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Oil Pipeline Uniform Accounting Regulations (C.R.C., c. 1058)

Regulations are current to 2024-03-06 and last amended on 2020-03-16. Previous Versions

Oil Pipeline Uniform Accounting Regulations

C.R.C., c. 1058

NATIONAL ENERGY BOARD ACT

Regulations Respecting the Uniform System of Accounts of Oil Pipeline Companies

Short Title

 These Regulations may be cited as the Oil Pipeline Uniform Accounting Regulations.

Interpretation

 In these Regulations,

Board

Board[Repealed, SOR/2020-50, s. 1]

book cost

book cost means, in respect of plant, the amount that is recorded in a plant account without any deduction for accumulated depreciation or amortization or for any other purpose; (valeur comptable)

Commission

Commission means the Commission referred to in subsection 26(1) of the Canadian Energy Regulator Act; (Commission)

contingent assets

contingent assets means assets without known value to the company until fulfilment of conditions regarded as uncertain; (actif éventuel)

contingent liabilities

contingent liabilities means liabilities that may, under certain conditions, become obligations of the company but are not direct or assumed obligations on the date of the balance sheet; (passif éventuel)

fiscal year

fiscal year means, in relation to the accounts of a company, the calendar year or the fiscal year approved by the Commission for the accounts of the company; (exercice financier)

minor item of plant

minor item of plant means an associated part or item included within a plant unit; (article d’installation accessoire)

net salvage value

net salvage value means salvage value minus any removal costs; (valeur nette de récupération)

operator

operator means a company authorized by the Commission to construct or operate an oil pipeline that is owned in undivided interest; (exploitant)

other plant

other plant means any installation or property that is entirely distinct from and is not operated in connection with the transportation plant of the company; (autre installation)

plant

plant means, in respect of an oil pipeline company, any installation or property the cost of which is to be recorded in the Plant Accounts listed in Schedule II; (installation)

plant retired

plant retired means

  • (a) a unit of plant, whether it is replaced or not, or

  • (b) plant classified as a minor item of plant that is not replaced,

that is sold, abandoned, demolished, dismantled or otherwise withdrawn from transportation service; (installation réformée)

plant unit

plant unit means a complete structure, apparatus or item of equipment that constitutes a component of any installation or property that could properly be included in the plant accounts listed in Schedule II and includes a part of any structure or apparatus where such part is a physically distinct part of such structure or apparatus and the value of such part is material; (unité d’installation)

salvage value

salvage value means the amount received for plant retired, including insurance proceeds, and includes any amount received for material salvaged from plant retired where the material is sold; (valeur de récupération)

transportation plant

transportation plant means plant used for any aspect of pipeline operations or plant held for use under a definite plan for future oil pipeline operations; (installation de transport)

undivided interest

undivided interest means a beneficial ownership in common of the assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses of an oil pipeline by two or more companies or persons. (copropriété indivise)

 A company may submit any question of doubtful interpretation of these Regulations to the Regulator for consideration and guidance.

Application

 These Regulations apply only to a company authorized by the Commission to construct or operate an oil pipeline.

  •  (1) Every Group 1 company shall

    • (a) keep separate books of account in Canada in a manner consistent with generally accepted accounting principles;

    • (b) unless otherwise authorized or instructed by the Commission, keep accounts in the manner set out in these Regulations; and

    • (c) keep a system of accounts as prescribed in these Regulations.

  • (2) Every Group 2 company

    • (a) shall keep separate books of account in Canada in a manner consistent with generally accepted accounting principles until the expiration of one year after such time as the Commission grants leave to abandon the operation of the pipeline;

    • (b) shall file a set of audited financial statements with the Regulator within one hundred and twenty (120) days after the end of each fiscal year of the company;

    • (c) shall comply with subsections 6(1), (7), (8) and (9); and

    • (d) is exempt from complying with these Regulations except as prescribed in paragraphs (a) to (c).

  • (3) In this section,

    Group 1 company

    Group 1 company means a company listed in Schedule VII; and (compagnies du groupe 1)

    Group 2 company

    Group 2 company means any company, other than a Group 1 company, that constructs or operates an oil pipeline. (compagnies du groupe 2)

Records

  •  (1) A company’s accounting records shall provide sufficient particulars to show fully the facts pertaining to all entries made in the accounts.

  • (2) A company shall maintain the applicable accounts listed in Schedules I to VI and may, in addition, keep subsidiary accounts for its own purposes.

  • (3) The account numbers listed in Schedules I to VI shall be set out in the descriptive headings of the applicable ledger accounts, computer print-outs or other accounting records.

  • (4) All transactions applicable to a month shall be recorded in the accounts for that month and, at the end of that month, trial balances of the accounts shall be prepared.

  • (5) A company shall close its accounts at the end of each fiscal year.

  • (6) Final accounting entries for each month shall be made not later than 30 days after the last day of the month, except that the final entries for the last month of each fiscal year may be made within a period not exceeding 90 days from the end of that last month.

  • (7) The books, accounts and records referred to herein include not only accounting records in a limited technical sense, but all records such as minute books, stock books, reports, correspondence, memoranda, computer print-outs, tapes and card decks that may be useful in determining the history of or facts pertaining to any transaction.

  • (8) The books, accounts and records shall be readily accessible for examination by representatives of the Regulator.

  • (9) Where an oil pipeline is owned in undivided interest, the operator shall maintain all books, accounts and records in a manner that permits ready identification to the books, accounts and records of the beneficial owners of the pipeline.

  • (10) All accounts required to be maintained pursuant to subsection (2) shall be retained until the expiration of one year after leave to abandon the operation of the pipeline has been granted by the Commission.

Account Grouping

Balance Sheet Accounts

  •  (1) Balance sheet accounts, set out in Schedule I as account series 1 to 93, shall, in respect of a company, disclose the company’s financial position at the balance sheet date.

  • (2) The balance sheet accounts referred to in subsection (1) shall record assets, liabilities, capital stock, and retained earnings or deficit, as the case may be.

Plant Accounts

  •  (1) Plant accounts, set out in Schedule II as account series 100, are subsidiary to balance sheet accounts 30 (Transportation Plant) and 38 (Transportation Plant Leased to Others), and shall be used to classify a company’s transportation plant.

  • (2) Plant accounts shall be supported by subsidiary accounts that record the costs, by location, of

    • (a) each major facility including each pumping station, main pipeline, receiving, storage and delivery facility; and

    • (b) any other facility that is separately located.

  • (3) Any installation or property not used in pipeline operations shall be recorded in balance sheet account 34 (Other Plant).

Retained Earnings Accounts

 Retained earnings accounts, set out in Schedule III as account series 300, shall show a summary of all changes in balance sheet account 92 (Retained Earnings) for each year and shall include

  • (a) the balance transferred from income for the year;

  • (b) prior period adjustments;

  • (c) miscellaneous retained earnings adjustments;

  • (d) dividend appropriations; and

  • (e) income tax applicable to retained earnings adjustments.

Income Accounts

  •  (1) Income accounts, set out in Schedule IV as account series 400, shall show a summary of a company’s revenue, expenses and extraordinary items.

  • (2) A company shall inform the Regulator of all extraordinary items and shall record them in account 402 (Extraordinary Income) or account 422 (Extraordinary Income Deductions), as applicable.

  • (3) A company’s net balance of income or loss shall be transferred to retained earnings at the end of each fiscal year.

  • (4) In this section, extraordinary items means material gains or losses that are not typical of a company’s normal business activities, are not expected to occur regularly over a period of years and would not be considered as recurring factors in any evaluation of the ordinary operating process of the company.

  • (5) For the purposes of this section, the following shall be applied in determining materiality:

    • (a) items of a similar nature shall be considered in the aggregate and dissimilar items shall be considered individually; and

    • (b) to qualify for inclusion as an extraordinary item, the item should exceed the greater of one per cent of the total operating revenue and 10 per cent of the balance transferred from income to account 302 for the year.

Operating Revenue Accounts

 Operating revenue accounts, set out in Schedule V as account series 500, shall be used to classify all revenue of a company from pipeline operations and from operations incident thereto.

Operating Expense Accounts

  •  (1) Operating expense accounts, set out in Schedule VI as account series 600 and 700, shall show cost elements making up a company’s maintenance, transportation and general expenses pertaining to pipeline operations.

  • (2) The operating expense accounts shall include a separate series of accounts for the following company service functions:

    • (a) the gathering function; and

    • (b) the trunk function.

  • (3) The gathering function series of accounts referred to in paragraph (2)(a) shall include amounts in respect of the gathering and collection of oil from the oil fields, refineries or other sources and transportation of oil to the point of connection to meters or storage tanks or the intake side of the manifold at the trunk receiving site or station.

  • (4) The trunk function series of accounts referred to in paragraph (2)(b) shall include amounts in respect of the transportation of oil from the receiving stations on the trunk line to the point of connection with the facilities of other pipelines and consignees.

  • (5) Expenses common to the gathering and trunk accounts referred to in subsection (2) shall be equitably apportioned between them and supported by records showing the basis of the apportionment.

  • (6) The operating expense accounts under the maintenance and transportation subheadings of Schedule VI shall be supported by subsidiary accounts recording the expenses, by location, of

    • (a) each major facility including each pipeline district, pumping station, oil tank farm and warehouse; and

    • (b) any other facility that is separately located.

  • (7) The operating expense accounts under the general subheading of Schedule VI shall be supported by subsidiary accounts recording the expenses by location where practicable or by department.

Clearing Accounts

  •  (1) Where it is not possible to record expenditures directly to a particular expense or plant account, a company may maintain clearing accounts for recording the expenditures.

  • (2) Amounts recorded in clearing accounts shall be regularly distributed to the appropriate expense or plant accounts on an equitable basis.

  • (3) Any balances in the clearing accounts shall be substantially distributed before the end of each fiscal year except for any items held therein that relate to a future period.

  • (4) The net monthly balance in clearing accounts shall be included in account 45 (Other Deferred Debits) or account 78 (Other Deferred Credits), as applicable.

  • (5) Where an operator maintains clearing accounts for the purpose of distributing monthly balances to the beneficial owners of a pipeline, the accounts shall contain sufficient particulars to permit ready identification with the accounts of the beneficial owners.

Interpretation of Lists of Items

  •  (1) An item that appears in a representative list in any account in the schedules shall be included in the corresponding account of a company if the inclusion of the item is consistent with the text of the account.

  • (2) A representative list shall be considered only as representative and not as excluding from an account any analogous component or item that is omitted from the list.

Plant Acquired or Constructed

General

  •  (1) A company shall record in the plant accounts the costs incurred to acquire or construct any plant.

  • (2) Where the consideration given for plant referred to in subsection (1) is other than money, the money value of the consideration on the day the contract for the acquisition or construction comes into force shall be debited to the applicable accounts and a record of the actual consideration, in sufficient detail to identify it, shall be retained by the company.

  • (3) Where a company purchases all or part of the existing facilities of another company, the purchasing company shall prepare and submit to the Commission for approval details of the proposed method of accounting for such purchase together with the company’s reasons for the proposed method of accounting.

  • (4) Where the facilities referred to in subsection (3) are purchased from an affiliated company, the original cost of the facilities to the affiliated company and the accumulated depreciation applicable to the facilities to the date of purchase, as shown in the accounts of the affiliated company, shall be recorded in the accounts of the purchasing company.

  • (5) Balance sheet account 39 (Transportation Plant Under Construction) shall be supported by subsidiary records that record separately each transaction for each project involving plant additions, replacements or relocations.

  • (6) Where plant acquired by a company is constructed by or for that company, the costs to be recorded in the plant accounts shall include the elements of cost set out in sections 16 to 27 and section 29.

 

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