CR Rolls Out New 

Questionnaire 

Process 

On April 7, 2003, employee 

associations received increased visibility 

on State’s Post Profiles application. 

Available from the Department’s 

unclassified OpenNet Plus system 

(http://www.a.state.gov/postprofiles/), Post 

Profiles is designed to provide a 

“snapshot” of the administrative life of a 

post or region. 

The application now enables employee 

associations to provide questionnaire 

responses to CR electronically. That’s 

right. No more faxes, emails or snail mail 

submissions of questionnaire responses. In 

fact, we don’t want them! 

The new questionnaire has been divided 

into public and private tables. CR and 

your Post Administrator will be able to 

view and edit both tables. Other users will 

have view access to the public table only. 

To obtain editor’s credentials for 

employee associations, contact your Post 

Administrator or Post’s Management 

(Administrative) Officer. If you cannot 

identify the Post Administrator for your 

post, you may contact the Bureau 

Administrator by locating the “contact us” 

page in the left navigation section of your 

Post Profiles welcome page. For posts in 

the Western Hemisphere Affairs (WHA) 

bureau, contact the Post Management 

Officer listed on the basic information 

page for your post. 

Guidelines for 2003 have been provided 

via State 086896 and are available from 

the CR Intranet site at 

http://aoprcr.a.state.gov/ and the CR 

Internet site at 

http://www.state.gov/m/a/c8225.htm. 

Technical assistance for accessing and 

navigating the Post Profiles application is 

available from the Bureau of 

Administration’s help desk by contacting 

AEXIRMHELPDESKB244@state.gov. 

Keep in mind, the help desk is located in 

Washington, D.C. and is staffed during 

regular business hours. For fastest service, 

please include your post name and that you 

are requesting assistance pertaining to 

employee association Post Profiles. The 

current Post Profiles user’s guide for 

editors is available in Adobe pdf format at 

HTTP://www.a.state.gov/postprofiles/help/

staff%20editors%20user%20guide.pdf. 

Content related questions should be 

directed to the CR Operations Team at 

foodandfun@state.gov. The help desk will 

be unable to respond to your content 

related questions. If you are uncertain if 

your question is technical or content 

related, please contact CR. 

 Initial responses are due May 15, 2003. 

We will ask that posts update the 

information quarterly in order to provide 

us with accurate and timely information for 

use in formulating the A/OPR/CR 

database. 
We look forward to hearing from you 

regarding the new questionnaire process. 

Please contact the CR Operations Team 

with your comments and questions. 

Employee 

Association 

Manager of the Year 

Award 

In April, Elizabeth Konick and 

Danny Samaroo of the Bucharest 

Employees Recreation Association 

(BERA) in Romania were selected as a 

team for the 2003 Manager of the Year 

award (based on their performance during 

2002). The team was cited for its shared 

commitment to new business 

opportunities, improving post morale, 

excellent customer service and cost control 

measures that moved the BERA into the 

black for the first time in several years. 

During 2003, the team implemented the 

Third Country Diplomat program and 

established the Homeward Bound Mail 

program. 

Congratulations to Lisa Crosier of the 

American Employees Association (AEA) 

of Beijing, China and Rose Charles of the 

U.S. Commissary (USCOM) Association 

of Dhaka, Bangladesh for second and third 

places, respectively. 

The remaining nominees in alphabetical 

order by post are: 

Tami Azzi – Beirut 

Martha Fernandez - Bogota 

Karen Grajeda - Guatemala 

Martin Axelsen - Kathmandu 

Shaun Parker - Kiev 

Mary Ann Smith, Yazmin Valdueza, 

& Claudia Wright - Mexico 

The annual awards process is 

announced each January. Nominations are 

submitted by Boards of Directors based 

upon the manager’s performance for the 

calendar year just prior. The winners 

receive framed certificates and a cash 

award. Copies of this year’s nominations 

are available from CR upon request. 

Congratulations again to the winners 

and nominees for making 2002 a great 

year! 

CR is on the Web! 

Yes, it’s true. The Office of Commissary 

and Recreation Affairs has entered the 

information age... we now have our own 

Internet site. The web site is hosted by the 

Department of State and is located at 

http://www.state.gov/m/a/c8225.htm. The 

site contains a myriad of resources 

including instructionals, formats and 

general information, etc. related to 

employee associations. Below is just an 

overview of the contents of our site. 

Management Resources – A library of 

accounting forms and instructionals, IRS 

information and tax assistance, boilerplate 

documents, management forms, and a list 

of key association management 

documents. 

Board of Directors – Resources for 

Boards, including the Board of Directors 

handbook and internal controls guide. 

News and Notes – Current and past 

editions of our newsletter, The CRonicle, 

in which you’ll find a wealth of 

information on a variety of topics, 

including spoilage, generating profit, and 

financial ratios. 

Regulations and Policy – Information 

relating to association operations as found 

in collective policy cables and 6 FAM 500 

(the “Bible” of employee associations). 

Reporting Requirements – Details and due 

dates on annual reporting requirements. 

Just a reminder – the deadline for 

questionnaire submissions has been 

extended this year to May 15. 

Special Programs – What you need to 

know about special programs for employee 
associations including the Third Country 

Diplomat program, Homeward Bound 

Mail and the Mini Association program. 

 

Suppliers – Sources of procurement for 

most anything you can think of! 

TAXES MADE EASY 

V2.0 

You know, there’s a saying. You can 

only count on two things in life: death and 

taxes. As USG instrumentalities for 

Federal tax purposes, employee 

associations are no exception. While not 

subject to tax on its income, the employee 

association is subject to employer taxes. 

These requirements take affect any time a 

U.S. citizen or U.S. resident alien performs 

work for the employee association. Now, 

here is the most important thing to know -- 

it is the employee association’s 

responsibility to meet employer Federal 

tax requirements -- 

not the individual 

performing the work. 

Unfortunately, as 

too many managers 

have discovered, 

withholding and 

reporting taxes can be 

a daunting process. 

And, in fact, we 

understand this is just 

one of the many tasks 

employee associations 

must tackle in running 

a small business. 

Over the years, we 

have worked to become more proactive in 

assisting employee associations with 

Internal Revenue Service (IRS) 

requirements and resolving reporting 

discrepancies. The Operations Team has 

resolved a record number of discrepancies 

this past year alone that resulted in a 

savings of hundreds of dollars for 

employee associations. 

In addition to individual tax assistance, 

we offer tools to assist in the process. 

First, our IRS instructional -- available 

both in word or cable format – outlines the 

process in great detail and includes the 

required forms and dates for filing. 

Since 1997, we have been offering tax 

workshops at our training conferences. 

These one-hour workshops provide handson training to managers and accountants in 

meeting employee association tax 

requirements. We will continue to offer 

these upon demand at upcoming training 

events. 

Last fall, we developed a tax program. 

Taxes Made Easy will not only assist the 

user in the calculation of taxes, but also 

provides mock tax forms to illustrate how 

the forms should be completed. The user 

will simply input monthly payroll (by 

employee) into the spreadsheet and the 

program will calculate the taxes to be 

withheld from the employee’s wages and 

transfer that data 

onto the mock 

forms. 

It’s a breeze! 

The program is 

available at no cost 

to the employee 

association and 

comes with 

technical assistance 

provided by the CR 

Operations Team. 

The current 

version is Taxes 

Made Easy v2.0. 

Please ensure that you are using the 

current version as the program was 

updated in April 2003. 

You may obtain a copy of our 

instructional or tax program from the CR 

Intranet site (http://aoprcr.a.state.gov/), the 

recently launched CR Internet site 

(http://www.state.gov/m/a/c8225.htm), or 

by contacting us at foodandfun@state.gov 
And remember, technical assistance is 

just an email away. The Operations Team 

is available to review your most intricate 

tax issue (pertaining to the employee 

association, of course!). 

This Just In... 

CR Announces a 

New, Improved

Employee Association 

Directory of Suppliers 

The Office of Commissary and 

Recreation Affairs proudly presents the 

next generation of its Supplier List. 

Brand new for 2003, the “Employee 

Association Directory of Suppliers” does 

not just look different – it’s a whole new 

animal from cover to cover. Pull up a 

chair in front of your desktop (or a laptop 

for those desiring a more sporty driving 

position) and take one for a test drive. 

The new Directory can be found at 

either of our two easy to reach locations: 

the Department’s unclassified Intranet at 

http://aoprcr.a.state.gov/, or our just 

recently launched Internet site, 

http://www.state.gov/m/a/c8225.htm. 

Admire the bright, patriotic red, ,

and blue color scheme on the cover. You 

know from the start this is no ordinary 

publication. Scroll down and just take a 

look at the list of features – all 

STANDARD: 

 Suppliers by Category – comfortably 

familiar, but oh so 21st century. The 

names are actually hyperlinked to each 

company’s website for easy viewing. 

You’ll be able to see virtually and 

touch what you are buying, so to speak. 

 New suppliers never before seen in the 

pages of the Supplier List and just 

clamoring to do business with 

employee associations. Everything 

from accounting software to Zip-lock® 

bags. 

 An easy, interactive, alphabetical index 

designed with you, the user, in mind. 

 All the contact information you could 

ever hope for right at your fingertips. 

Just click and e-mail/surf to your 

heart’s content. 

 Regular, automatic online updates. 

 Comprehensive listings of accounting 

and point of sale (POS) software and 

hardware providers. 

 Oodles of logo/promotional suppliers. 

 Equipment and supplies for restaurant 

and hotel operations. 

 Cleaning and janitorial supplies. 

 Recreational equipment. 

 Groceries, wine, liquor and soda. 

 Digital, print-on-demand newspapers. 

 You can even order COLD-EEZE® 

direct from the manufacturer. 

The new Directory is faster, brighter, 

more powerful and easier to use than ever! 

Do not hesitate – be the first at your post to 

possess your very own copy. 

Download one for a test drive today. 

You won’t be sorry. 

(Don’t worry, supplies are not limited. 

We have plenty more where this came 

from.) 

If you know of a supplier that should be 

on the list, please have the individual 

contact the CR Operations Team at 

foodandfun@state.gov for consideration. 

In the next issue of the 

CRonicle, we will serve up a 

feature article on post 

assignments in CR. Yes, all employee 

associations have now been assigned two 

primary points of contact within CR - that 

is, one for accounting issues and one for 
operational/management issues. We’ll 

explain next quarter. Until then, that’s all 

folks!