General Principles and Record Keeping - Business Events

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General Principles and Record Keeping

This section sets out some key requirements relating to the overall reporting and auditing of your ABC claim.

Principles

1. The event must be eligible to report under the Reporting Standards

2. Your claim must comply with the Reporting Standards 

3. Transactions related to the claim must be bona fide ‘arms length’ arrangements

4. Evidence to support the claim must be retained and available for a minimum period

Requirements 

1. The event must be eligible to report under the Reporting Standards

1. You may apply to register an event under the Business Event Reporting Standards if entry to the event is controlled in a manner that records attendance and enables it to be verified in accordance with these Reporting Standards. 

2. Each occurrence of an event will be certified separately. 

3. Once we have issued an event’s first ABC certificate we must continue to issue certificates for subsequent events (i.e. so there is no gap in certification) while the event remains registered.  

2. Your claim must comply with the Reporting Standards  

No additional requirements.

3. Transactions related to the claim must be bona fide ‘arms length’ arrangements

1. Transactions or arrangements (such as sales of entrance tickets or stand space) with your own organisation or Related Parties can be included if you are able to demonstrate to  the satisfaction of your auditor or ABC that these are bona fide ‘arms length’ arrangements.

2. Related Parties for ABC purposes will include where:

   1. One party has direct or indirect control of the other party; or

   2. The parties are subject to common control from the same source; or

   3. One party has influence over the financial & operating policies of the other party to an extent that the other party might be inhibited from pursuing at all times its own separate interests; or

   4. The parties, in entering a transaction, are subject to influence from the same source to such an extent that one of the parties to the transaction has subordinated its own separate interests.

   5. Transactions between contract publishers and their clients are deemed not to be arms length in relation to a specific publication produced for that client.

This means the following are considered Related Parties for ABC purposes:

1. 1. • The publisher, its subsidiary, parent and fellow undertakings (and Directors of these)

      • Associates and Joint Ventures (and their investors)

4. Evidence to support the claim must be retained and available for a minimum period

1. You must retain and be able to provide all records supporting the claim, including but not limited to: 

   1. An attendance list that includes all individuals that attended the event.

   2. An analysis of the event attendance by day by attendance type. i.e. Visitor Attendance, Exhibitor Attendance.

   3. Evidence supporting the number of attendees claimed by attendance type 

   4. Evidence supporting additional information certified. For example: Stand Space if claimed. 

   5. Financial records relevant to the claim.

2. Records supporting the claim must be retained until we have completed the audit of the certificate for the subsequent event unless we agree otherwise. There is an exception for registration documents, tickets and vouchers collected in paper form which may be disposed of once we have confirmed the audit is complete.

3. Records supporting the claim must be retained and made available to us, on request, in accordance with the ABC Byelaws.

Guidance 

G1. The event must be eligible to report under the Reporting Standards

1. Each occurrence of an event will be certified separately: What determines the occurrence of an event is a mixture of time and location, influenced by how it is promoted. For example: Event X running from 1st to 5th March  and Event X running 1st to 5th September would be certified separately. Similarly Event X running 1st to 5th January held in London and Event X running 1st to 5th January held in Manchester would be certified separately.