Financial Disclosure NetTraining Conference

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Financial DisclosureNet-Training Conference
Natural Resources Conservation Service Ethics
Office 5601 Sunnyside Avenue, MS 5476 Beltsville,
MD 20705 January 23, 2007 1100 a.m. 1200
p.m.
NRCS Ethics Office ? Financial Disclosure
Training for State Ethics Advisors
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Financial DisclosureNet-Training Conference

• AUTHORITIES
• The collection of confidential financial
  information from employees is based on the
  following statutory/regulatory authorities
• Ethics in Government Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C.
  App)
• Executive Order 12674 (as modified by Executive
  Order 12731)
• 5 C.F.R. 2634, Subpart I

NRCS Ethics Office ? Financial Disclosure
Training for State Ethics Advisors
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Financial DisclosureNet-Training Conference

• PURPOSE
• The purpose of the confidential financial
  disclosure report is to assist employees and
  their agencies avoid conflicts between official
  duties and private interests and affiliations.
• Notes
• 5 C.F.R. 2635.402, Conflict of Interest
• 5 C.F.R. 2635.502, Conflict of Interest
  (Impartiality)

NRCS Ethics Office ? Financial Disclosure
Training for State Ethics Advisors
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Financial DisclosureNet-Training Conference

• PENALTIES
• Falsification of information or failure to file
  or to report information required to be reported
  subjects the filer to disciplinary action.
• Knowing and willful falsification of information
  required to be reported also subjects the filer
  to criminal prosecution.

NRCS Ethics Office ? Financial Disclosure
Training for State Ethics Advisors
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Financial DisclosureNet-Training Conference

• PENALTIES
• ACCESS TO CONFIDENTIAL FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE
  REPORTS
• No member of the public is permitted access to
  confidential financial disclosure reports, except
  pursuant to the order of a Federal court or as
  provided under the Privacy Act. These records may
  be reviewed only by authorized personnel,
  including the Office of the Inspector General,
  upon written application to the Mission Area
  DEO, Kevin Brown for NRCS. These reports must
  be secured in locked cabinets when not in use and
  should be kept apart from all other personnel
  documents."
• Unauthorized disclosure of information from an
  OGE Form 450 will serve as the basis for
  appropriate disciplinary action.

NRCS Ethics Office ? Financial Disclosure
Training for State Ethics Advisors
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Financial DisclosureNet-Training Conference
FILING TIME FRAME New Entrant Report. The report
is due within 30 days of assuming a position
designated for filing and covers the preceding 12
months. If a new entrant filed an OGE Form 450 on
11/1/06 or thereafter, no additional report is
due. Annual Filers. The report is due February
15, 2007. It covers 10/01/05 - 12/31/2006.
Note State employees must file their reports
with their servicing SEA by February 15. States
will have until March 15, 2007 to forward their
bundles to the NRCS Ethics Office. Note OGE
Form 450s should not disclose amounts or s of
ownership.
NRCS Ethics Office ? Financial Disclosure
Training for State Ethics Advisors
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Financial DisclosureNet-Training Conference
ACCEPTABLE FORMS New OGE Form 450, available
at www.usoge.gov or http//www.nrcs.usda.gov/intra
net/ethics/FinancialDisclosure/RevisedOGE4502006.p
df OGE Optional Form 450-A (08/2005) This form
may only be used by incumbent filers who have a
long form OGE Form 450 on file with our Office.
(Note New entrants may not use this form.)
NRCS Ethics Office ? Financial Disclosure
Training for State Ethics Advisors
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Financial DisclosureNet-Training Conference

• ACCEPTABLE FORMS (continuation)
• OGE Optional Form 450-A (08/2005). An incumbent
  must be able to certify that he/she, his/her
  spouse, or his/her dependent children has
• No new reportable assets/incomes or liabilities
  (debts)
• No new reportable outside positions (Filer
  only)
• No new reportable agreements/arrangements for
  past, present or
• future employment (Filer only)
• No new reportable gifts or travel
  reimbursements and
• Not changed jobs i.e., new P.D. or significant
  change in duties, (Filer
• only)

NRCS Ethics Office ? Financial Disclosure
Training for State Ethics Advisors
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Financial DisclosureNet-Training Conference

Page Number
Date Received by Agency
CONFIDENTIAL FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE
REPORT EXECUTIVE BRANCH
NRCS Ethics Office ? Financial Disclosure
Training for State Ethics Advisors
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Financial DisclosureNet-Training Conference
Step 2 For each statement below, check yes or no
to describe your situation.
For Reviewers Use Only
NRCS Ethics Office ? Financial Disclosure
Training for State Ethics Advisors
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Financial DisclosureNet-Training Conference
Types of Assets and Income

• Stocks ? Dividends
• ? Bonds (Corporate debt instruments) ? Rents
• ? Tax Shelters ? Royalties
• Mutual Funds ? Interest
• Annuities (Variable) ? Capital Gains
• Trust Holdings ? Fees
• Trades Businesses ? Salaries
• Investment Life Insurance ? Commissions
• Pensions ? Retirement Benefits
• IRA/401(k) Holdings ? Honoraria
• Commodity Futures
• Partnership Interests
• Collectibles (for investment)

Assets
Income
NRCS Ethics Office ? Financial Disclosure
Training for State Ethics Advisors
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Financial DisclosureNet-Training Conference
Part I Assets and Income

• Report for Yourself, Spouse (S), and Dependent
  Children (DC)
• Assets held for investment with a value of 1000
  or more at the end of the reporting period or
  which produced more than 200 in income during
  the reporting period
• Sector mutual funds (those funds invested in
  particular industry, business or location such as
  ABC Electronics Fund or XYZ Canada Fund (report
  the full name of the fund name)
• Stocks, bonds, annuities, trust holdings,
  partnership interests, life insurance, investment
  real estate, or a privately-held trade or
  business
• Retirement Plans (401k, IRAs). List each
  holding, except diversified mutual funds
• Defined benefit pension plans by previous
  employer (include the name of the employer)

NRCS Ethics Office ? Financial Disclosure
Training for State Ethics Advisors
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Financial DisclosureNet-Training Conference
Part I Assets and Income

• Report for Yourself
• All sources of salary, fees, commissions, and
  other earned income 200 honoraria 200 and
  other non-investment income such as scholarships,
  prizes and gambling income 200.
• Report for Spouse (S)
• All sources of salary, fees, commissions, and
  other earned income greater than 1000 and
  honoraria greater than 200.

NRCS Ethics Office ? Financial Disclosure
Training for State Ethics Advisors
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Financial DisclosureNet-Training Conference
Part I Assets and Income

• Do not report
• ? Federal Government retirement benefits
• Thrift Savings Plan
• Certificates of Deposit, Savings and Checking
• Term Life Insurance
• Money Market Mutual Funds and Money Market
  Accounts
• Your personal residence, unless you rent it out

NRCS Ethics Office ? Financial Disclosure
Training for State Ethics Advisors
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Financial DisclosureNet-Training Conference
Part I Assets and Income

• Do not report (Continuation)
• ? Dependent childs earned income
• ? Diversified mutual funds such as ABC Equity
  Value Fund or XYZ Large Capital Fund
• ? U.S. Government Treasury bonds, bills, notes
  and savings bonds
• ? Money owed to you, your spouse, or dependent
  child by a spouse, parent, sibling, or child
• Veterans benefits
• Social security benefits
• Federal government salary

NRCS Ethics Office ? Financial Disclosure
Training for State Ethics Advisors
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Financial DisclosureNet-Training Conference
Part I Assets and Income


These funds do not need to be reported since
they are diversified mutual funds. If they were
sector funds, they would need to be reported.
NRCS Ethics Office ? Financial Disclosure
Training for State Ethics Advisors
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Financial DisclosureNet-Training Conference
Definitions
Diversified Mutual Fund A fund, trust or plan
that does not have a stated policy of
concentrating its investments in one industry,
business or country (other than the United
States) or State. Examples Laudus Income
Fund, Manhattan High Fidelity Fund, Smith Index
Fund, etc (If the fund name contains the word
"telecommunications" or "Canada" or "energy,"
it's a good indication that the fund is
concentrated in those areas and therefore not
diversified, but a Sector fund.)
NRCS Ethics Office ? Financial Disclosure
Training for State Ethics Advisors
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Financial DisclosureNet-Training Conference
Definitions (continued)
Sector Mutual Fund A mutual fund that
concentrates its investments in an industry,
business, single country (other than the United
States), or bonds of a single state within the
United States. Examples Fidelity Select
Healthcare, Fidelity Select Biotechnology,
Fidelity Select Computers, Fidelity Select Home
Finance, Fidelity Select Medical Delivery,
Fidelity Select Retailing (The names of
these sector funds indicate that they are
concentrated funds.)
NRCS Ethics Office ? Financial Disclosure
Training for State Ethics Advisors
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Financial DisclosureNet-Training Conference
Definitions (continued)
Special Government Employee (SGE) An executive
branch officer or employee who is retained,
designated, appointed, or employed to perform
temporary duties either on a full-time or
intermittent basis, with or without compensation,
for a period not to exceed 130 days during any
consecutive 365-day period. Dependent Child
(DC) A son, daughter, stepson, or stepdaughter
who is either unmarried and under age 21 and
living in the filers house, or considered
dependent under U.S. tax code.
NRCS Ethics Office ? Financial Disclosure
Training for State Ethics Advisors
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Financial DisclosureNet-Training Conference
Research Tools
When in doubt about a particular fund, do your
research www.dogpile.com http//finance.yahoo.com
/lookup http//www.hoovers.com/free/ http//www.mo
rningstar.com/ Note A stock symbol or ticker
symbol is a mnemonic used to uniquely identify
shares of a publicly-traded corporation on a
particular stock market. Examples MSFT -
Microsoft IFX - Infineon Technologies AMEX
American Express
NRCS Ethics Office ? Financial Disclosure
Training for State Ethics Advisors
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Financial DisclosureNet-Training Conference
Part II Liabilities

NRCS Ethics Office ? Financial Disclosure
Training for State Ethics Advisors
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Financial DisclosureNet-Training Conference
Part II Liabilities

NRCS Ethics Office ? Financial Disclosure
Training for State Ethics Advisors
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Financial DisclosureNet-Training Conference
Part II Liabilities

This is not the type of loan granted on terms
made available to the general public. It is only
available to current Federal civilians employed
by the Government members of the uniformed
services. www.tsp.gov
NRCS Ethics Office ? Financial Disclosure
Training for State Ethics Advisors
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Financial DisclosureNet-Training Conference
Part III Outside Positions

NRCS Ethics Office ? Financial Disclosure
Training for State Ethics Advisors
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Financial DisclosureNet-Training Conference
Part III Outside Positions

NRCS Ethics Office ? Financial Disclosure
Training for State Ethics Advisors
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Financial DisclosureNet-Training Conference
Part III Outside Positions

NRCS Ethics Office ? Financial Disclosure
Training for State Ethics Advisors
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Financial DisclosureNet-Training Conference
Part III Outside Positions

NRCS Ethics Office ? Financial Disclosure
Training for State Ethics Advisors
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Financial DisclosureNet-Training Conference
Part IV Agreements and Arrangements

NRCS Ethics Office ? Financial Disclosure
Training for State Ethics Advisors
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Financial DisclosureNet-Training Conference
Part IV Agreements and Arrangements
NRCS Ethics Office ? Financial Disclosure
Training for State Ethics Advisors
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Financial DisclosureNet-Training Conference
Part V Gifts and Travel Reimbursements
Only annual filers fill out this section, not
New Entrants
NRCS Ethics Office ? Financial Disclosure
Training for State Ethics Advisors
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Financial DisclosureNet-Training Conference
Part V Gifts and Travel Reimbursements
Only annual filers fill out this section, not
New Entrants
NRCS Ethics Office ? Financial Disclosure
Training for State Ethics Advisors
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Financial DisclosureNet-Training Conference
Part V Gifts and Travel Reimbursements
Only annual filers fill out this section, not
New Entrants
NRCS Ethics Office ? Financial Disclosure
Training for State Ethics Advisors
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Financial DisclosureNet-Training Conference
2007 Summation of Changes
NRCS Ethics Office ? Financial Disclosure
Training for State Ethics Advisors
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Financial DisclosureNet-Training Conference
2007 Summation of Changes
NRCS Ethics Office ? Financial Disclosure
Training for State Ethics Advisors
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Financial DisclosureNet-Training Conference
NRCS Ethics Office ? Financial Disclosure
Training for State Ethics Advisors