or appointment of anyone to a Federal, state, or local executive, legislative or judicial public office, or office in a political organization, or the election of Presidential or Vice Presidential electors and support for or opposition to ballot referenda.

Political Activities and Lobbying Includes (cont’d)

– Expenses of establishing, administering and soliciting contributions to union segregated political funds (or PACs)

– Disbursements to political organizations (527 Funds) and other political disbursements

– Examples of adequate descriptions ($5,000 or more): • A registration drive • Get-out-the-vote campaign • Voter education campaign • Fund raising • Advocating or opposing legislation • Advocating or opposing regulations

Political Activities and Lobbying Includes (cont’d):

– Disbursements for communications with members and their families for registration, get-out-the-vote and voter education campaigns

– The specific campaign, legislation, regulation, referendum, etc. should be identified whenever possible.

– Distinguish between activities in the United States and activities in foreign countries.

Schedule 17 Contributions, Gifts, and Grants

– Charitable contributions, contributions to scholarship funds

– Examples of adequate descriptions ($5,000 or more)

• Medical research • Community development • Education • Disaster and relief assistance • Athletic and youth sponsorships

Schedule 18 General Overhead – Not allocable to any of the 16 other

disbursement categories in Statement B. – Purpose should include sufficient detail to

determine why the disbursement cannot be allocated to another schedule.

– Examples: • Include support personnel at headquarters -

building maintenance personnel and security guards

• The salary of an assistant, whenever possible, should be allocated at the same ratio as the person or persons to whom they provide support (Schedule 11 and 12)

Schedule 19 Union Administration

– Nomination and election of officers – Union’s regular membership meetings – Intermediate, national and international

meetings – Union disciplinary procedures – Member education programs (not including

political education which should be reported in Schedule 16)

Union Administration (cont’d):

– Preparation of Forms LM-2 and T-1 – Examples of adequate descriptions ($5,000 or

more): • Printing of officer election ballots • Rental of meeting facilities for a union convention

– Purpose should be sufficient to explain why it’s not included in another schedule

Schedules 15 to 19

Functional Disbursement Categories As far as itemizing on Schedule 14-19 - transaction over $5,000

is considered “itemized”. If you have transactions with any vendor over $5,000 in aggregate but no individual transaction over $5,000 that is reported on Schedule 14-19 as “non-itemized”.

Ex: Kelly Press in Schedule 15 have 2 checks for $6,000 and $7,000 and 3 other checks for $1,500, $2,500 and $4,000. The $6,000 and $7,000 are “itemized” and aggregate $8,000 as “non itemized”

Special Rules Credit Cards – Applies to:

• Union’s credit arrangement(s) • Certain credit card charges reported in 5 new

functional categories – Does not include indirect disbursements to

officers and employees that must go on Schedules 11 and 12

– Does include indirect disbursements for temporary lodging and common carrier

– Cannot itemize (aggregate) payments to credit card co. as the vendor

Special Rules Credit Cards (cont’d)

– Must itemize (aggregate) by vendor actually paid by credit card company

– Each non-allocable line on credit card billing should be coded to a functional category(ies)

• If individual transaction in a functional category is ≥ $5,000, list on itemization sheet

• If total transactions in a functional category ≥ $5,000 (excluding individual items ≥ $5,000), then report by vendor in aggregate

Special Rules Credit Cards (cont’d)

– Minimum vendor information – name, city and

state – No netting

• Canceled transactions which are credits on credit card statement = “Other” cash receipts

• Receipt reporting – classify as Other Receipts, “Refund of a Disbursement”

– Identify by date and amount – Same itemization/aggregation rules apply based on

individual vendors shown on credit card statement

Do’s

• Do get a professional that really knows this form. The time you save and the stress you spare yourself will be worth the expense.

• Do take a look at the DOL’s Compliance audit letters on the DOL website and see what the most common recordkeeping and reporting errors are.

Don’ts • Don’t be late • Don’t be careless • Don’t assume “They will never look at mine” • Don’t think these just go into a black hole. People (your members, anti union groups, the media, officer candidates at election time) WILL look at this form! If you want to guarantee that you get a DOL

audit, file late three years in a row.

LM-2 Help

JayStar Group • Recognized expert in DOL Compliance, & Form LM-2

• Has prepared hundreds over the past few years, from 30 – 1500 pages, organizations from $250K – largest Internationals. • We work with the locals AND their accountants/CPAs

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ELECTRONIC FORMS SYSTEM (EFS) Guide to

Preparing the LM-2

Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS) http://www.olms.dol.gov

ELECTRONIC FORMS SYSTEM (EFS)

LM-2

EFS is a web-based system for completing and filing Form LM-2 Labor Organization Annual Report.

This tutorial demonstrates basic features and functionality of

the EFS LM-2 form. It does not contain instructions for what information should be provided on your report.

You can download a complete set of LM-2 Instructions from:

http://www.dol.gov/olms/regs/compliance/EFS/EFShelp.htm

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System Requirements and Settings

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To access and use the EFS, OLMS recommends you use one of the following browsers:

•Microsoft Internet Explorer – Version 6 or higher

•Firefox – Version 3 or higher

Screen Resolution: For optimal viewing, set your screen resolution to 1280 x 1024 or greater. OLMS recommends that at a minimum you set your screen resolution to 1152 x 864 to avoid horizontal scrolling.

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Log into EFS using your user ID and password and the filing union’s six digit file number and unique union PIN. (Please see the tutorial on how to register if you do not have a user ID or a union PIN.)

Accessing the System

Registering for EFS • Registering an Individual User: • There are two types of individual users • Preparers – users who prepare the form (accountants, administrative

assistants, officers, etc.) • Signing Officials – union officers who will be required to sign the form. • An individual user must identify as either a signing official or a

preparer when registering with EFS and will choose a unique username and password during the registration process. If you are a signing official who will also be preparing a form, please identify yourself as a signing official.

• EFS guides users through the registration process step-by-step. Upon

successful registration EFS will send an email confirmation.

Registering for EFS • Obtaining a PIN for Labor Organization • Labor organizations must first obtain a PIN (Private Identification

Number) in order to obtain their LM form. Upon completing the registration process, OLMS will email a unique PIN to the email address provided during the PIN registration process as well as mail that information in a letter to the labor organization’s address provided during registration.

• Note: Labor organizations that are required to file a Form LM-2 must register with EFS and submit their LM report using the new system. With the inception of the new EFS system, LM-2 filers are no longer required to purchase and use digital signatures.

• To sign and submit a report, each signing official must enter his/her unique User ID and password, the union’s LM file number, and the union’s unique PIN.

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Select one of the options displayed on the screen. (Please note that the only forms that you can amend in EFS are ones that were filed using EFS.)

You must change the “period

covered” dates before obtaining

the form

LM-2 Page 1

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The EFS form looks similar to the old Adobe form. Your union information is pre-filled, as are the start-of-period figures on Statement A.

Navigation

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You can easily move through the form by using the navigation links to the left to go directly to a page or by scrolling through pages using the arrows at the top.

Navigation

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There are links throughout the form to take to you to other parts of the form. For example, the statement totals have links to their corresponding schedules.

Getting Help Within the Form

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The form has several built-in help functions. Mouse-over text that displays information on what to report or how to enter data into a field is available on many items.

Getting Help Within the Form

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Click the Help link at the top of each page to open the form instructions for the current page in a new window.

Menu Items

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The menu across the top of the form contains the following items:

1. Save and Calculate – Click this item to save the current page and perform all mathematical calculations. Calculations are not performed automatically because doing so would dramatically reduce the speed of the application. It is important to click Save and Calculate at regular intervals when entering data in the form. If you do not save, you will be prompted to do so when you navigate away from a page.

2. Import – Click this item to open the Import page for importing schedule data. You can import into any schedule by clicking this link. You do not need to have a schedule open to import data for its completion.

3. Add Attachments – Click this item to open the Add Attachments page where supplemental information (like a constitution and bylaws or audit report) can be uploaded. The uploaded data can then be submitted with the form.

4. Validate – Click this item to run the form validation routine, which checks the form for missing data. Each page has its own set of validations, and you will be prompted to fix these items before leaving the page if you wish. All validations must be satisfied before the form can be signed and submitted.

5. Help – Click this item to take you to page-specific instructions for completing the form. You can navigate through the instructions page by page, or download/print a copy from our website at: http://www.dol.gov/olms/regs/compliance/EFS/EFShelp.htm.

6. Print – Click this item to open a facsimile of the electronically completed LM-2. You can save a copy of this report to your computer and share it with others who may need to prepare or review the document. You may save a copy of the final signed report prior to submission.

Additional Information

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Additional Information entered

Additional Information needs to

be entered

Throughout the form, there are places where the system will prompt you to enter additional information. You have the option to check a box to enter the information later, and the Additional Information prompt will remain red to remind you that you will need to enter additional information before submitting your report. To go back and enter the additional information, double-click on the AI icon and enter the additional information. The prompt will turn green, indicating that additional information has been entered. The Additional Information Summary can be found in the left navigation pane.

Additional Information

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Click the ADDNL INFO link in the left navigation pane to display the Additional Information Summary page.

To go to the item, click on the blue additional information text.

To enter any other additional information required by the form instructions, click the

General Information link.

Entering Data into the Form

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There are two ways to enter schedule data in the form: manually entering data and importing data. Manual entry may require you to add more rows to a schedule. A blank schedule in EFS has 10 rows. If you need more than 10 rows, click the “Add” button located at the top of each schedule. This will add an additional 10 rows.

Entering Data into the Form

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After entering data in a schedule, click the Save & Calculate link to perform calculations.

The calculated totals will display in the Totals fields:

Entering Data into the Form

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The schedule data carries forward to the statements.

Importing Data into the Form

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To import data into the form, click the Import link on the top menu bar.

Select the schedule from the dropdown menu. Schedules 14-19 require two import files: one for master records and one for detail records.

A file in CVS or XML format is required to import data. These are the same formats used in the previous Form LM-2 system. For detailed information on creating import files, download the Data Specification Document found on the OLMS website at: http://www.dol.gov/olms/regs/compliance/dsd.htm

Importing Data into the Form

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Click Browse to select the file to be imported.

Importing Data into the Form

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Click Submit to import the data file. If the import is successful, the data will display in the schedule. Click the Save & Calculate link before moving to the next schedule. Note: Large import files will import quickly, but saving the imported files to the database will take some time. An hourglass icon or the “Please wait” indicator bar shown below will let you know the system is working to save the data. Please be patient when working with large amounts of data.

Importing Data into the Form

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If any formatting problems are found in the data file during import, a list of errors needing correction will appear.

You can save and print the error report to help with the correction process. All errors must be corrected before the file can be imported. The Data Specification Document located on the OLMS website gives detailed guidance on the required data schema.

Attachments: Attaching Supplemental Data

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As with the previous forms system, EFS allows you to attach data, such as constitutions and bylaws, that may be required to be submitted with the report. To begin the process of adding an attachment, click the Add Attachments link on the top menu bar. Note: While the system does not prevent them from being uploaded, certain file formats cannot be read by our system. The following file formats can be read:

•Adobe PDF •Microsoft Word •Microsoft Excel •Rich Text Format •HTML •Standard Picture formats JPEG, BMP, GIF •Text files

Attachments: Attaching Supplemental Data

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Select the type of attachment you want to upload. Reviewers can view attachments by selecting the check box to the left of the attachment name and clicking the open link.

Validation

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There are two types of validations built into the form to help ensure that the correct data is being entered into the form: Page Level Validations and Form Level Validations. Page Level Validations occur before you navigate away from a page. A pop up message will alert you of items that must be corrected before the form can be signed and submitted.

If you click OK you can correct the item before leaving the page. If you click Cancel, you can correct the item later. You will be prompted to make the correction during form validation.

Validation

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Form Level Validations occur as a final check before the form can be submitted. You must click the Validate link on the top menu bar.

The system will open the Validation Summary Page containing a list of items that must be corrected. You can click on each item and be taken to the page where the item can be corrected. For more information on what should be provided for these items, consult the form instructions.

Signing the Form

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Once all of the validation items have been corrected, the form is ready to be signed.

The signature blocks will turn red, indicating the form can be signed.

Note: All officers who must sign the form must have established user accounts and must log into EFS with their account information to sign the form.

Signing the Form

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You must re-enter your password to ‘sign’ the form. By doing so, you are legally attesting that you are the person identified by name in the signature block and a duly authorized officer of the union.

Signing the Form

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A minimum of two signatures are required to submit the report. If there is a need to apply more signatures on the form, click the Add Additional Signatures link below the signature blocks to add two additional signature blocks.

Once the report has been signed, if any changes are made to any fields on the form, the signatures will be removed and the form must be validated and signed again.

Save a Signed Copy

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Click the Print item and click File Save As to save a signed copy of the report as a PDF to your computer. Do this before submitting the report.

Note: You can obtain a copy of the submitted report from the Online Public Disclosure site. Please see the next section for information on this.

Submitting the Form

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Once the signatures have been applied, the form can be submitted. Click the Submit button from the top menu bar. Once the form has been processed (this may take a few minutes) a confirmation message will display:

You can print this message by going to File Print, or simply copy and paste the text from the page into an email or word processing document. You should now be able to view your submitted report in the Online Public Disclosure Room, by using the link shown above.

Troubleshooting

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During peak filing periods, you may experience a slowdown in saving and validating the report. During these busy periods, you may see an error that looks like this:

Please wait a few minutes and try again. However, if you continue to experience the problem, please contact our technical support desk. See the next page for information on how to get help.

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Getting Help If you experience difficulty using EFS, please contact OLMS Form Technical Support toll-free at: 1-866-401-1109

This PowerPoint presentation and other information regarding EFS can be found on our website at the following URL:

http://www.dol.gov/olms/regs/compliance/efs/efspreview.htm

If you have additional questions or comments please contact OLMS: E-mail OLMS at olms-public@dol.gov or contact your local OLMS District Office

Elizabeth Powell, our Secretary Treasurer would like to thank you for all you do for APWU. Your feedback is very important to us because it will help us improve training. Please feel free to comment, both negative and positive, about this training.

Please feel free to email your comments todbright@apwu.org or contact the SecretaryTreasurer’s Department.