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Business Publication Requirements
All business publications are eligible for membership in ABC regardless of circulation type—paid, non-paid or any combination. To maintain your ABC membership, you must submit twice-yearly Publisher's Statements and undergo a yearly audit.
How to Apply
The following information must be submitted to ABC to begin the membership application process:
Once the above materials are submitted to ABC, a letter acknowledging receipt of the items will be mailed.
Initial Audit
An initial audit is an important part of the ABC membership process; it allows ABC to verify that you have the correct files and recordkeeping practices in place to successfully complete an ABC audit. It provides you with an opportunity to ask the field auditor questions about the audit process and learn how to make your next audit go smoothly.
You choose the initial audit period, which can begin and end on any month. An initial audit must cover at least a three or six-month period, depending on the frequency of the publication.
Publisher's Statements
Once your Initial Audit Report is released, you will begin filing Publisher's Statements. These statements, which are subject to audit, contain your claimed circulation figures and are reported by ABC. The ivory-colored statement is used by publications having qualified non-paid circulation or maintaining less than 70 percent paid circulation. The blue-colored statement is used by publications claiming 70 percent or more of their total distribution as paid and not claiming any qualified non-paid circulation.
All ABC members must file two Publisher's Statements each year covering the six-month periods ending June and December. An annual audit is conducted to verify the information in the Publisher's Statements.
Audit Reports
Audit findings are compiled into an Audit Report that reconciles any differences between your Publisher's Statement claims and the final numbers as audited by ABC.
Membership Publicity
Once the membership application and initial audit deposit are received, you may begin using the phrase, "ABC Membership Applied For."
After the release of your Initial Audit Report, you may use the ABC logo, the phrase "Member of Audit Bureau of Circulations" and ABC small space publicity ads.
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