Attach to Form 990 or 990-EZ.
Information about Schedule O (Form 990 or 990-EZ) and its instructions is at| Return Reference | Explanation |
|---|---|
| Form 990, Part VI, Section A, Line 6 | AACN Certification Corporation is organized as a not-for-profit Corporation. Its sole member is its affiliated not-for-profit association, American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN). |
| Form 990, Part VI, Section A, Line 7a | The AACN Certification Corporation Board of Directors is comprised of eight voting directors and the CEO who serves as an ex-officio member with no power to vote. For six of the director positions, candidates are vetted by a governance committee and then forwarded to both the AACN Certification Board as well as the AACN Board of Directors for appointment to a 3-year term in office. The two additional directors share joint appointments on the AACN and AACN Certification boards and are designated by the President of AACN and the Chairperson of AACN Certification Corporation to serve a one-year term on the Certification Board while fulfilling their three-year AACN board term. |
| Form 990, Part VI, Section A, Line 7b | The bylaws of AACN Certification Corporation state that the following actions need to be approved by the written assent of its sole shareholder, AACN: (a) the borrowing of money for long-term capital needs of Certification; (b) the purchase, sale, lease, disposition or hypothecation of real property by Certification; (c) the merger, dissolution, or sale of all assets of Certification; and (d) the amendment of the Articles of Incorporation or Bylaws of AACN Certification Corporation. |
| Form 990, Part VI, Section B, Line 11b | The completed form 990 and related schedules are disseminated to the Audit Committee for review in advance of a conference call for the purpose to review and approve the return. All Audit Committee members, along with the Chief Financial Officer, participate in a conference call where all questions or concerns raised by the committee members are resolved to ensure unanimous approval of the return. The Audit Committee then reports any findings to the full Board of Directors. |
| Form 990, Part VI, Section B, Line 12c | The Conflict of Interest Policy is reviewed annually at the Fall Board meeting as this is the orientation meeting for newly elected Directors. Each Director is required annually to complete a Conflicts of Interest Statement that lists any potential conflicts. In addition, all employees agree to Conflict of Interest and Work Ethics statements contained in the Employee Handbook. |
| Form 990, Part VI, Section B, Line 15 | AACN Certification Corporation shares employees with its affiliate, American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) and all compensation is recorded through AACN but allocated to AACN Certification Corporation based on estimated percentages of time spent on Certification programs. The process of reviewing and setting CEO compensation is the responsibility of the AACN CEO Compensation and Evaluation Committee. This committee is comprised of the President and President-elect, with the Immediate Past President serving as an ad-hoc member (note that all of these are volunteer, non-compensated positions). The current Treasurer and Secretary of the Board join and serve on the committee whenever decisions related to CEO compensation are required (these too are volunteer, non-compensated positions). The Committee performs an annual performance evaluation and a review of comparable compensation data. The Chief Financial Officer (CFO) provides consultation to the committee related to CEO compensation benchmarking surveys. The last CEO compensation review and adjustment occurred in December 2015. The CEO is accountable for compensation levels for all other positions. Each team member receives an annual review and compensation adjustment at the beginning of the calendar year. Salary adjustments are aligned with the annual budget and are allocated based on benchmark salary data and the performance evaluation of each team member. The last salary adjustment occurred in January, 2016. |
| Form 990, Part VI, Section C, Line 19 | AACN Certification Corporation does not make governing documents or conflict of interest policies available to the public. The financial statements of the organization are part of the consolidated audited financial statements that are published to the AACN membership within 120 days of the end of the fiscal year. The financial report is included in the Association newsletter, AACN Bold Voices, which is available to the public digitally on the AACN website. The audited financial statements are posted on the AACN website and are available to the public upon request. |
| Form 990, Part IX, Line 11g | Most of the balance in other fees for services is testing service fees paid to our testing service provider for each candidate to sit for one of our exams ($1,620,832). Also included here are costs for new exam test contruction, practice analysis and item writer fees ($127,877). |
| Software ID: | 15000352 |
| Software Version: | v1.00 |