The head can give the right to sign documents to any employee, by his order.

However, in the situation indicated in the question, everything depends on the job descriptions of the chief accountant (GB) and the accountant of the material desk (BMS).

In particular, if the BMS is engaged in inventory of property, registration of settlements with accountable persons, etc., then it would be most correct to transfer the signing right to the BMS according to these documents.

If the chief accountant is engaged in the formation of accounting and tax reporting, then he should be given the right to sign primary documents, invoices, accounting and tax reporting.

Thus, by order of the head, the right to sign primary documents (acts, invoices, cash documents, etc.) and invoices can be entrusted to the GB. A power of attorney to sign them is not required.

To sign accounting and tax reports (in addition to the order on the appointment of the GB responsible for signing the reports), a power of attorney is required.

The rationale for this position is given below in the materials of the System Glavbukh.

Source documents

Each fact of economic life must be confirmed by a primary document (part 1 of article 9 of the Law of December 6, 2011 No. 402-FZ). The forms of primary documents are approved by the head of the organization on the proposal of the person who is entrusted with accounting (part 4 of article 9 of the Law of December 6, 2011 No. 402-FZ).

The primary document must contain the following mandatory details:

Title of the document;
date of preparation of the document;
the name of the economic entity (organization) that compiled the document;
the content of the fact of economic life;
the value of the natural and (or) monetary measurement of the fact of economic life, indicating the units of measurement;
the names of the positions of the persons who made the transaction, operation, and those responsible for the correctness of its registration, or the names of the positions of the persons responsible for the correctness of the registration of the event;
signatures of the indicated persons with decoding and other information necessary to identify these persons * Such a list is established by part 2 of Article 9 of the Law of December 6, 2011 No. 402-FZ.

The primary document must be drawn up at the time of the fact of economic life, and if this is not possible, immediately after its completion (part 3 of article 9 of the Law of December 6, 2011 No. 402-FZ).

Primary documents are drawn up on paper and (or) in the form of an electronic document signed with an electronic signature (part 5 of article 9 of the Law of December 6, 2011 No. 402-FZ).

Signatures in documents

All primary documents must be drawn up at the time of the fact of economic life, and if this is not possible, immediately after its completion. Responsibility for the correct execution of a transaction, operation, event that has taken place is borne by the persons who signed the corresponding primary document.

The list of employees who have the right to sign primary documents can be approved by the head of the organization by his order. *

At the same time, the procedure for signing documents that formalize cash transactions is regulated, in particular, by Bank of Russia Regulation No. 373-P dated October 12, 2011 and Bank of Russia Regulation No. 383-P dated June 19, 2012. This is stated in the letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated December 4, 2012 No. ПЗ-10/2012.

Sergey Razgulin, Deputy Director of the Tax and Customs Tariff Policy Department of the Ministry of Finance of Russia

2. Article: Answers that will help you adjust your primary to the rules of 2013 without any hassle

The main thing is to make sure that the old primary has all the required details, which are now spelled out in paragraph 2 of Article 9 of the Accounting Law. You can find a complete list of them below. True, we have already done this task for you. Fortunately, all uniform forms have the required data. And by the way, the new set of props is not much different from the old set of details. From the new one, only the full name was added. those employees who sign the document.*

These details must be in the primary 2013 *

1. Name and date of the document.

2. Your company name. Full or abbreviated, it doesn't matter.

4. Natural or monetary measurement (rubles, pieces, packages, etc.).

5. Positions of employees who performed and responsible for the operation (responsible for registration of the event), their signatures and full name. (other data allowing to identify employees).*

3. Situation: What documents, when opening a current account in Russia, confirm the right of the first and second signature of bank settlement documents

The answer to this question depends on who signs the bank documents.

In order to conclude a bank account agreement and open a current account, an organization needs to submit, among other things, documents that confirm the powers of persons entitled to the first and second signatures (subparagraph “e”, paragraph 4.1 of Instructions of the Bank of Russia dated September 14, 2006 No. 28-I ).

The right of the first signature belongs to the head of the organization. In this case, a document confirming this right may be an order for employment.

The head may grant the right of first signature to other employees of the organization (with the exception of persons entitled to the second signature). In addition, the right of the first signature may be transferred to the manager or managing organization that performs the functions of the sole executive body of the organization. In the latter case, the managing organization has the right to grant the right of first signature:

Your employees;
employees of the client organization.

In both cases, one of the following documents will confirm the right of the first signature:*

Order on granting the right of the first signature of banking documents;
power of attorney for the right to first sign bank documents.

Such rules are contained in paragraph 7.5 of Instructions of the Bank of Russia dated September 14, 2006 No. 28-I.

The right of the second signature belongs to the chief accountant or employees who are entitled to the second signature on the basis of the order of the head of the organization. If accounting is maintained by a third-party organization, the right of a second signature may be granted to its employees. Documents confirming the authority of the person entitled to the second signature may be: *

Order on hiring a chief accountant;
an order to give the second signature to bank documents (if the second signature does not belong to the chief accountant);
an agreement on the provision of accounting services and a power of attorney for the right of a second signature to an employee of the organization that maintains accounting.

There is no unified form of the order to grant the right to sign, so it can be drawn up in any form. A power of attorney can also be issued in any form. However, such a document must contain a number of mandatory details: the date of registration, the signature of the head and the seal of the organization (clause 5 of article 185, paragraph 2 of clause 1 of article 186 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).

In addition, other documents may be submitted to confirm the authority, indicating that a particular person has the right to sign. For example:

job description;
a power of attorney for the right to dispose of funds with an indication of granting the right to sign (first or second).

In addition, a person who applied to a bank to open an organization's current account must present a passport (another identity card) (clause 1.7 of Instructions of the Bank of Russia dated September 14, 2006 No. 28-I).

Oleg Khoroshiy, State Adviser of the Tax Service of the Russian Federation, III rank

Signatures of responsible persons

The invoice on paper must be signed by the head and chief accountant of the seller (executor). The invoice can also be signed by other persons authorized to do so by order of the head or a power of attorney on behalf of the organization.* If the supplier (executor) is an entrepreneur, he must personally sign the invoice and indicate in it the details of his registration certificate.

An invoice drawn up in electronic form must be certified by an enhanced qualified electronic signature of the head of the organization or another person authorized to do so by order of the head or power of attorney of the organization. If the supplier (executor) is an entrepreneur, he must certify the electronic invoice with his enhanced qualified electronic signature. When an organization draws up an invoice in electronic form, the indicator “Chief Accountant (signature) (full name)” is not formed.

This procedure follows from the provisions of paragraph 6 of Article 169 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, paragraph 8 of Appendix 1 to Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of December 26, 2011 No. 1137, paragraph 1.5 of the Procedure approved by Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia of April 25, 2011 No. 50n.

Transfer of signature rights

Situation: how to correctly transfer the right to sign invoices from the head and chief accountant to other employees of the organization *

Document the transfer of the right to sign invoices with a power of attorney or order (instruction)

The transfer of the right to sign invoices can be formalized by a power of attorney from the organization or by order (instruction) of the head * (clause 6 of article 169 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). There are no standard samples for orders (orders), so these documents can be drawn up in any form. The main thing is that they contain information about who is given the right to sign, and sample signatures of these employees. In addition, in the order (instruction) you can set the period during which an authorized employee has the right to sign invoices. It can also be envisaged who is given the right to sign instead of an authorized employee for the period of his illness or absence for other reasons.

Situation: is it necessary to indicate in the invoice the position of the employee authorized to sign this document instead of the head (chief accountant) *

No, it doesn `t need.

The composition of the mandatory invoice details is established by Article 169 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, therefore their change is unacceptable. This also applies to such invoice details as “Head of the organization or other authorized person” and “Chief Accountant or other authorized person”. Thus, if the invoice is signed by an authorized employee, then his position should not be indicated in this document. But in order to identify the person who actually signed the invoice, after the signature, it is necessary to indicate his last name and initials. April 23, 2012 No. 03-07-09 / 39, February 6, 2009 No. 03-07-09 / 04, the Federal Tax Service of Russia in a letter dated June 18, 2009 No. 3-1-11 / 425.

At the same time, if the employee authorized to sign invoices indicated his position in it, such a document is not drawn up with violations of the established procedure. Neither the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, nor the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of December 26, 2011 No. 1137 prohibit the indication of additional details (information) in invoices, including the names of the positions of persons authorized to sign these documents. Similar clarifications are contained in the letters of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated April 23, 2012 No. 03-07-09/39 and dated February 6, 2009 No. 03-07-09/04.

Olga Tsibizova, Head of the Department of Indirect Taxes of the Department of Tax and Customs Tariff Policy of the Ministry of Finance of Russia

Few people think that this is not a myth, but the reality of today. We will tell you what the law threatens and how to avoid accounting crimes.

Main Lineups

In fact, criminal responsibility of the chief accountant may occur under Articles 199 and 199.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The first is about tax evasion by the company. Here is its full content:

The official commentary of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation to this norm suggests that not only the general director of the company can be responsible for it, but also:

• Chief Accountant;
• just an accountant (in the absence of a chief accountant in the state);
• other persons, if the board of the company obliges them to sign tax returns and ensure full and prompt payment of taxes and fees;
• persons who actually performed the duties of the head or chief accountant, accountant.

If the participation of the chief accountant in conspiracy to evade taxes is proved, then he will be fully responsible before the law.

Punishment under Art. 199 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation may also threaten those employees of the company who are responsible, for example, for the registration of the accounting "primary". But, most likely, in the case they will go as accomplices.

The main task of the chief accountant is not to be hung up on the organization of tax evasion!

The Russian Criminal Code also has Article 199.1. It provides for punishment for failure to fulfill the duties of a tax agent. Here is its full content:

In fact, criminal liability of the chief accountant in 2016 year and beyond for taxes can occur only on these two compositions.

Conditions for punishment

Let us immediately clarify that chief accountant is liable under Article 199.1, when the following conditions are simultaneously present:

1. the company does not pay taxes on a large or especially large scale;
2. the company represented by the chief accountant does so intentionally;
3. this happens at least three years in a row;
4. the chief accountant has a personal interest.

Whose side is the practice

We hasten to reassure all accountants: practicing lawyers and lawyers unanimously repeat that criminal responsibility of the chief accountant occurs not always, sometimes - in exceptional cases. For example, it is extremely difficult to attract such a specialist under Art. 199.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

The main snag is in proving intent and personal motives. After all, the chief accountant can always justify himself by referring to his lack of experience, professional mistakes, etc. And, as they say, you won’t get into his brain.

The chief accountant cannot be punished for the mistakes of his predecessors in this position!

Which documents are better for the chief accountant not to sign - dangerous for the company and for himself But there are other dangers3 Papers for which other accountants are responsible The signature of the chief accountant will not replace the visa of a subordinate. Five documents that solve this problem If the signature of the chief accountant is a mandatory requisite of the document, then without it it will be invalid. And whether you sign it or not, nothing will change. On the day when the document was drawn up, you were not the chief accountant of the company. So, they were not allowed to sign it. Primary documents that are signed by an unauthorized person cannot be taken into account (Article 9 of the Federal Law of December 6, 2011 No. 402-FZ). The consequences of such a violation depend on the document. For example, if you yourself sign a sick leave for your predecessor, the FSS may refuse to reimburse you (paragraph 66 of the order of the Ministry of Health and Social Development of Russia of June 29, 2011 No. 624n, paragraph 18 of the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of February 12, 1994 No. 101). Of course, for this, the fund's specialists should note that at that time there was another chief accountant. Because of your signature on the old primary, problems are possible not only for the company, but also for counterparties. It happens that the tax authorities on the opposite side request the issued invoices, and the previous chief accountant did not print out the second copies. Or the buyer has not received the documents and asks to transfer them. In such cases, you should not sign for the previous accountant. Otherwise, the tax authorities will have a reason to refuse to deduct VAT from the buyer. He will have to defend his rights in court (decree of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Urals District dated July 9, 2007 No. Ф09-5205 / 07-С2). But it is also impossible to transfer documents without a signature. Solution. Here are three options to sign the old primary: 1) invite the former chief accountant, let him sign all the documents on which he forgot to put a visa; 2) issue a duplicate of the document: put your signature in it, and make the inscription “Duplicate” on top; 3) contact the employee who at that time had a power of attorney to certify the documents you need. Ask him to sign. This option is also suitable for the hospital. The FSS allows signing disability certificates by proxy (p. 12 letters of the FSS of the Russian Federation dated October 28, 2011 No. 14-03-18 / 15-12956). Important figures 50,000 rubles - such a fine can be issued to the company by the labor inspectorate if it finds that the chief accountant signed documents during off-hours. Documents for the days when the chief accountant was on vacation or on sick leave An important detail The right to sign invoices on behalf of the head and chief accountant can be transferred both by order and by power of attorney (clause 6 of article 169 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). Documents that an accountant signs on vacation or on sick leave can be accepted for accounting and tax accounting. During rest or illness, the chief accountant is not obliged to work. But no one removed him from work. Therefore, the powers of the chief accountant will remain, even if the duties are transferred to another employee. This means that the documents signed by the chief accountant will be legal (appellate ruling of the Judicial Collegium for Civil Cases of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) dated January 14, 2015 in case No. 33-4778 / 2014). But there are other dangers for the company. It is prohibited by labor law to involve an employee during illness or vacation. Violations can be fined up to 50,000 rubles. (Article 5.27 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation). And in the case of sick leave, they will also reduce the chief accountant's disability allowance. The doctor can find out that the patient worked, and will make a note in the hospital about the violation of the regime. In a special line, put the date and code 25 - "Coming to work without an extract." And the employer is obliged, starting from the specified date, to calculate the allowance based on the minimum wage (Article 8 of the Federal Law of December 29, 2006 No. 255-FZ). Even if the doctor does not notice a violation of the regime, the allowance can reduce the fund. At the check, officials from the FSS will see the signed documents and understand that the chief accountant worked during his illness, which means he violated the regime. Therefore, they will remove part of the allowance, add additional contributions, fines and penalties (Decree of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Urals District of April 20, 2011 No. Ф09-1302 / 11-С2). Solution. There are two ways to sign documents when the chief accountant is on vacation or on sick leave: 1) issue a recall of the chief accountant from vacation; 2) ask to sign another employee with a power of attorney or an employee who, by order, performs the duties of the chief accountant. Note For what documents will punish not only the company, but also the chief accountant personally 1. Primary to contracts with one-day contracts. Do not sign such a primary on behalf of the company. Documents are drawn up to reduce income tax and offset VAT. Tax evasion is a crime for which a criminal case can be brought against the chief accountant. Investigators will have to prove that he participated in the scheme and received personal benefit. It will be difficult to do this if the accountant did not sign the contract and the primary. So, he might not know that the deal is fictitious. He entered all information into tax reporting according to primary documents, the reliability of which he did not doubt.2. Documents for receiving material values. Even if you have a power of attorney to sign such documents, do not rush to sign them. First, make sure that all the valuables listed on the invoice are in stock. Check if any of them are defective. And only after that sign the documents. Otherwise, you risk: the shortage on this invoice will be blamed on you. After all, you are responsible for the property from the moment you signed the invoice, and until you transfer it to other responsible persons or to production. Papers for which other accountants are responsible Caution In order for the chief accountant to receive material assets from the supplier and sign the invoice, a power of attorney from the company is required. The chief accountant is not entitled to sign documents for subordinates. The primary organization is endorsed by the employees who made the transaction or operation, and those who are responsible for its execution (Article 9 of the Federal Law of December 6, 2011 No. 402-FZ). The law does not establish specific positions of employees and a list of documents. Each company has its own list. Five documents that give your company's accountants the right to sign primary documents are in the table. For example, one of the accounting staff maintains personnel records and calculates salaries. These responsibilities are listed in his job description. Without an order from the head, the chief accountant is not entitled to sign personnel and other documents related to payroll, for example, timesheets and payrolls, for a subordinate. A similar situation with the signature of the cashier. Although the chief accountant signs cash orders, he is not entitled to sign for the cashier a second time. And documents signed by an unauthorized person do not confirm the calculations (ruling of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of August 3, 2015 No. 306-KG15-8420 in case No. A65-2680/2014). In some companies, chief accountants from time to time accept both various material assets and work. For example, office supplies, small office repairs, or software upgrade services. As a rule, such functions are not included in the duties of an accountant. Therefore, without a power of attorney, his signature on the primary will be illegitimate. It turns out that the business transaction was drawn up with a primary document signed by an unauthorized person. So, it is forbidden to take into account such documents. The tax authorities will consider that the company has grossly violated the rules for accounting for income and expenses, and will fine it 10,000 rubles. And if the accountant recognizes such expenses in tax accounting, then the fine will be even higher - 20 percent of the amount of unpaid tax, but not less than 40,000 rubles. (Article 120 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). Solution. The chief accountant has the right to sign documents for subordinates or other employees if: 1) he received a power of attorney from the company for the right to sign; 2) is mentioned in the order of the head as an employee who is authorized to endorse the primary office.

How to issue the signature of the chief accountant if accounting is outsourced to a third-party organization? Outsourcing of accounting services is becoming increasingly popular. But how then to draw up the signature of the chief accountant on the reporting and primary accounting documents, if he is not included in the staff of your company, what additionally should be entered there? Leading industry experts explain how to do it. Yulia Tarasova, corporate lawyer at LEVINE Bridge law firm The absence of a full-time accountant and the transfer of accounting authority to a third party is a fairly common situation. In this regard, in practice, the question often arises of how to properly draw up documents so that a third party, a representative of an outsourcing company, can sign documents for the chief accountant of an organization. There are a number of nuances that are definitely worth paying attention to. This will avoid liability for violation of the rules for accounting for the income and expenses of the organization (due to the signing of primary documents by unauthorized persons and the subsequent possible recognition of unreasonable and unconfirmed expenses of the organization according to these primary documents by the tax authorities). Indeed, according to the provisions of Art. 120 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, the fine imposed on the organization for this violation can range from 10,000 to 40,000 rubles or more, depending on the specific type of violation. In addition, an official of an organization (in particular, a director) may be involved under Art. 15.11 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation (fine in the amount of 5,000 to 20,000 rubles or disqualification for a period of 1 to 2 years). Since the civil and labor legislation does not contain special rules on outsourcing, the rules on the provision of services for compensation are applied to such legal relations. According to paragraph 1, 4 of Art. 185 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, powers equivalent to a power of attorney will also apply to the case when the powers of the representative are contained in the contract (including between the representative and the represented). Thus, in order for a signatory from a third-party organization to become authorized, in most cases it is necessary to clearly state in the contract for the provision of accounting services: whose powers are transferred to a third-party organization (in our case, the chief accountant); which individual - a representative of a third-party organization - is entitled to sign documents for the chief accountant (full name, passport details, position in a third-party organization); the right to sign which specific documents is transferred under the contract to an authorized person of a third-party organization (list all the necessary documents). Having clearly stated these aspects in the contract, in the future, when signing documents by an authorized person, the position in the signature requisite must be indicated as follows: “Chief Accountant (according to the contract dated ________ No. __)”, where in the missing columns it is necessary to indicate the details of the contract for the provision of accounting services. At the same time, there are exceptions that apply to the sphere of tax relations, as well as relations related to the calculation and payment of insurance premiums. So, in order to sign documents for the chief accountant in these areas, a signatory from a third-party organization will need to additionally issue a power of attorney in accordance with the current legislation of the Russian Federation1. In this case, the position in the details of the signature on the documents will look like this: “Chief Accountant (by power of attorney dated ________ No. __)”, where in the missing columns it is necessary to indicate the details of the power of attorney issued by the organization customer of the services. Separately, it is worth paying the attention of readers to cases of incorrect use of the signature details of the chief accountant when transferring his powers to a third-party organization: for example, the use of the phrases “acting chief accountant”, “acting chief accountant”, “for the chief accountant” is not justified from the point of view of the current legislation. The fact is that the norms of laws do not contain such concepts, and in the generally accepted sense they are associated only with the temporary transfer of authority from one employee to another within the organization (in case of sick leave, vacations, internal part-time work, etc.). Thus, the procedure for granting the authority to sign documents for the chief accountant of a representative of an outsourcing company depends on the category of a document being signed (personnel records; documents related to tax obligations; documents on the accrual and payment of insurance premiums, etc.) Tatiana Evdokimova , expert of Kontur service.Accounting department of SKB Kontur company Currently, outsourcing is very common in the business environment. Mainly because this form of receiving services helps the organization to significantly save on the cost of remuneration of a specialist who is required by the company periodically or on a part-time basis. And one of the most common can be called accounting outsourcing. There are a large number of offers on the market from accounting firms that offer their assistance in accounting and preparation of accounting and tax reporting. Let's consider this situation. The Federal Law of December 6, 2011 No. 402-FZ “On Accounting” (hereinafter referred to as the Accounting Law) states that the responsibility for accounting is assigned to the head. At the same time, he can involve an employee or an organization in keeping records, as well as keep records personally (Article 7 of the Accounting Law). It is possible to assign duties for the performance of the position of chief accountant to a service organization, however, this must be spelled out in the contract between the serviced company and the accounting firm. Moreover, the latter can provide the service "chief accountant" for an additional fee. So, what documents and who will be able to sign? In Art. 26 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation states that the taxpayer (customer organization) in relations with the tax inspectorate may act through an authorized representative. Such a representative exercises his powers on the basis of a power of attorney, which is issued in accordance with the requirements of civil law (clauses 1 and 3 of article 29 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). An authorized person of the outsourcing company can sign the tax declaration of the serviced organization, confirming the completeness and accuracy of the information indicated in it (clause 5, article 80 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). At the same time, a copy of the power of attorney confirming the authority of the representative to sign this reporting document must be attached to the tax report. The same is done with financial statements. If the director of the company entrusts the preparation and submission of reports to the director of the accounting firm by proxy, then the certifying signature on the report is already affixed in a special section reserved for the signature of an authorized representative, indicating the details of the document giving the right to sign: the number and date of the power of attorney. And the power of attorney will need to be attached to the report (as mentioned above). In the case of sending a report via telecommunication channels, a scan of the power of attorney is also included in the package of documents signed and submitted to the tax inspectorate. If you do not attach a power of attorney, then the tax authorities may refuse to accept documents, since only the executive body of the company, the head, has the right to act without a power of attorney on behalf of the organization. As for the signature of the chief accountant on primary documents, this should also be stipulated in the contract with the outsourcing company. Often the question arises of how best to put the signature itself on the primary document “by proxy” or “acting chief accountant”. Please note: if the right to sign was obtained by proxy, then the wording must be appropriate. A signature in the form of "acting" can be put only if the person actually performs the official duties of the temporarily absent employee. When there is no such position as “chief accountant” in the company’s staff, then how can one temporarily fulfill the duties of it? Dmitry Kovalenko, Director of BDO Unicon Outsourcing Accounting Services How to get the chief accountant's signature on documents if accounting is outsourced? The answer to this question sounds simple: do not draw up at all. The law requires the signature of the chief accountant only in a very limited list of documents. But in practice, instead of the chief accountant, such documents are signed by authorized representatives on the basis of a power of attorney from the general director. Annual and quarterly financial statements, tax statements do not require the signature of the chief accountant. The balance sheet is signed by the head of the company. Most of the financial documents today are signed either by the head of the company or by a person authorized to sign a specific document. That is, for example, any employee of the enterprise can put a signature on the invoice, as well as a specialist of an outsourcing company who has a power of attorney from the director. In fact, for the manager, this means that he alone bears full responsibility for the actions of the company and all risks fall on him. And this is one of the reasons why many heads of organizations prefer to outsource accounting services under a contract. It is important for directors of companies to be able to turn to an independent expert who is not interested in distorting financial information and is responsible for the correctness of his actions with his good name, and often with money. Vera Iritikova, professional document manager, document specialist, guest lecturer at the Russian Academy of National Economy and Public Administration under the President of the Russian Federation Indeed, an employee of an outsourcing company should be given the appropriate authority. In accordance with Federal Law No. 402-FZ of 06.12.2011 “On Accounting”, the head of an organization that is an economic entity imposes on the chief accountant, accountant or other accountant the responsibility for maintaining the organization’s accounting and tax records. By the way, the head himself can perform the functions of a counting worker. Such responsibility is assigned by order for the main activity. The rights to sign the relevant documents arise from the date of assignment of such obligations. Outsourcing accounting and tax accounting is transferred to a third-party company on the basis of an agreement. One of its conditions is the exact indication of the position, last name, first name and patronymic of the main employee of the outsourcer company who will “deal with you” (and in case of his temporary absence, the person replacing him). By order for the main activity, the head of the organization entrusts him with the functions of maintaining accounting and tax accounting with the right to sign the relevant primary accounting, reporting and accounting documents. As a basis, the order indicates the date and number of the service agreement with the outsourcing company.

Yu.A. Inozemtseva, expert in accounting and taxation

What is the chief accountant responsible for and to whom?

How the duties of the chief accountant have changed in connection with the entry into force of the new Accounting Law

In the old Accounting Law, a separate article was devoted to the chief accountant. It said that the chief accountant is responsible for the formation of accounting policies, accounting, timely submission of reliable accounting. Moreover, he still had to ensure the compliance of business operations with the legislation of the Russian Federation and control the movement of property. The new Law on Accounting only says that the chief accountant is responsible for accounting and (hereinafter - Law No. 402-FZ). There is no question of any responsibility of the chief accountant. But does this mean that now the chief accountant is not responsible for anything at all?

What should the chief accountant do

The fact that the new Accounting Law says nothing about the responsibility of the chief accountant is unusual and seems strange. However, this is quite understandable. The state protects the rights of users of financial statements to receive high-quality financial information and therefore obliges the organization to draw up annual accounting (financial) statements according to certain rules. paragraph 2 of Art. 13 of Law No. 402-FZ. Who exactly in the organization prepares reports is its internal affair. The law only says that the organization is obliged to assign the responsibility of accounting to the chief accountant or other official about paragraph 3 of Art. 7 of the Law of December 6, 2011 No. 402-FZ (hereinafter - Law No. 402-FZ). Since the relationship between the organization and the chief accountant (as well as any other employee) is not within the scope of the Accounting Law, they are regulated by labor laws. This means that the duties of the chief accountant are determined exclusively by the employment contract.

As a rule, in small organizations, the chief accountant is the only financial worker. Therefore, his responsibilities include not only accounting, but also the formation of accounting policies and reporting. However, these duties can only be assigned to the chief accountant by an employment contract.

At the same time, in large organizations with an extensive financial service, the chief accountant may be solely responsible for entering the data of primary documents into the accounting program. It is not at all necessary that the chief accountant is responsible for the formation of accounting policies. For example, an organization prepares reports not only according to Russian accounting standards (RAS), but also according to IFRS, and not the accounting department, but the IFRS department deals with international reporting. And if an organization forms an accounting policy according to RAS in such a way that the IFRS department has to make fewer transformational adjustments, then the responsibility for the formation of accounting policies can be assigned to the head of the financial department (if this department includes both accounting and the IFRS department). In this case, it is quite logical to assign responsibility for the preparation of reliable financial statements, including according to RAS, to the financial director. After all, it is he who makes decisions that affect reporting, and the chief accountant only executes them.

To make it clearer, let's take an example. According to the RAS accounting policy, the organization depreciates fixed assets. When testing the object (hotel building), signs of impairment were established - the estimated net cash flow for the expected period of operation of the object turned out to be negative. The financial director, having received this information, determined that the hotel building and the land plot on which it was built were accounted for as a single asset. At the same time, the analysis and evaluation department reported that the market value of the land plot is significantly higher than its book value. The financial director made a decision: to recognize the land plot in the financial statements at market value, and to write off the hotel building to impairment losses. The accounting department made postings in the accounting program. Obviously, the responsibility for the preparation of financial statements in such a situation lies with the financial director, and not with the chief accountant.

EXPERIENCE EXCHANGE

General Director of the audit firm Vector Development LLC

“By virtue of Art. 21 of Law No. 402-FZ, accounting is regulated not only by the said Law, but also by a system of standards. Prior to the approval of federal and industry accounting standards, the old PBUs are in effect. The adoption of the new Law does not in any way imply a refusal to fulfill their requirements. Therefore, for any chief accountant, such norms as the mandatory compilation and submission for approval to the project manager of accounting policies and clause 4 PBU 1/2008, accounting and reporting clause 7 of the Regulations, approved. Order of the Ministry of Finance dated July 29, 1998 No. 34n (hereinafter - Regulation No. 34n). Finally, there is such a document as a job description that defines the functions, rights and obligations of the chief accountant, and there are also no grounds for ignoring it after January 1, 2013. In particular, the duties of the chief accountant are detailed in the Qualification Directory for the positions of managers, specialists and other employees x approved Decree of the Ministry of Labor of 21.08.98 No. 37. Thus, the beginning of the new Law does not affect the list of mandatory functions of the chief accountant. Another thing is if after January 1 the organization itself starts to change this functionality - to redistribute it between individual positions and departments. Then the relevant changes will take precedence (for example, the fact that the chief accountant is responsible for accounting policies and reporting, and another person or persons - for accounting and the formation of accounting registers)” .

Often chief accountants are interested in the question of what documents they must sign. In most cases, this should follow from the employment contract of the chief accountant. For example, he will have to sign tax returns if such an obligation is fixed in his employment contract and the manager authorizes him to do so by power of attorney. paragraph 5 of Art. 80 Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

However, with the obligation to sign accounting, not everything is so obvious. The new Accounting Law does not regulate this issue. Information of the Ministry of Finance No. ПЗ-10/2012. It is only said that the reporting is considered drawn up after the signing of its head m paragraph 8 of Art. 13 of Law No. 402-FZ. At the same time, until the adoption of federal standards, in accordance with the new Law on Accounting, the rules for accounting and reporting established by PBU apply. paragraph 1 of Art. 30 of Law No. 402-FZ. According to the current PBU 4/99 "Accounting statements of the organization" and the Regulation on accounting, the statements must be signed by the chief accountant clause 17 PBU 4/99; clause 38 of Regulation No. 34n. So it turns out that for the time being the chief accountant must sign the financial statements. Although this does not mean that he is automatically responsible for its accuracy, if, under an employment contract, he is not the person responsible for its preparation. And in case of disagreement with the manager about the quality of the reporting (for example, after an audit), the chief accountant will be able to say that he is not responsible for the reliability of the reporting, referring to the employment contract. However, most likely, the new reporting standard will not require the signature of the chief accountant. By the way, no one usually signs IFRS statements at all. True, as a rule, a conclusion with the signature of the auditor is attached to it.

CONCLUSION

So, until January 1, 2013, the chief accountant, by virtue of the Law on Accounting, was responsible for the formation of accounting policies, accounting, compiling reliable accounting, compliance of the organization's business operations with the legislation of the Russian Federation and control over the movement of property.

And after January 1, 2013, the chief accountant, like any other employee, is only responsible for the performance of those duties that are prescribed in his employment contract and detailed in the job description.

At the same time, a slightly different interpretation of the norms of the new Law on Accounting is also possible.

EXPERIENCE EXCHANGE

Chief methodologist of Energy Consulting group of companies

“ It seems that, in accordance with the new Accounting Law, nothing has changed on the issue of the responsibility of the chief accountant and he is still, as established in paragraph 2 of Art. 7 of Law No. 129-FZ, is responsible for the formation of accounting policies, accounting, timely submission of complete and reliable financial statements. This follows "from the opposite" from the fact that Law No. 402-FZ contains a closed list of situations in which the head is solely responsible for the data reflected in the accounting registers and the reliability of financial statements. This is when, in the event of disagreement regarding accounting between the head and the chief accountant, the second acts on the written order of the first. This means that outside of this situation, they are at least both responsible for the state of accounting and the reliability of reporting. For if the chief accountant were never responsible for anything, then there would be no need to single out cases when he is not responsible.

In small organizations, the chief accountant often deals not only with accounting, but also with tax accounting and the calculation of mandatory insurance contributions to extra-budgetary funds. If the manager wants to assign to the chief accountant all the responsibilities related to settlements with the budget, then the wording of the employment contract may look like this.

3.2. Employee Responsibilities:

Accounting and preparation of financial statements in the manner and within the time limits established by the legislation of the Russian Federation;

Calculation of taxes (advance payments on taxes), preparation and submission of tax reporting of the organization to the tax authorities in the manner and within the time limits established by the legislation of the Russian Federation;

Calculation of mandatory insurance premiums (advance payments on premiums);

Drawing up and submission to off-budget funds of reporting on mandatory insurance premiums in the manner and within the time limits established by the legislation of the Russian Federation;

Timely preparation of payment orders for the transfer of taxes (advance payments on taxes), mandatory insurance contributions to off-budget funds;

Preparation and timely submission of documents at the request of tax authorities and non-budgetary funds.

If such duties are not assigned to the chief accountant, then he may not be engaged in this and will not bear disciplinary, material or administrative responsibility for the improper performance of these duties. Please note: the duties of the employee are determined precisely by the employment contract. A document such as a job description can only specify them, but not expand them.

Responsibility of the chief accountant to the employer

If the chief accountant does not perform his labor duties properly, the Labor Code of the Russian Federation allows the head to take certain measures of influence against the negligent employee.

Disciplinary responsibility

Like any other employee, the chief accountant may be punished for failure to perform or improper performance through his fault of the duties assigned to him by an employment contract. There are only three types of disciplinary sanctions: remark, reprimand, dismissal e Art. 192 Labor Code of the Russian Federation. When imposing a penalty, the gravity of the offense committed must be taken into account.

If the chief accountant does not agree with the penalty, he can appeal it to the court. And often it is not easy for the employer to prove his innocence.

Firstly, it is possible to impose a disciplinary sanction only if the chief accountant did not fulfill the obligation enshrined in his employment contract and job description. If the chief accountant did not fulfill (or did not fulfill on time) the instructions of the director, which are not part of his direct duties, then the court will not only cancel the disciplinary sanction, but also oblige the organization to compensate the moral damage caused to the chief accountant caused by unreasonable punishment Art. 60 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation; Definition of the Moscow City Court dated December 17, 2010 No. 33-39351.

Secondly, it is necessary to prove not only the fact of the violation, but also the fact that it happened due to worker. If the employer fails to prove guilt, the court recognizes the disciplinary sanction as illegal. Appeal ruling of the Yaroslavl Regional Court dated July 10, 2012 No. 33-3290/2012. For example, the court canceled the reprimand announced to the chief accountant for the incorrect calculation of insurance premiums, as it turned out that the employer did not provide him with an accounting program, legal reference systems, or Internet access. Therefore, the chief accountant simply did not have the opportunity to learn in a timely manner about changes in legislation and Cassation ruling of the Murmansk Regional Court dated February 1, 2012 No. 33-270.

Thirdly, you need to have time punish the guilty chief accountant within 6 months from the date of the misconduct. Thus, the court recognized that the employer has reason to reprimand the chief accountant, who did not submit the tax calculation for advance payments on land tax in a timely manner. But he canceled the penalty due to missing the 6-month deadline and Determination of the Armed Forces of the Chuvash Republic dated November 28, 2011 No. 33-4251-11; Cassation decision of the Supreme Court of the Karachay-Cherkess Republic dated 08.09.2010 No. 33-579/10.

The chief accountant can be punished not only for non-performance or improper performance of his duties. He can be fired for making an unreasonable decision that entailed a violation of the safety of property, its misuse or other damage to the property of the organization and paragraph 9 of Art. 81 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation. Of course, if under an employment contract the chief accountant is only responsible for accounting and reporting, then he does not make any decisions related to the property of the organization, and it is impossible to dismiss him on this basis.

If, despite the fact that your employment contract does not stipulate the obligation to make settlements with suppliers, you still do this, then make sure that the supplier’s documents have the director’s visa “Pay”. So, once the chief accountant was fired because, without the permission of the director, he transferred money to pay an invoice issued by a counterparty for servicing an accounting program. Appeal decision of the Supreme Court of the Chuvash Republic of 08/01/2012 No. 33-2491-12. And in another case, for giving the order not to receive money at the cash desk, as a result of which they were stolen Determination of the Supreme Court of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic dated 01.08.2012 No. 4g-191/2011.

Material liability

In addition to disciplinary action, the employer can punish the chief accountant with a ruble. If the employment contract with the chief accountant does not contain conditions for full liability, then from him, like from any other employee, damage can be recovered in an amount not exceeding his average monthly salary. articles 238, 241 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

If the employment contract includes a provision on full liability, then the chief accountant is obliged to compensate the direct actual damage caused by him to the employer in full. Part 2 Art. 243 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation; clause 10 of the Decree of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of November 16, 2006 No. 52. We are talking about situations where the chief accountant did not fulfill his duties and it was as a result of this that the employer suffered damage. Moreover, the damage can be recovered through the court even after the dismissal of the chief accountant (within 1 year from the date of discovery of the damage) Art. 392 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation. For example, the court recovered from the former chief accountant the damage caused to him in the form of fines paid by the employer to the FIU for late submission of information Cassation ruling of the Kostroma Regional Court dated September 12, 2011 No. 33-1423.

To conclude separate an agreement on full liability with the chief accountant cannot be Decree of the Government of November 14, 2002 No. 823; Decree of the Ministry of Labor of December 31, 2002 No. 85. Even if it is concluded, the court may release the employee from the obligation to compensate for the damage caused b p. 4 sect. "Judicial practice in civil cases" of the Review of legislation and judicial practice of the Armed Forces for the IV quarter of 2009, approved. Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Court of March 10, 2010 (hereinafter referred to as the Review of Legislation).

We emphasize that the condition of full liability in the employment contract works specifically for major accountants. So senior accountant, it is impossible to recover in full the damage caused to the employer (for example, in the form of tax fines and penalties that the employer had to pay due to the failure of the senior accountant to fulfill his duties), despite the presence in the employment contract of a condition on full liability and Determination of the Perm Regional Court dated January 23, 2012 No. 33-174.

If the chief accountant does not agree to compensate for the damage voluntarily, the employer may try to recover the money through the courts. To do this, the employer must be prepared to prove to the court that:

• he suffered direct actual damage (property has decreased or its condition has worsened);
• the damage was caused precisely as a result of the actions (inaction) of the chief accountant.

Judging by judicial practice, employers rarely manage to prove damage.

For example, the Volgograd Regional Court did not support an employer who tried to recover from the chief accountant the amount of wages accrued and paid to employees for several years, due to the fact that the primary salary was not signed by the director. The court indicated that the chief accountant did not cause any damage to the employer, because the salary was accrued correctly Cassation ruling of the Volgograd Regional Court dated February 1, 2012 No. 33-1087/2012; p. 4 sect. "Jurisprudence in Civil Cases" of the Review of Legislation.

The employer from Moscow was also unlucky, who decided not to pay the former chief accountant a salary and compensation for unused vacation in retaliation for the fact that he improperly kept accounting and cash records, did not submit tax returns on time. In court, the employer explained his actions by saying that he had to pay a tax fine, spend money on paying for the services of a consulting company, and also pay extra to the new chief accountant for correcting the mistakes of the old one. The court ordered the organization to pay off all debts to the former chief accountant and indicated that there were no grounds for recovering damages, since the accountant's errors themselves do not entail a decrease in the employer's property Definition of the Moscow City Court dated November 8, 2010 No. 33-34644.

It gets even more difficult to prove the guilt of the chief accountant. For example, in the Oryol region, the head issued orders for bonuses to employees, despite the lack of net profit. The owner of the property considered that the chief accountant was to blame for everything, since he knew about the absence of net profit from the organization, but did not indicate this fact to the director. The court decided that the chief accountant was not to blame for the fact that the organization overpaid bonuses to employees, because he accrued and paid bonuses based on the orders of the head Cassation ruling of the Oryol Regional Court dated 07.12.2011 No. 33-1804.

And in the Volgograd region, after the dismissal of the chief accountant, a shortage of raw materials and finished products was found in the warehouse. The organization considered that the reason for the shortage was the lack of reliable accounting and control over the movement of raw materials and finished products by the chief accountant, and filed a lawsuit to recover the damage caused. The court pointed out that the lack of proper accounting in itself does not mean that the employer has suffered material damage b Cassation ruling of the Volgograd Regional Court dated July 8, 2010 No. 33-7441/2010. By the way, according to the new Accounting Law, the object of accounting is not property, but assets, that is, abstract financial information (in other words, numbers in reporting) paragraph 2 of Art. 5 of Law No. 402-FZ. Thus, the chief accountant should not be responsible for the safety of property.

And sometimes not even the employer, but the former general director, tries to lay the blame on the chief accountant. So, the organization tried to recover more than 1 million rubles. material damage (tax fines and penalties accrued due to a one-day counterparty) from the former CEO. In court, he tried to blame everything on the chief accountant, who took into account documents from a one-day company. The Court of Appeal rejected the argument of the former general director, pointing out that it was he, and not the chief accountant, who was responsible for compliance with the legislation and Decree 9 AAS dated 03.07.2012 No. 09AP-16299/2012-GK. However, the former general director escaped with a slight fright: the cassation instance decided that he, too, was not guilty of anything. Decree of the FAS MO dated September 26, 2012 No. A40-136100 / 11-104-1156.

The responsibility of the chief accountant to the state

The chief accountant is responsible not only to the employer, but also to the state. Let's see what the chief accountant can be held accountable by government agencies.

Administrative responsibility

For failure to perform or improper performance of their duties, an official of the company may be held administratively liable.

If the employment contract imposes on the chief accountant the duties of accounting and reporting, then he is liable only for the distortion of at least 10% of the amount of taxes assessed or any article (line) of the financial statements form. Art. 15.11 Administrative Code of the Russian Federation.

The chief accountant, who, in accordance with the employment contract, also keeps tax records and cash transactions, may be held administratively liable for failure to submit or late submission of a declaration or calculation, violation of cash discipline Art. 15.5, part 1 of Art. 15.6 Administrative Code of the Russian Federation. If your employment contract does not say anything about taxes and cash, then you cannot be held liable under these articles. If this does happen, the court will be on your side. The maximum fine under administrative articles is 3,000 rubles.

We wrote about the types of "accounting" administrative offenses, the amounts of fines and the terms for bringing to administrative responsibility:

Just as in the case of other types of liability - disciplinary and material, the fault of the chief accountant must be established and the deadlines for holding him accountable must be observed.

The Code of Administrative Offenses does not directly say which official should be held accountable - the head or the chief accountant and Art. 2.4 Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation. Sometimes chief accountants are fined Decree of the Volgograd Regional Court dated October 27, 2011 No. 7a-893/11, sometimes executives. The latter often managed to avoid responsibility, since under the old Accounting Law, the chief accountant was responsible for everything Decree of the Moscow Regional Court dated February 9, 2012 No. 4a-23/12.

Criminal liability

The chief accountant may be held criminally liable if the organization has deliberately failed to pay large amounts of taxes to the budget for 3 consecutive years:

• <или>more than 2 million rubles, if the share of unpaid taxes exceeds 10% of taxes payable for this period;
• <или>more than 6 million rubles Art. 199 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation

However, it is almost impossible to bring the chief accountant to criminal liability. Indeed, for this it is necessary to prove that he deliberately acted in order to evade taxation (and not by mistake, not due to insufficient qualifications, etc.) pp. 7, 8 Decrees of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of December 28, 2006 No. 64. As you can imagine, proving intent is extremely difficult.

The likelihood that the chief accountant will be held accountable for purely accounting violations (for example, unreliable reporting) is extremely small. True, the Ministry of Finance is going to supplement the legislation with provisions on the responsibility of "managers and other persons" for unreliable reporting, but so far these are only plans. Clause 17 of the Plan, approved. Order of the Ministry of Finance dated November 30, 2011 No. 440.

At the same time, if the employment contract with the chief accountant provides for the obligations to settle all obligations to the budget (payment of taxes and contributions, submission of declarations), settlements with counterparties, maintaining a cash desk, then he can be brought to disciplinary, material and administrative liability for violations committed.