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What is deferred revenue?
Some individual Sections have earned revenue over the years from different sources, primarily through a Sections PD Revenue Sharing Formula. The National Sections Council also has a small pool of funds accumulated through PD revenue sharing.
If unused, these funds remain in a deferred revenue account.
What is the process to use deferred revenues?
Throughout the year, the Section can contact its staff liaison for the current deferred revenue balance or to use deferred revenue.
Often there are options to reduce the amount of deferred revenue that will be used when a Section needs new or additional funds. Depending on the nature of the request, the National Sections Budget Committee has flexibility to either (i) reallocate confirmed savings (between line items or between Sections) or (ii) approve the use of deferred revenues. (Your staff liaison will clarify options.) Alternatively, your staff liaison may contact the Section to suggest the use of deferred funds if savings are insufficient to cover a shortfall for one of the Section’s approved activities.
If an individual Section does not have sufficient deferred revenues, any Section can apply to use National Sections Council deferred funds. These are available for the benefit of Sections generally or for individual Sections, as appropriate.
There is an approval process. All requests are subject to advance approval by the Sections Budget Committee. Depending on the amount, approval by the CBA Treasurer or Finance Committee may also be required.
A short email is all that is needed. Your staff liaison will pursue approval on your behalf. A complete request will include:
- A brief description of the proposed use of funds
- A rationale (for example, how that expense will benefit all members of the Section or enhance the value of Section professional development programming)
- Confirmation of the Section Executive’s approval (depending on the circumstances, approval of the Officers or Section Chair may be appropriate).
What types of expenses will be approved? Are there certain items that will not be approved?
The lists below illustrate the types of expenses that will, or will not, be approved.
1) Examples of expenses that will be approved
Professional Development
- Through a ‘Sections Pilot Project’, at the discretion of the Section or the Director of Professional Development (depending on whether the Section has sufficient deferred revenues to absorb the cost if conference registrations are insufficient) the following items may be approved as a line item in the PD program budget:
- Speaker fees
- Networking events that will enhance the value of the conference
- Conference registration fees for up to 2 members of the Section’s conference organizing committee
- Up to a maximum of $3,000 to fund conference attendance, for example travel or hotel for a speaker, a hotel night for the conference or Section Chair, registration fee for key conference organizers, etc.
- Conference enhancements that cannot be covered by the PD conference budget
- Complimentary or reduced registration for law students/young lawyers, as a recruitment tool
Costs to attend August National Sections Council Meeting
- Up to $1,000 for the Chair (or designate)
Meetings with Government or the judiciary
- Unanticipated meetings, logistical costs, or additional representatives at approved meetings with government officials or the judiciary (Federal Courts or Tax Court Bench and Bar Liaison Committees; individual Section Bench/Bar liaison committees)
Represent CBA
- Costs for extra reps or to cover shortfall for an approved meeting with a national (ex: Uniform Law Conference of Canada) or international organization (example UNCITRAL or International Competition Network)
ABA Liaison
- Meeting costs, registration fees, or other items, subject to provision of a report to the Section executive and/or other tangible benefit to the membership of the Section
Section Executive Meetings
- Enhancements such as a PD speaker
- Branch Chair hotel; attendance by active Executive Members
- Meals – reasonable amounts above budget or CBA rate, for example to include government or PD speaker costs
Outreach and Recruitment
- Initiatives to recruit or retain students and young lawyers or provide bilingual CBA programming
- Donation to support establishment of a Section essay competition or moot court sponsorship
Miscellaneous
- Costs that the CBA must outsource to support approved projects or special initiatives
- Nominal start-up costs to support development or enhancement of online tools and resources for CBA members
2) Examples of expenses that are unlikely or will not be approved
- Funds to cover an unbudgeted amount to support a Section meeting in a location or format for which, in the view of the National Sections Budget Committee and NSC Executive, there is insufficient justification
- Initiative for which the CBA has determined there are insufficient staff or other resources to support, taking into account the approved budget and deferred revenues
- Initiative for which the requisite CBA approvals or protocols have not been met