5. Audit Figures

A.	Newspapers (daily, non daily and weekly)

A.1.	For audits of issues published during any audit period the following details to support the audit are to be provided (usually systems generated reports):
	- Net paid sales (see 1.1 below)
	- Net circulation (see 1.3 below)
	- Number of issues published in the audit period

1.1.	For the purposes of audit reports 'Net paid sales' are copies of the publications which:

(a)	are sold through retailers, magazine or wholesale distributors, and other recognised distribution channels who pay the wholesale price for single copy sales and claim credits for unsolds;
(b)	are sold direct to the public at the full advertised price for a single copy of the publication;
(c)	if term orders and/or subscriptions are offered, are accepted at the full advertised price of that term;
(d)	are sold at a concession price if such concession price is not less than 50% of the cover price. Copies sold at concession rates to hospitals, hotels, motels, hostels, airlines, educational institutions and prisons, or similar may be included as net paid sales if the oncession price is not less than 50% of the cover price; or
(e)	are provided to employees as part of an employee subscriber scheme, registered with the ABC Secretariat (see details in NOTE B below);
(f)	are digital editions provided that uploaded editions are of the entire publication including advertisements, that cover price requirements of the print editions are met, and that sales figures are reported within net paid sales but are disclosed to differentiate from print editions.
NOTE A:	Copies purchased within the publishing company or by a subsidiary for free onward distribution cannot be included in net paid sales. These copies are to be treated as free copies and must fall within the allocated ratio for total free copies based on net paid sales of the nbsp; publication in order to be included.
NOTE B:	Employee Subscriber Scheme (daily, non-daily and weekly newspapers):

(i)	Any newspaper wishing to include net paid sales copies sold to staff must do so under the employee subscriber scheme and register with the NZABC;
(ii)	Only current employees working 20 hours per week or more are eligible to join such a scheme;
(iii)	Any such employee may subscribe to their employer's newspaper title at a minimum of 50% of the cover price;
(iv)	A maximum of one edition per issue may be claimed by the employee;
(v)	A request document is to be received from all employees wishing to take part in the scheme;
(vii)	A summary detailing names of employees, the cash value of copies and details of when payments were made/banked or salary deductions taken are to be available for audit purposes;
(viii)	Payments should follow the same cycle as the newspapers salary payments;
(ix)	Any other publications that may be sent to the employees would only be able to be considered for inclusion in the allocation of free copies for the publication concerned.

1.2.	'Free copies' are defined as copies of a publication which are actually distributed free on a regular basis by name or title up to but not exceeding the following:

(a)	Net paid sales 50,000 and over	2%
(b)	Net paid sales from 40,000 to 50,000	2.5%
(c)	Net paid sales from 30,000 to 40,000	3%
(d)	Net paid sales from 20,000 to 30,000	3.5%
(e)	Net paid sales from 10,000 to 20,000	4%
(f)	Net paid sales from 5,000 to 10,000	5%
(g)	Net paid sales from 2,000 to 5,000	7.5%
(h)	Net paid sales of 2,000 and under	10%

1.3.	Net circulation' is defined as actual net paid sales plus actual free copies distributed.
1.4.	Net circulation and net paid sales excludes the following:

(a)	Voucher copies (those used for checking purposes in the publishers office, exchanges, advertising agencies, advertisers and other copies of a similar nature).
(b)	Individual subscriptions more than six months in arrears.
(c)	Exchange copies, i.e. copies exchanged with other publishers for comparison purposes.
(d)	Office file and record copies.
(f)	Other exceptional circumstances resulting in a disruption to sales of more than ten percent of the average net circulation. Exclusions of this kind are to be approved by the ABC Committee.
(g)	Statutory holidays in the region of the publication (if requested by the publisher).

A.2.	Calculate:

(a)	Average net paid sales for the period by dividing the sum of the total net paid sales by the total number of circulation days.
(b)	Total net circulation per issue for the period by dividing the cumulative sum of the total net circulation by the total number of circulation days.

A.3.	Compare average net paid sales and total net circulation with prior periods. Investigate unusual or unexpected variances by discussion with the publisher.
A.4.	Verify and document in the audit report the cover price for newspapers
A.5.	The net paid sales average and the total net circulation per issue (as calculated in A.2 above) are those entered on the audit report. Number of issues audited should be the number of issues published (less exclusions).
A.6.	Where actual returns for the previous audit period vary significantly from the publisher's estimate the Bureau should be informed so that the relevant figure can be amended in the summary.