7536 - Audit of operations.
§ 7536. Audit of operations. (a) General rule.--At the close of each fiscal year, a complete certified audit of the operations of the association shall be made by a qualified certified public accountant or by a qualified public accountant, employed by the board of directors, the written report of whom shall include the balance sheet, operating statement, commissions, salaries and other remunerations of managers and officers and other proper information and shall be submitted to the members at the next regular meeting. Within six months after the expiration of the fiscal year for which made, the secretary of the association shall file a copy of the certified audit in the Department of Agriculture upon a form prescribed by the department. The secretary of the association shall also include in the yearly audit report to the department a list of the current officers and directors and their addresses. (b) Exceptions.--The annual audit of an association with annual gross sales of $100,000 or less may be performed by an audit committee of three or more members of the association appointed by the board, at least one of whom shall be a member of the board of directors. The members of the committee need not be certified public accountants or public accountants. (c) Enforcement.--Any association which fails, within 120 days from the close of the fiscal year, to file with the department the certified audit required by subsection (a) shall be notified by certified mail by the department that the certified audit must be filed within 60 days from the date of mailing of the notice and that, upon failure to file the certified audit within the time so limited, the department will file in the Department of State a statement of dissolution under this subsection. If the certified audit is not filed in the department within such 60-day period, the department shall file in the Department of State, with respect to each such defaulting association, a statement of dissolution which shall identify the association. Upon the filing of the statement, the articles of the association shall be deemed forfeited for failure to comply with the provisions of this section. However, the forfeiture shall not prejudice the rights of creditors and members in and to any property or assets of or belonging to the association. The department shall annually, on or before April 1 of each year, furnish each existing association and make public a listing of the status of existing associations. Any association which has so automatically forfeited its articles shall be reinstated as an association under this chapter if the unfiled certified audit is submitted to the department within 90 days after such automatic forfeiture or within any extension thereof granted by the department, which shall thereupon file in the Department of State with respect to the association a notice of withdrawal of statement of dissolution stating that the association has complied with the provisions of this subsection. In such event, no statement of revival or new articles of incorporation need be filed in the Department of State, and the association shall resume its status as a subsisting corporation. The department shall review such yearly certified audits and issue such reports and recommendations to each member of the board of directors of the association as the department deems necessary. (d) Confidentiality.--No person shall, without the consent or authorization of the association, except for official purposes or in obedience to judicial process, make or permit any disclosure whereby any information contained in a certified audit may be identified as having been furnished by the association. No person shall knowingly exercise or attempt to exercise any powers, privileges or franchises for an association, given by this chapter, while the articles of the association are forfeit unless that person is, and discloses that he is, acting to reinstate the good standing of the association under this chapter or is acting to wind up the affairs of the association. A person violating the prohibitions set forth in this subsection commits a misdemeanor of the third degree. (e) Withdrawal.--A certified audit shall not be withdrawn without the approval of the board of directors.