Preparing a Report

Overview

This guide walks you through creating, generating, and exporting a new FEC report. This feature allows you to select a specific form type, define the reporting period, set key financial parameters, and generate a file ready for review and submission.

Before you begin, ensure you have the following information ready:

• The correct FEC form type you need to file (e.g., Form 3, Form 3X).
• The start and end dates for the reporting period.
• The Cash on hand amount at the beginning of the reporting period. Note: This field is required only for your first report. For later reports, the value automatically carries over from the previously filed report.

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Navigate to Reports in the left-hand menu.
2. Click the blue New Report button in the top-right corner of the screen.
3. On the Step 1: Start a new Disclosure Form page, complete the following fields:

Click Continue.

4. On the Step 2: Confirm balances for reporting period page, enter your starting balance in the Cash on hand amount field. Click Continue.
5. On the Step 3: Set parameters page, confirm the covering period and the amount in the Contribution Threshold field. Click Save and generate report.
6. Once the Generating report… screen finishes loading, you will have a chance to double check that your workspace settings are accurate and verify the number of transactions in the report. Operative will flag whether any transactions in the report still have issues that need to be addressed before you can file. Once your issues have been resolved, click the Begin button next to Step 3: Review and export.
7. Operative will generate a final report and take you to the Step 4: Review and export page.

On the Review and export page, you will see a summary of your report details. On the right-hand side, you can navigate through and review all the different sections of the report (e.g., Committee Info, Cash Summary, Schedule A, etc.).

In the Schedule A and Schedule B sections of the report, the itemized receipts and disbursements will be presented in a format similar to a generated PDF report. While reviewing, you have two options for making transaction-level changes:

1. Exit the review screen and re-enter the transaction information: At any time while reviewing a report, you can click the Back button in the top right hand corner of the screen to exit the report review screen. The report will be saved, and you can return to the Transactions or Contacts page to make your desired changes. Once you have finished updating your transactions, navigate back to the Reports tab in the left-hand panel of the screen and click on the draft report. Once you are back in the report, click the blue Recalculate Report button in the bottom left hand corner of the screen to update your report with your latest changes.

2. Inline Editing: Operative includes an easy-to-use inline editing feature so you can make changes to transactions and contacts without ever leaving the report review screen. When reviewing Schedule A or Schedule B, click the View Source Transaction Details button in the bottom right hand corner of an itemized transaction. (This appears in small print directly below ‘Memo Item.’) This will open up the standard Transaction modal, where you can view or edit details of the Transaction or Contact. When you’re done, click Save and Close to return to your report review screen. After making your desired changes, click the blue Recalculate Report button to refresh your report totals.

   Changes made in this view will be reflected in your main Contact and Transaction database–there is no need to make the same changes twice.

In addition to Schedules A and B, your report may also include loan and debt schedules if you’ve entered these types of transactions:

1. If your committee received or made a loan (e.g., Loan from Candidate, Loan from Organization, or Disbursement of Loan to Committee), those loans will appear on Schedule C.
2. If a loan came from a bank or other financial institution (entered as Loan from Organization with the lender as a bank), you’ll also see Schedule C-1 with detailed loan terms such as collateral, guarantors, and balances.
3. If you recorded an unpaid bill or obligation (e.g., Operating Expenditure to Organization with Debt Status: Active), the outstanding balance will appear on Schedule D until it is settled.

Just like with Schedules A and B, you can click View Source Transaction Details for any entry on Schedules C or D to open the original transaction and make inline edits. Don’t forget to click Recalculate Report after saving changes.

At the bottom of the page, you have several options to continue reviewing the report or, if you’re ready, file directly with the FEC:

• Download FEC: Downloads the report as a .fec file for review.
• Export Preview: Downloads a PDF version of the report for review.
• File Report: Initiates the e-filing process with the FEC directly from the application.

Additional Notes

• The main "Reports" screen allows you to view Drafts (reports in progress) and Filed reports.
• You can start an amendment to a previously filed report by selecting Amendment in Step 3 of the report creation process.
• If any Transactions or Contacts are marked as “Not Ready”, they will not appear on FEC reports until the flagged issue has been addressed. See System Flags for more details.