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FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION 

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20463 

December 23, 2021 

MEMORANDUM 

TO: Patricia C. Orrock 

Chief Compliance Officer 

Dayna C. Brown 

Acting Assistant Staff Director 

Audit Division 

FROM: Neven F. Stipanovic 

Associate General Couns 

Policy Division 

Lorenzo Holloway 

Assistant General Couns 

Compliance Advice 

Margaret J. Forman 

Attorney 

SUBJECT: Draft Final Audit Report on the Association for Emergency Responders 

and Firefighters (LRA 1113) 

The Office of the General Counsel has reviewed the proposed Draft Final Audit Report 

(“Proposed DFAR”) of the Association for Emergency Responders and (“AERF”). The 

Proposed DFAR contains three findings: Increased Activity (Corrected) (Finding 1), Disclosure 

of Disbursements (Finding 2), and Recordkeeping for Disbursements and Use of Designated 

Depository (Finding 3). We concur with the findings generally, and comment on Finding 3. If 

you have any questions, please contact Margaret J. Forman, the attorney assigned to this audit. 
 

 

 

LRA 1113 

DFAR on the Association for Emergency Responders and Firefighters 

Page 2 of 3 

I. RECORDKEEPING FOR DISBURSEMENTS AND USE OF 

DESIGNATED DEPOSITORY (FINDING 3). 

The Proposed DFAR finds that AERF made 66 ACH transfers (ACH settlements) 

totaling $2,240,253 to “Er Responders.” AERF, however, disclosed the disbursements on its 

reports as payments to vendors, and none of these vendors were identified as “Er Responders.” 

The Audit Division concludes that based on the information provided thus far by AERF, it is 

unable to verify the accuracy and completeness of this disclosed activity as discussed in more 

detail below. 

In response to the Interim Audit Report recommendation, AERF maintained that the 

ACH transfers were made from its designated depository to the vendors, and AERF provided 

both AERF bank statements and certain vendor bank statements in support of its position. These 

bank statements, however, did not demonstrate that the funds were transferred directly from 

AERF’s bank to the vendors’s bank accounts. Rather, the bank statement of AERF indicated 

that the funds went to “Er Responders.” Similarly, the bank statements of the vendors showed a 

cash receipt from "Er Reponders," rather than from AERF. AERF maintains that its bank solely 

labeled these transfers as “ACH Settlement Vendor Pay Er Responders.” AERF further 

maintains that this label “does not reflect payment to the Association for Emergency Responders 

and Firefighters, LLC, nor to any entity or entities other than the intended vendors.... Because 

this labeling process is controlled by the bank, AERF’s ability to more clearly demonstrate the 

direct flow of funds from its designated depository to the vendors is limited.” IAR Response at 

6. 

Because AERF’s assertions are not independently verifiable, the Audit Division 

maintains that AERF still has not provided sufficient supporting and verifiable evidence to show 

that the disclosed vendors were paid with the funds transferred from AERF’s bank account. To 

demonstrate that the vendor payments originated from its bank account, the Audit Division 

recommends that AERF provide sufficient supporting and verifiable evidence such as, debit 

memoranda or similar electronic receipts for each payment to demonstrate that the 66 ACH 

transfers initiated by AERF resulted in the 159 vendor payments reported on its disclosure 

reports. The Audit Division maintains that the debit memorandum or similar electronic receipt 

will show the specific account(s) that the payment originated from, as well as the specific 

account(s) into which the funds were deposited. In this manner, the Audit Division will be able 

to verify whether the vendors were paid with the funds transferred from AERF’s bank account. 

We concur with the finding and comment here to clarify that what the Audit Division 

ultimately needs is documentation demonstrating that AERF paid the vendors with direct 

transfers of the funds from AERF’s bank account, disclosed on AERF’s statement of 

organization as its designated campaign depository, to the vendor accounts. If the funds flowed 

through any other entity, AERF should identify this entity. In addition to AERF providing the 

ACH transfer document, since the Committee addresses the manner in which the bank labeled 

the transaction on its statement, we would advise the Audit Division to provide AERF an 
LRA 1113 

DFAR on the Association for Emergency Responders and Firefighters 

Page 3 of 3 

opportunity to provide a written explanation from a bank official at AERF’s bank regarding how 

the information appears on the statement and how exactly the funds were transferred.1  

1

 AERF and the four vendors at issue here maintain accounts with the same bank.