Pro Publica Inc.

“Pro publica has its form 990 prepared by an outside accounting firm and has established the following review process to ensure that the information reported is complete and accurate. When the form 990 has been prepared, reviewed by the president and vice president of finance & administration and is ready to be filed with the internal revenue service, it is submitted electronically to all members of pro publica's governing body for any comments prior to its submission. The governing body is provided with at least one week to review the prepared form 990 and provide their comments. Any comments are then grouped, summarized and provided to the audit committee for their review. Each issue is documented and addressed until the return is finalized and approved for filing.”

“Pro publica has a conflict of interest policy, which applies to all directors (board members), officers, and employees. An interested person must disclose as soon as practicable to the secretary the existence of a potential conflict of interest and all material facts related to the conflict. If a director or officer is uncertain about whether a conflict exists, he/she must report the possible conflict in all cases in which a critical external observer might reasonably perceive a conflict to exist. The board committee will determine if a conflict of interest exists. In the event that a conflict of interest arises, the director or officer with whom the conflict pertains to is excluded from voting on the issue. He/she must leave the room and the other directors vote on the issue pertaining to that specific transaction. With respect to any board committee's discussion, decision, or actions involving transactions in which a director or officer has a conflict of interest, the minutes of the board committee meeting will reflect the board's deliberations and voting process. In case of an interested party who is not a director or officer, the president monitors and enforces the organization's compliance with its conflict of interest policy. If an employee has a conflict of interest, he/she cannot participate in the decision making of the conflicted transaction.”

“Salaries for the ceos are set by the board. The board uses the services of a law firm (caplin & drysdale, who specialize in not for profit issues) for guidance on matters of ceo compensation. The board reviews proposed compensation increases for the ceos in relation to their performance, rates of inflation, compensation practices and plans for other propublica employees, and comparable data. Comparable data may include information about journalism outlets as well as other not for profit organizations. Approved salary changes are documented in human resources files and require the signature of both the employee and the hr director. The board's consideration of this matter is also documented in the minutes of the executive session. This process was last completed in 2020.”

“The organization makes its form 990 available for public inspection as required under section 6104 of the internal revenue code. The return is posted on guidestar.org and other similar types of websites. In addition, the financial statements, conflict of interest policy, articles of incorporation, form 990, form 1023, and by-laws are also available upon written request, and on the organization's website (www.propublica.org).”

“Local investigative journalism with the forthcoming launch of regional reporting hubs in the south and southwest, in addition to broadening our illinois efforts to cover a wider swath of the midwest. Projects from the first year of our joint initiative with the texas tribune exposed (and ultimately helped reverse) the practices of a lender that sued texas borrowers after they lost jobs to the pandemic, and the structural problems and disturbing origins of a privately funded portion of trump's border wall. Stories from the propublica local reporting network illuminated the erosion of hawaii's beaches and the state's failure to return native hawaiians to ancestral lands, maine's shoddy and predatory legal services for the state's poorest defendants, and how oregon has prioritized the timber industry over the economy and environment. Augmenting the local reporting network, we announced a longer-term distinguished fellows program, enabling local reporters to partner with propublica for three years as they produce investigative projects from their home newsrooms. Propublica won the pulitzer prize - our sixth - for national reporting for "disaster in the pacific," a series about safety problems in the navy's 7th fleet and the problematic response of the navy high command. The 2020 pulitzer gold medal for public service, the nation's highest journalistic honor, was awarded to the anchorage daily news in collaboration with propublica for our local reporting network series on major shortfalls in public safety services in rural alaska. Our story on african american land loss in the south, co-published with the new yorker, won the george polk award in journalism for magazine reporting, and our investigation on the use of jailhouse informants co-published with the new york times magazine won the national magazine award for reporting. As propublica continues to grow - more than doubling in size over the past four years - we expanded our senior management team to include five additional editors and reporters. This move has both strengthened and diversified our news leadership with journalists whose depth and breadth of knowledge, life experience and innovative thinking have been crucial to producing some of our best work. At the same time, our staff overall is growing more diverse, from 37% people of color in 2019 to 40% in 2020. Our publishing partnerships continued to grow, with 80 in 2020 alone. Partners over the past year included the new york times, washington post, the new yorker, the atlantic, univision, politico, telemundo and usa today. Propublica is continuing to reach new audiences through third-party distribution platforms such as apple news, microsoft news, google news and smartnews. Traffic grew substantially on such platforms, with these monthly average page views climbing 81% to 10.2 million. Traffic on our own site rose 72% to 9 million page views per month on average. Impact the most important test of propublica is whether our work is making an impact. We measure our impact not in terms of audience size or honors but in real-world change. In 2020, our journalism spurred such change in a number of important areas. Alaska attorney general resigns after texts to junior employee exposed in august, propublica and the anchorage daily news published an investigation reporting that alaska attorney general kevin clarkson sent hundreds of text messages to a younger state employee - at least 558 messages in march alone - inviting her to come to his home in at least 18 of them and often using kiss emoji. At the time of our reporting, clarkson was on a monthlong leave of absence without pay, but the state had never told the public he was gone, or why. Records obtained showed the abrupt absence came after a junior state employee raised concerns about the text messages. Hours after we published our story, which included texts obtained by propublica and the daily news, clarkson resigned as attorney general. After dubious conviction (and 3”

“Into law, which ends the practice of suspending driver's licenses over unpaid parking tickets and other non-moving violations. Cdc shuts down lab involved in botched coronavirus tests in october, propublica published a comprehensive investigation into meddling at the cdc from white house officials determined to prioritize the president's message over public health. The reporting shed light on missteps at the public health agency, including line-by-line edits that trump advisers made to official health guidance and a lab director sending faulty covid-19 test kits to state and local public health labs - even though his own staff's quality checks showed they might not work. Less than six hours after propublica published this investigation, the cdc shut down the key lab implicated in the faulty tests while it conducted its own investigation and developed corrective action plans. New law mandates transparency on health insurance conflicts of interest in 2019, propublica and npr published an investigation documenting the hidden cash and gifts that health insurers pay to influence the independent insurance brokers who advise employers on which insurance to choose for their staff. This influence ultimately helps determine the health coverage for about 150 million americans. In december 2020, tucked into the coronavirus relief bill, congress passed a new federal requirement for brokers to disclose to employers what they receive from the insurance industry. Director of newark hospital's troubling transplant program departs in 2019, propublica published an investigation of the transplant team at newark beth israel medical center that revealed attempts to artificially increase the program's survival rate, an important indicator used by federal regulators. In one egregious case, it kept a patient alive in a vegetative state for a full year without consulting his family members about treatment decisions or explaining their options for care. After an investigation spurred by propublica's articles, the centers for medicare and medicaid services found that the transplant program was putting patients in "immediate jeopardy and directed the hospital to implement corrective measures. In october, the hospital announced that, after a yearlong administrative leave, the director of newark beth israel's heart transplant center, dr. Mark zucker, was departing and newark beth israel is conducting a search for his replacement. Turbotax abuses spotlighted in state and federal investigations in 2019, propublica showed how turbotax uses deceptive design and misleading ads to get people to pay to file their taxes, even when they are eligible to file for free. The series prompted investigations by federal and state agencies. In february 2020, the treasury inspector general for tax administration released a scathing audit of turbotax-maker intuit, h&r block and other companies, which found that 14 million taxpayers paid for tax prep software in 2019 that they could have gotten for free. The audit also confirmed propublica's reporting that so few taxpayers use the free file program because of tax prep companies' use of confusing design and lax oversight by the irs. In june, the bipartisan senate permanent subcommittee on investigations published a report on its own investigation, which criticized the irs for failing to oversee the free tax filing program and recommended that the irs increase funds to advertise the free filing option instead of relying on the for-profit tax prep industry. Another investigation by the new york state department of financial services, also launched in response to our reporting, concluded in july that turbotax, h&r block and other tax prep companies have long engaged in "unfair and abusive practices." border patrol agents fired or suspended for troubling facebook activity in july 2019, propublica spotlighted the u.s. Border patrol agents responsible for detaining and safeguarding immigrants crossing the border with mexico, including”

“In may, propublica, together with several of the nation's largest news organizations, filed a freedom of information act lawsuit to obtain data about borrowers receiving funds from the small business administration's paycheck protection program. Through the program, created under the cares act and with little oversight, the government had dispensed more than $525 billion in loans that can be forgiven if the money is mostly spent to keep employees. In november, federal judge james boasberg ruled in the news organizations' favor, noting that the program was at significant risk of fraud and would therefore benefit from additional scrutiny. He ordered the release of the names, addresses and precise loan amounts of all borrowers that received government pandemic loans, and the release of the data followed in early december. Congress investigates child car seat maker and calls for further probes in february, propublica published an investigation revealing that the child car seat maker evenflo put profits over child safety, marketing its "big kid" booster seats as "side-impact tested" despite internal video of side-impact tests showing that children could be injured or killed in the seats. Our reporting highlighted the corporate disregard and regulatory failures that allowed the booster seats to be sold even after serious injuries to children resulted. Within a week of our reporting, the u.s. House committee on oversight and reform's subcommittee on economic and consumer policy opened an investigation of evenflo, requesting the company's records related to the marketing of the big kid and other boosters. In november, the subcommittee chastised the national highway traffic safety administration for failing to protect children from injury and death and asked the agency to justify why it hadn't adopted the tougher safety rules that members of congress had pushed. In december, the subcommittee released a report finding widespread evidence that the nation's largest manufacturers of car seats endangered the lives of millions of american children and misled consumers about the safety of booster seats in crashes. It also formally requested that federal highway safety regulators, as well as the federal trade commission, investigate "unfair and deceptive marketing and unreasonable risks to safety" by the makers of booster seats and urged state attorneys general to look for violations of consumer protection laws by these companies. Federal investigation confirms va secretary misconduct allegations propublica reported in february that, according to an anonymous complaint, secretary of veterans affairs robert wilkie personally sought damaging information about a congressional aide who said she was sexually assaulted in a va hospital. In response to the story, the inspector general for the va opened an investigation into the allegation. The inspector general issued a report in december that confirmed the findings of propublica's reporting, and every major veterans group called for wilkie's resignation. House investigation opened on trump administration's coronavirus response in february, propublica reported that missteps at the u.s. Centers for disease control and prevention - including designing a flawed test for covid-19, then taking weeks to figure out a fix so state and local labs could use it - may have hampered officials' ability to contain the disease's spread in the united states. Citing propublica's reporting, the house oversight committee in march announced an investigation into the trump administration's response to the coronavirus. Victim of prosecutorial misconduct walks free after 18 years as part of a 2012-13 series on prosecutorial misconduct in new york, propublica profiled the case of tyronne johnson. Johnson was convicted of murder in 2002 and spent the next 18 years in jail, even though prosecutors failed to disclose key evidence, including witness statements that would have cleared him of the crime. Propublica also reported th”

“In june, propublica local reporting network partner new mexico in depth reported on lovelace women's hospital, a prominent facility in albuquerque where pregnant native women were singled out for covid-19 testing and separated from their newborns after delivery. Clinicians and health care ethicists deemed these practices - in which mothers were separated from babies for several days while waiting on test results, preventing them from nursing and bonding - to be racial profiling. The day after our reporting, gov. Michelle lujan grisham announced a state investigation of the hospital. In august, the centers for medicare and medicaid services concluded its investigation, finding that the practice, which lovelace halted, had violated patients' rights. Hospital officials also submitted a plan to fix problems identified by federal investigators, including a promise to conduct internal audits to ensure compliance with state and federal regulations and covid-19 screening guidance. Salaries and benefits for er providers protected in march, propublica reported that the medical staffing company alteon health would cut salaries, time off and retirement benefits for emergency room doctors and nurses. Citing lost revenue as hospitals postpone elective procedures and non-coronavirus patients avoid emergency rooms, alteon and other staffing companies announced pay and benefits cuts to er providers dealing with an onslaught of coronavirus patients and shortages of protective equipment. After our reporting, the company said it will not cut medical professionals' stipends by 20% as planned and will continue offering paid time off. And while alteon deferred matching 401(k) contributions, it did not eliminate those contributions, as it had announced. Illegal eviction filings reversed propublica reported that landlords in at least four states (georgia, oklahoma, texas and florida) had violated the eviction ban passed by congress in march, moving to throw more than 100 people out of their homes. With no clear enforcement mechanism for the cares act, building owners faced no apparent consequence for simply not following the law. After being contacted by propublica and informed their actions were illegal, four landlords said they were withdrawing their eviction filings. Medicaid benefits for uninsured retiree reinstated in march, propublica reported on one of the millions of americans facing the coronavirus threat with chronic illnesses and no insurance. Medicaid had abruptly canceled coverage for judith persutti in november 2019. The 64-year-old retiree, who gets by on social security and food stamps, had appealed the decision unsuccessfully for months using a process that the trump administration has called a "guardrail" to protect citizens as states try to apply more stringent requirements for medicaid. Days after our story, persutti's medicaid benefits were reinstated. Wi-fi installed in rural school district in march, propublica illinois and the chicago tribune reported on learning challenges in southwestern illinois's trico school district, following coronavirus-related school closures. While students were expected to learn remotely, many families in the district lack computers or internet connections, and trico did not have a single publicly accessible wi-fi hot spot. Without access to technology, teachers distributed nearly 6,000 pages of paper lessons to the district's k-12 students just before they left school. Weeks after the story, a local internet provider moved to install wi-fi service to connect families to the district network, and an anonymous donor pledged to donate a dozen hot spots. In addition, a school district in chicago's suburbs said it would ship about 250 used chromebooks to trico when the computers are replaced after this school year. Gag gift shop finally closes amid coronavirus fears acting on a tip from staff members fearful of contracting covid-19, propublica reported in march that novelty store spencer's remained open”

“In 2019, propublica reported on a 2018 marines corps crash off the coast of japan that killed six men. Despite an original marine corps investigation into the crash that largely blamed the squadron, painting the men as reckless aviators who flouted safety protocols and abused prescription drugs, propublica revealed deep systemic failings that were well known to superiors up the chain of command. The squadron had been deprived of adequate training and equipment, and its repeated pleas for help from superiors in the months before the crash went unaddressed. A new marine corps review of the crash, which concluded in july 2020, acknowledged that its original investigation was inaccurate and incomplete, led by a commander who was more concerned with how his findings would be perceived by his bosses than getting to the truth. Many of the report's findings reinforce propublica's reporting. Eeoc probe confirms propublica findings on age discrimination at ibm in 2018, propublica published an investigation into ibm's practices of forcing older workers out of their jobs through retirement and layoffs, replacing them with younger employees and flouting laws intended to protect against age bias. Months after our stories published, the u.s. Equal employment opportunity commission consolidated age discrimination complaints against the company from around the country, launching a nationwide investigation of age bias at ibm. The eeoc released the results of the investigation in a letter in 2020 to a group of ex-employees, echoing propublica's findings in their conclusion that ibm engaged in systematic age discrimination between 2013 and 2018, when it shed thousands of older workers in the united states. Employment law experts said the agency's finding could result in ibm facing millions of dollars in settlement payments or a federal lawsuit. Legislation introduced to improve alaska public safety the anchorage daily news, a member of the propublica local reporting network, partnered with us for a project that uncovered a sexual assault crisis in rural alaska and how it is compounded by a profound lack of public safety services. Almost all of these remote communities are primarily alaska native and often have no local law enforcement. In the wake of our investigation, in february a task force of alaska legislators filed bills that would overhaul key elements of the state's village public safety officer program, which uses state money to train and pay officers working in remote villages. Among other recommendations, the proposed legislation would define vpso's law enforcement power and duties to avoid any ambiguity and remove a cap on overhead costs that vpso employers can bill the state. Bill proposed to reduce unnecessary amputations and racial disparities in may, a propublica story detailed how black americans with diabetes lose limbs at a rate triple that of others, a sign that quality preventive care isn't reaching the people who need it most. In the weeks that followed publication, several congressional and state legislative offices reached out to the american diabetes association to ask for guidance on drafting policy to reduce disparities in diabetic amputations. In august, the diabetes association unveiled a new initiative to prevent unnecessary amputations as part of an unprecedented campaign on race and diabetes care. In october, u.s. Rep. Donald m. Payne jr. Introduced a bill to reduce unnecessary amputations and address racial disparities. Called the amputation reduction and compassion act of 2020, the bill proposes major reforms that seek to address policy gaps explored in the propublica article, in addition to better aligning medicare payments with american heart association and the american college of cardiology guidelines on peripheral artery disease. Legislation passed to stop unemployment agencies from demanding money back when they make mistakes an october propublica article exposed the debts and anguish faced by workers who h”

“In december, propublica revealed that undercover operations in new york city that aim to arrest sex workers or their clients have led to numerous allegations of false arrest and sexual misconduct, and that almost everyone arrested was nonwhite. Days after we published the story, a group of new york lawmakers called on the new york police department to stop the busts in a letter to leaders of the city council, as well as the state assembly and senate. The letter also asked for an oversight hearing to examine misconduct allegations against the nypd vice unit, the primary division that polices the sex trade. Human rights lawsuit challenges secretive immigration policy in april, propublica reported on a secretive policy issued by the u.s. Centers for disease control and prevention, which barred unauthorized immigrants from entering the united states. Our reporting uncovered an internal memo that, citing an obscure federal law authorizing the government to ban the entry of people who could "introduce" an infectious disease (in this case, the novel coronavirus), instructed border patrol agents to summarily expel migrants. The guidance ordered this without considering whether migrants might be persecuted in their home countries - a screening that is required of agents under u.s. Immigration law. In june, a coalition of advocacy organizations sued the trump administration to stop a 16-year-old boy from being sent back to honduras after he crossed into the u.s. To join his father. The lawsuit, which cites propublica's reporting, was the first challenge to the administration's policy. New york mayor seeks criminal investigation on trump's tax inconsistencies in 2019, propublica and wnyc reported that president donald trump's company made its new york properties appear more profitable to lenders and less profitable to tax officials. In january, new york city conducted an investigation based on our reporting and, according to mayor bill de blasio, the city sent its findings to the manhattan district attorney "because there is a possibility of a criminal act having been committed." state legislators demand investigation into new orleans hospice's practices for covid-19 patients in september, propublica reported that the ochsner west bank hospital in new orleans was sending patients infected with the coronavirus into hospice facilities or back home to their families to die, in some cases pressuring families into discontinuing treatment as they pushed back or stopping treatment against family instructions. Within weeks of our reporting, the louisiana legislative black caucus, which includes 37 legislators, met with gov. John bel edwards to discuss propublica's findings and submitted a letter to the governor demanding a state investigation. New york nursing home residents sue over hazardous conditions and attorney general investigates in april, propublica reported that the queens adult care center, which houses elderly, sick or mentally ill new yorkers, was covering up cases of covid-19 within its facility and not implementing procedures to stop the spread. Patients with the virus continued sharing rooms with elderly and at-risk residents and were allowed to circulate in the neighborhood. Fearing for their own safety, staff didn't return to work or minimized contact to such a degree that residents went without food and medications. In may, propublica learned that the new york attorney general is investigating the center after being contacted by two local lawmakers who read our story, and several residents featured in our reporting are now suing the facility under the americans with disabilities act. Trump administration's civil rights rollbacks interrogated in july, propublica and the capitol forum reported that the trump administration has pulled back on civil rights enforcement as a part of its overall relaxation of bank oversight, quietly abandoning six discrimination probes into bank of america and other lenders. Staff at the office of th”

“In 2019, propublica and the mississippi center for investigative reporting, a propublica local reporting network partner, investigated the mississippi prison system, which has one of the highest incarceration rates in the united states and has been plagued by accusations of brutality, corruption and abuse. In february, after a letter from prison reform oganizations that cited our series, the department of justice's civil rights division opened an investigation into four of mississippi's prisons to determine whether prisoners were adequately protected from physical harm by other prisoners, if proper suicide prevention measures were taken and if adequate mental health care was provided. Cleveland hospital's private police come under scrutiny in september, propublica reported that the armed private police in cleveland's largely white hospital zone, including at the famed cleveland clinic, predominantly cite and charge black people for traffic violations and misdemeanors such as trespassing, jaywalking and possession of marijuana. In response to our investigation, which revealed that nearly 90% of people charged by university circle police since 2015 were black, two city council members, a municipal court judge and the naacp have called for tougher supervision of private police forces in cleveland's medical area, and one of the police departments is vowing reform. Nonprofit receives flood of donations following heirs' property story in a 2019 collaboration with the new yorker, propublica investigated heirs' property, a legal means for land to be passed down to family without a will, which has made property owners vulnerable to losing their land and prohibits them from receiving the full benefits of land ownership. This had led to billions of dollars in land loss, primarily by black landowners in the southern united states. The center for heirs property preservation, which helps protect heirs' property by assisting families on clearing titles and writing wills, has received more than $200,000 in donations in response to propublica's story. In october, property law scholar thomas mitchell, featured in the story, won a macarthur "genius" award and plans to use the grant to create a law center to help protect the real estate and wealth of disadvantaged property owners. Electionland tracked voter problems, alerted voters throughout 2020, propublica's electionland used data and technology to track issues that prevent voters from casting their ballots. The hope was to address those problems before the 2020 election. Following are some of the changes spurred by reporting by propublica and partners: - kqed and propublica reported on wechat misinformation in the chinese american community. A local nonprofit used our reporting to develop an anti-misinformation campaign, translating materials to disseminate among san francisco's large chinese american community before election day. - after voters in a new jersey town received messages from the local gop stating that there was no in-person voting, northjersey.com and nj spotlight set the record straight to explain actual voter options. - gov2go, a public service app in florida, sent miami users the wrong date for election day, suggesting it was three days later than the actual election. The miami herald alerted voters to the error a couple of weeks before the real election day. - an iowa man with a large, military-style vehicle promoting trump was asked by the county attorney to move his vehicle to the legal limit of at least 300 feet from a polling place, following reporting from iowa public radio. - the orange county district attorney and registrar of voters announced they would investigate an allegedly fraudulent voting center after partner voice of oc reported it. - following confusion about whether covid-19-positive omaha voters could use curbside voting, poll workers were contacted to alert voters they could in fact use that voting method, thanks to partner 3 news now's reporting. - the”

“With mlk50: justice through journalism that exposed predatory debt collection practices by the largest health care system in memphis, tennessee, won the gerald loeb award for distinguished business and financial journalism for local reporting, the selden ring award for investigative reporting, an investigative reporters and editors award for print/online, the barlett & steele bronze award for investigative business journalism, a national association of black journalists' salute to excellence awards for online project and the association of health care journalists award for business journalism, and was a finalist for the scripps howard award for community journalism. "the turbotax trap," our series that revealed that turbotax sold taxpayers a service they could have received for free, won the gerald loeb award for distinguished business and financial journalism for personal finance and consumer reporting and the edward r. Murrow national award for social media, was a finalist for the selden right award for investigative reporting and the scripps howard award for business/financial reporting, and received honorable mention in the society of american business editors and writers' best in business award for government. "a 911 emergency," a propublica local reporting network project by the public's radio on how inadequate training and oversight harms emergency medical care in rhode island, won the scripps howard award for radio/audio and was a finalist for the scripps howard impact award, as well as an investigative reporters and editors award for radio/audio. "inside the border patrol" won the rfk journalism award in the new media category. "the bad bet," an investigation by propublica illinois and wbez about video gambling across the state of illinois, won the edward r. Murrow national award for investigative reporting and the edward r. Murrow regional award for investigative reporting, was a finalist for the gerald loeb award for distinguished business and financial journalism for local reporting and the chicago headline club peter lisagor award for best graphics, and won third place in the richard h. Driehaus awards for investigative reporting. "polluter's paradise," a collaboration with the times-picayune and the advocate, won the society of environmental journalists' nina mason pulliam award for outstanding environmental reporting, a society of environmental journalists' kevin carmody award for outstanding investigative reporting, the national association of science writers' science in society award for series, the malofiej awards' climate change and environmental commitment best graphic award, a malofiej silver medal in the features category and a society for news design bronze medal for maps, and was selected for the sigma awards shortlist for visualization. Reporter caroline chen won the livingston award for young journalists in the local reporting category for her story on a newark hospital that kept a vegetative patient on life support to boost its survival rate. The story also won the new york press club journalism awards for feature reporting in science, medicine, technology, and received honorable mention in the society of american business editors and writers' best in business award for health/science. "unchecked power" by reckon by al.com, a propublica local reporting network partner, won the society of professional journalists' sigma delta chi award for public service journalism and third place for the national headliner award for health, medical and science writing. Three propublica newsletters ("false witness," "disaster in the pacific and not shutting up") won the society of professional journalists' sigma delta chi award for public service in newsletter journalism. Our reporting on president donald trump's tax inconsistencies won the society of american business editors and writers' best in business award for banking/finance. "the extortion economy," our story on how insurance companies are fueling a rise in ra”

“Loss on disposal of asset -1,892.”

“Pro publica has an audit committee that assumes responsibility for the oversight of the audit of its financial statements and for the selection of an independent accountant. The process has not changed from the prior year.”