AUDIT BUREAU OF CIRCULATIONS(ABC)

P R E F A C E:

Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) is a voluntary organization constituted in the year 1948.
Going back six decades when the concept of circulation audit was yet to be established in our
country, advertisers had no means to know the actual circulation numbers of publications that
they used for advertising and had to depend more on their own judgement. Publishers also
found it difficult to convince advertisers of the relative values of their publication for the purpose
of advertising. It is with this background, eminent representatives of the advertising profession
and publishing industry came together to establish an organization which could serve common
interest. Since then the benefit of ABC certificate of circulation have been availed by
advertisers, advertising agencies, publishers and organisations connected with print media
advertising.
The primary objective of the Bureau is to secure accurate circulation figures and data relating to
all periodicals and media that sell advertising space and in regard to such publications to obtain
information as to area of distribution and fix standard forms and methods for ascertaining the
circulation figures and to record such information and circulate it to members of the ABC.
Bureau certifies circulation figures of member publications for a six-monthly audit period i.e.
January to June and July to December. The system envisages a comprehensive audit of
printing, distribution, financial and production records of member publications by a panel of
approved auditors as per the audit guidelines laid down by the Bureau from time to time.

AUDIT GUIDELINES:

Appointment of Publisher Auditor:

Publisher members are required to appoint a firm of Publisher Auditor which is
empanelled with the Bureau, a list of which is available on the Bureau’s website:
http://www.auditbureau.org. A firm of Publisher Auditor may carry out publisher’s circulation
audit for a maximum period of two years or four half-yearly audit periods. Thereafter, a
publisher member is required to appoint another firm of Publisher Auditor from amongst
the empanelled firms.
The same firm of Publisher Auditor may be considered for re-appointment by a
publisher member only after a clear gap of four six monthly audit periods.
The terms of appointment, fees etc. to be mutually decided between a publisher member
and a publisher auditor.
However, with effect from audit period January-June 2012, following limits would apply :
· A firm of empanelled publisher auditor may undertake maximum circulation audits of
upto 25 editions / printing centres of a title registered with the Bureau [Incoming
Certificates are separately filed with the Bureau for each printing centre and / or
edition as applicable].
· No limit with respect to the number of circulation audits one empanelled publisher
auditor may undertake in case of member publications from the same group of
publications.
· An empanelled firm of publisher auditor would mean a firm which is separately
registered with The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and having a
separate firm registration number

All publications of a group not members of the Bureau:

Publishers who publish more than one publication, all of which are not members of the
Bureau and separate books of accounts are not maintained for non member publications
then under such circumstances the publisher should provide access to the auditor to
enable him examine records pertaining to non member publications.
In cases where non member publications are offered to a reader along with member
publications under any scheme then it is incumbent upon the publisher to provide full
access to the auditor for scrutiny of books and records pertaining to non member
publications

Books and records to be audited:

Each audit should include financial, sales and statistical audit to the satisfaction of the
auditor in order to establish the qualifying sales. For that purpose auditors should call for
relevant books and records and information as may be required from the publisher.
However, the financial audit should be limited to ascertain to the satisfaction of the
auditor the circulation figures to be certified without going into other financial records
which have no bearing on the publisher’s circulation figures. Scrutiny of various
accounts heads in general ledger should be done for those accounts pertaining to sale of
copies.
For a satisfactory audit, an auditor should not limit his scrutiny of publishers books and
records placed before him but his audit should include physical verification of actual
printing and despatch of the publication including actual sale of copies to the trade which
may be ascertained through market visits, interaction with distribution trade as well as
seeking direct confirmations from newsprint suppliers, agents, principal agents and
others involved in sales of copies.

BUREAU AUDITS:

Surprise recheck audit :

· Circumstances under which a surprise recheck audit by Bureau’s Auditors are
normally caused:
1. New Publication being enrolled to Bureau Membership.
2. Starting of a new publication centre / edition of an existing publication.
3. Reduction in cover price which could possibly result in change
(increase) in the trade terms / NRR.
4. Increase in circulation figures individually for an edition and / or printing
centre as decided by the Bureau’s Council of Management from time to
time.
5. Circulation figures of a publication for the previous audit period are
either not filed or not certified by the Bureau for any reason.
6. Result of surprise check and/or surprise recheck audit of the previous
period is unsatisfactory or there are issues arising from the surprise
check/surprise recheck audit report which needs to be verified for
compliance before certification of circulation figures.
7. Any other reason for which the committee feels a surprise recheck audit
is necessary (reasons to be recorded).

Direct Bureau Audit:

If desired by a prospecting publisher member, a new publication / edition / printing
centre to be enrolled to Bureau membership may be directly put through Bureau’s
audit by Bureau’s Auditors at publisher’s expense prior to admission provided a written
request is received by the Bureau atleast one month before the end of the respective
audit period.
The same also applies to existing publisher members desirous of availing this service.

Enrolment of new editions / printing centres:

Publisher members are required to separately enroll a new printing centre and / or
edition with the Bureau. Publisher members are also required to submit separate
Incoming Certificate for each printing centre and / or edition. Publisher members may
request for a combined or separate ABC certificate of circulation for their various
editions.

Banking of cash collections:

Publisher members are required to deposit into the bank on the same day or the next
working day cash received from all sources viz. sale of copies, advertisement receipts
and from any other source.
Cash required by the publisher for day-to-day disbursement should be separately
withdrawn and not adjusted from the daily cash collection.
Auditor should verify this aspect and establish that actual cash received on all days has
been deposited into the bank in full on the same day or next working day and such a
transaction is not merely a book entry
Monthly bank reconciliation statements should be up-to-date and available for Auditor’s
verification.

Books and records to be audited:

Each audit should include financial, sales and statistical audit to the satisfaction of the
auditor in order to establish the qualifying sales. For that purpose auditors should call for
relevant books and records and information as may be required from the publisher.
However, the financial audit should be limited to ascertain to the satisfaction of the
auditor the circulation figures to be certified without going into other financial records
which have no bearing on the publisher’s circulation figures. Scrutiny of various
accounts heads in general ledger should be done for those accounts pertaining to sale of
copies.
For a satisfactory audit, an auditor should not limit his scrutiny of publishers books and
records placed before him but his audit should include physical verification of actual
printing and despatch of the publication including actual sale of copies to the trade which
may be ascertained through market visits, interaction with distribution trade as well as
seeking direct confirmations from newsprint suppliers, agents, principal agents and
others involved in sales of copies.

Hope the Information was useful………..

Vinodh.