Organization and implementation of production control at the opo. Who is responsible for office work in the unit and the organization as a whole? Who is responsible for the organization

In accordance with the provisions of Art. 6 of Law No. 402-FZ of December 6, 2011, the obligation to maintain accounting records is assigned to all business entities. Exceptions are provided for:

Individual entrepreneurs or private practitioners - subject to accounting for income-expenditure transactions in accordance with the norms of legislation or control of physical indicators (taxable objects) characteristic of certain types of commercial activities.
OP ( separate subdivisions) foreign companies - provided that such representative offices or branches, as well as other types of business entities, take into account income-expenditure transactions that are taxable objects according to legal requirements.

Bookkeeping begins even "at the start" of opening a business, that is, from the date of official registration in control bodies, and continues until the termination of economic activities as a result of closure or liquidation. In this case, the subject must be excluded from Unified Register(EGRLE or EGRIP).

When organizing accounting, some companies have the right to use simplified methods. Such methods, among other things, include the preparation of simplified financial statements. This rule applies to the following types of businesses:

Subjects related according to the accepted criteria to the SMP.
Various NGOs.
Legal entity with participant status innovative project Skolkovo.

Not entitled to use simplified methods of organizing accounting:

LCD and housing complex.
Legal entities obliged to conduct an annual audit of financial statements.
Consumer credit cooperatives, including agricultural ones.
Government agencies.
Law offices, consultations, as well as collegiums.
Notary chambers.
Lawyer consulting.

Consequently, most firms are required to keep accounting records immediately from the moment of creation. Companies that fail to comply with this regulation face serious consequences in the form of fines and disqualification. officials. We will tell you more about the sanctions below, and now we will find out which of the employees should be responsible for the correct organization and maintenance of records.

Who is responsible for the organization of accounting

According to paragraph 1 of Art. 7 of Law No. 402-FZ, the head of the company is responsible for organizing accounting. The same rule is confirmed in another normative document- Order of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation No. 34n dated July 29, 1998. The indicated Regulation must be applied subject to the requirements of Law No. 402-FZ. The norms of Order No. 34n apply to legal entities of all legal forms and types of activities, except for credit structures and municipal (state) institutions.

The main tasks of accounting include (according to clause 4 of the Regulations):

Formation of reliable and complete information about the economic activity of a legal entity, including data on property.
Providing interested users (internal and external) with the necessary information about ongoing economic operations; movement of material, labor and monetary resources; availability and changes in assets and liabilities.
Identification of internal reserves of the enterprise to increase financial stability and loss prevention.

The responsibility of the manager for accounting includes the development and approval of the accounting policy of the company. When drawing up a document, it is necessary to take into account the features of the activity and the tax regime used (for tax accounting purposes). What actions are the company's management entitled to take when implementing an accounting system:

Establish an accounting service as a separate division of the company under the control of the chief accountant.
To provide in the staff of the enterprise the position of accounting specialists.
Transfer accounting functions to a specialized company, centralized accounting or an individual accountant. According to paragraph 3 of Art. 7 of Law No. 402-FZ, in this case, a contract for the provision of services is concluded.
Take on the responsibility of keeping records - heads of small and medium-sized businesses can independently manage accounting (clause 3, article 7 of Law No. 402-FZ).

Additionally, the head has the right to develop and approve the LNA of the enterprise - regulations on the work of the accounting department, on remuneration, on the workflow schedule, etc. To ensure the performance of the functions of the accounting service and create working conditions, the director is obliged to purchase and install computers, necessary software, including EDI systems and special databases (for example, 1C).

Regulatory requirements for the chief accountant

According to the norms of paragraph 4 of Art. 7 of Law No. 402-FZ, increased requirements are imposed on the chief accountant or other employee who has been assigned accounting functions. In particular, this is the presence of a profile higher education; a certain length of employment in the specialty; no criminal record in the economic sphere. In addition, federal legislation may establish other requirements for the chief accountant.

If the company hires to keep records third party- legal or physical, first of all it is necessary to conclude a contract for services. At the same time, an individual must also have a higher education, practical work experience and not be involved in a criminal record. And the legal entity must have at least one employee in the state that meets the requirements stated above.

For chief accountants of credit structures and non-credit financial institutions, qualification requirements are approved by the Central Bank of the Russian Federation. For chief accountants and ordinary employees of the accounting service of ordinary commercial firms To date, no special requirements have been established. However, it is better to trust the accounting of your enterprise to an experienced worker and, at a minimum, having a higher education in the field of economics or finance.

What is a gross violation of accounting rules

We figured out that the head of the company is responsible for accounting. This is about the organization of accounting. Responsible for management Chief Accountant. What are the responsibilities of the chief accountant? These are, for example, the following functions:

Timely and correct reflection of economic operations in accounting.
Acceptance for accounting primary documentation and other types of documents.
Provision of accounting in full and on time.
Reconciliation of obligations with counterparties.
Carrying out inventory activities to control debts and property.
Provision for deadlines safety of accounting documents.
Other features.

Accordingly, the chief accountant of the enterprise is obliged to keep accounting in compliance with the requirements of current legislation. And what awaits the chief accountant if mistakes are made? It is clear that no one is immune from inaccuracies. However, at the administrative level, measures of responsibility for gross violation of regulatory requirements in accounting are fixed. According to the notes to stat. 15.11 of the Code of Administrative Offenses, gross violations include:

Understatement of tax amounts (or fees) by at least 10% due to misrepresentation of accounting data.
Misrepresentation of monetary accounting index by at least 10%.
Reflection in the accounting registers of a feigned, false, imaginary economic fact.
Use outside the accounting registers of accounting accounts.
Filling out financial statements without using accounting data.
Absence within the terms established for storage of the relevant primary, accounting registers, financial statements or mandatory conclusion auditors.

Penalty for incorrect accounting

Based on the rules of stat. 15.11 of the Code of Administrative Offenses, for gross errors in accounting, the following penalties are provided:

For company officials - a fine of 5,000-10,000 rubles. for the primary violation.
For company officials - a fine of 10,000-20,000 rubles. in a secondary breach. Or a disqualification for a period of 1-2 years is possible.

Note! Exemption from liability is possible if the errors are eliminated before the approval of the financial statements, and also if the taxpayer independently submits an updated declaration and pays the amounts of arrears and penalties.

How to organize internal control of accounting

Labor legislation provides for direct measures to organize control over the actions of the chief accountant. In accordance with the provisions of Art. 192 the chief accountant can be taken out disciplinary action, including a remark, then a reprimand, and finally a dismissal. If the decisions of a specialist caused damage to the property of the enterprise, the employer has the right to dismiss such an employee (clause 9, article 81 of the Labor Code). Additionally, the company has the right to recover material damage from an individual in accordance with the norms of stat. 243 TK.

In order to control the actions of the accounting service, it is recommended to describe in detail the functionality of each specialist - from the chief accountant to ordinary employees. In addition, it is imperative to develop a regulation on the work of accounting. And at the end of the financial year and before reporting to users, you can conduct audit the state of the account as a whole.

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The CEO is not only the head and "first person" of the company. As a sole proprietor executive agency LLC, he bears full responsibility for the activities of the company and his decisions to contractors and members of the company. The CEO, as an official, is subject to sanctions provided for by civil, administrative, tax and criminal legislation. The responsibility of the general director of an LLC implies both punishment with a "ruble" and quite real terms of imprisonment, despite the indication in the legal form of the company of the "limited" obligations.

Financial responsibility of the general director

The head of the organization alone makes decisions on the functioning of the company, often combining his work with the duties of the chief accountant. To avoid abuse labor Code establishes that the person holding the position of CEO must be held responsible for the damage caused to the organization as a result of erroneous actions. The liability of the general director of an LLC extends not only to direct losses incurred through his fault, but also to lost profits due to his inaction.

In the first case, we mean actual material damage:

compensation for the value of lost property;
compensation for the costs incurred by a person to restore the rights in violation of which the head is guilty.

In the second, there are lost incomes that the company could have earned if the director had taken all possible steps for this, timely and sufficient. The material damage itself, subject to compensation by the general director, is calculated in accordance with the norms established by civil law. According to Art. 53 p. 3 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the participants in the company have the right to demand compensation from the director for losses incurred through his fault in the working order, without turning to third-party authorities.

Responsibility of the head of the organization for debts

The debts that a company has are almost impossible to “hang” on its owners and a hired director. This is the meaning and advantage of the organizational and legal form of an LLC: in the event of a financial catastrophe, the founders risk losing their maximum share in the authorized capital and part of their own property owned by the company.

However, here it is necessary to distinguish between the debts formed by the company as a result of normal economic risk, and the deliberate bringing of the company to insolvency. If the latter can be proved, it is theoretically possible to collect the debts of the company from the personal pocket of its leader and owners. To this end, the bankruptcy law (No. 127 - FZ of October 26, 2002) provides for a mechanism for subsidiary liability of the general director of an LLC and company participants.

The amendments made to the legislation in 2009 significantly changed the practice of holding business owners and officials of organizations liable for unfulfilled obligations to creditors. A new concept has appeared - “a person controlling the debtor”. This term implies the definition of a person who de facto, and not on paper, makes all decisions on the fate of the company. If a hired manager can prove that all his actions that led the company to collapse were carried out at the direction of the real "owner" of the business, then subsidiary liability will not apply to him.

If the director himself is the owner of the company or acts to the detriment of financial position firms along with the founders, then by a court decision all of them can be charged with paying off creditors from personal funds. In order to hold the CEO of an LLC liable for debts, it is necessary to prove his guilt in the bankruptcy of the company:

The insolvency of an LLC is officially confirmed, for example, by a decision of an arbitration court.
During the trial, a causal relationship was established between the actions / inaction of the head and the inability of the organization to meet its obligations.

Also, the director is punished if, when considering the claims of creditors, it turns out that there are no accounting and reporting documents or the data reflected in them are unreliable. This applies not only to the manager who was in office at the time the bankruptcy proceedings began, but also to his predecessors who were guilty of bringing the company to insolvency. The responsibility of the general director of the LLC after the dismissal continues, and to leave it by simply writing a statement on own will, will not work. This must be remembered when signing dubious papers, participating in tax fraud and other illegal actions.

This rule was introduced in order to prevent situations where business owners can easily avoid punishment for fraudulent schemes by simply changing managers and founders, as well as reduce the number of people who want to work as a “zits-chairman” in one-day firms.

Administrative responsibility of the CEO

From the point of view of liability for administrative offenses, LLC and its head are separate entities: the first - as a legal entity, the second - as an official. Punishment can be imposed on both the organization and the director, and one does not replace or cancel the other.

According to the Code of Administrative Offenses, the list of “administrative” with a fine of up to 5,000 rubles for the general director includes:

Violation of consumer rights (art. 14.7), sanitary requirements(Article 6.3) and the rules of trade according to certain types goods (Article 14.15).
Illegal lending (art. 14.11).
Minor offenses supervised by the tax department:

non-compliance with the terms of registration (Article 15.3);
entrepreneurial activity without registration and licensing (Article 14.1);
delay in filing a declaration (art. 15.5) and information about bank accounts (art. 15.4);
concealment of data for tax control (Article 15.6);
work without cash register (art. 14.5);
non-compliance cash discipline(Art. 15.1) and the procedure for accounting and reporting (Art. 15.11);
violation of the deadlines for reporting on foreign exchange transactions (Article 15.25).

Fines in the amount of 5,000–30,000 rubles and / or disqualification for 3 years are punishable by:

violations of legislation in the field of advertising (art. 14.3), customs clearance(Art. 16), state registration of legal entities (Art. 14.25);
unfair competition (Art. 14.33), unlawful use of someone else's trademark (Art. 14.10);
fictitious bankruptcy, deliberate bringing the company to bankruptcy (Article 14.12);
inadequate quality of goods and services (art. 14.4);
failure to provide information required by antimonopoly (Art. 19.8) and authorities (Art. 19.7.3);
non-compliance with the procedure general meetings(art. 15.23.1);
failure to provide information about the company's foreign currency accounts (Article 15.25).

Large fines - over 30,000 rubles or in an amount equal to the amount of a foreign exchange transaction - are paid by the leaders of the LLC for non-compliance fire safety(Art. 204), migration legislation in terms of attracting foreign labor with violations (Art. 18.9, 18.15), illegal currency transactions (Art. 15.25).

Criminal prosecution of the general director of LLC

The Criminal Code of the Russian Federation provides for criminal liability of the general director of an LLC when he commits criminal acts against citizens and economic fraud on a large scale.

Many of the articles under which the head of the company may be subject to criminal prosecution are in common with administrative offenses. The line after which "administrative" turns into "criminal" is determined by the amount of damage caused. So, illegal entrepreneurship or intentional bankruptcy can be qualified either under the Code of Administrative Offenses or under the Criminal Code, depending on the “scope” of the activity: up to 1.5 million rubles or more, respectively.

For the listed actions, the director of the organization personally bears criminal responsibility without taking into account material damage:

unlawful dismissal / refusal to hire a woman who is pregnant or with a young child under 3 years old (Article 145);
non-payment of salaries to staff for more than two months for selfish motives (Article 145.1);
copyright infringement (art. 146, 147);
excess of authority (art. 201);
commercial bribery (Article 204).

Chapter 22 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation refers to economic crimes, the punishment for which is assigned to the general director of an LLC:

Illegal entrepreneurship (Article 171) on a large scale (over 1.5 million rubles) and especially large-scale business (from 6 million rubles). The size is understood as income derived from activities, or damage to the state, citizens, legal entities.
"Laundering" of money obtained by criminal means (Article 174).
Illegal receipt of a loan with a damage of more than 1.5 million rubles. (Art. 176).
Malicious evasion of repayment of debts to creditors (Article 177).
Unfair competition with large damage (from 1 million rubles) and especially large damage (from 3 million rubles) or income received as a result of it from 5 million rubles. (Art. 178).
Illegal borrowing of a trademark with damage over 1.5 million rubles. (Art. 180).
disclosure trade secret(Art. 183).
Violations in the issuance of securities (Article 185) with damage from 1 million rubles. (large) and from 2 million rubles. (especially large).
non-payment customs fees(Article 194) over 3 and 36 million rubles. respectively.
Deliberate, fictitious bankruptcy (Art. 195 - 197) with damage over 1.5 million rubles.
Tax crimes: non-payment of taxes (Article 199), concealment of property when collecting tax arrears (Article 199.2), evasion of the duties of a tax agent (Article 199.1) on a large and especially large scale.

With regard to tax offenses, for them, criminal punishment for the management of the company begins with amounts of debt from 2 million rubles. for three consecutive years. In all other cases, the responsibility of the general director of an LLC for non-payment of taxes does not arise, since the subject here is entity.

The sanctions provided for by the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation for officials of organizations for "minor" crimes are expressed as:

fine up to 300,000 rubles;
arrest for up to six months;
public works lasting up to 480 hours;
imprisonment for up to 7 years.

More serious acts are punishable by fines of up to 1 million rubles, forced labor for the benefit of society - up to 5 years, and imprisonment - up to 12 years.

"Safety Rules" for the CEO of LLC

The above crimes and violations are far from all the actions for which the head of the enterprise can be punished. In his area of responsibility is the strict observance labor law, environmental requirements, technical regulations and other important areas in the work of the company. But the greatest risks for a hired manager are borne by the “legacy” inherited from his predecessor. The newly arrived general director of the LLC needs to take measures that will allow him to protect himself from liability for the mistakes of the former management.

An example entry algorithm might look like this:

Creation of a commission for the transfer of cases, indicating responsible persons and deadlines.
Compilation of a list of cases to be transferred. The list includes statutory documents, accounting, licenses, local regulations organizations, valid lease agreements, orders, personnel files, MOT lists, financial documents, etc.
Receipt of seals and stamps according to the acceptance certificate.
Identification of persons who are empowered to sign, have powers of attorney. Re-registration of documents.
Obtaining a list of all bank accounts, issuing new cards with sample signatures.
Audit of all existing contracts with clients, contractors, partners and settlements on them.
Checking the relationship with the budget: identifying tax arrears and fees, making decisions on their payment or appeal.
Submission of an application for registration of changes in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities in connection with the change of head.
Notification of counterparties about the assumption of the position of a new CEO of the company.

When deciding to head an LLC, one must not only adequately assess one's capabilities, but also use all available information to analyze the "transparency" of the company's activities.

When choosing a legal form (IP or LLC), the main argument in favor of registering a company is often the limited liability of a legal entity. In this, Russia differs from other countries where a company is created for the sake of partnership, and not because of avoiding financial risks. About 70% of Russian commercial organizations created by a single founder, he, in most cases, manages the business himself.

Many firms do not really function, not even earning a salary for the director and not differing in profitability from a freelancer who provides services in his spare time. However, legal entities in Russia are registered as often as individual entrepreneurs.

If you want to know in detail how an organization differs from an individual entrepreneur, we advise you to read the article "", and here we will try to dispel the myth that registering a company is the right way to avoid business losses.

Liability of a legal entity

First, let's find out where the confidence to lead comes from. entrepreneurial activity Is it financially safe in the form of an LLC? Article 56 Civil Code The Russian Federation states that the founder (participant) is not liable for the obligations of the organization, and the organization is not liable for its debts. That is why the question: “What is the responsibility of the founder of an LLC?” the majority answers - only within the limits of a share in an authorized capital.

Indeed, if the company is solvent and pays off to the state, employees and partners on time, then it is impossible to involve the owner in paying the company's bills. The created organization acts in civil circulation as an independent person, and is itself responsible for its own obligations. As a result, a false impression is created of the complete lack of responsibility of the LLC owner to creditors and the budget.

However, the limited liability of the company is valid only as long as the legal entity itself exists. But if the LLC is declared bankrupt, then the participants may be brought to additional or subsidiary liability. True, it is necessary to prove that it was the actions of the participants that led to the financial catastrophe of the company, but after all, creditors who want to return their money will make every effort to do this.

Article 3 of the Law of February 8, 1998 No. 14-FZ: “In the event of insolvency (bankruptcy) of the company through the fault of its participants, the said persons may be held subsidiary liable for its obligations in the event of insufficient property of the company.”

Subsidiary liability is not limited to size authorized capital, and is equal to the amount of debt to creditors. That is, if a bankrupt company owes a million, then it will be recovered from the founder of the LLC in full size, despite the fact that he contributed only 10,000 rubles to the authorized capital.

Thus the concept limited liability within the authorized capital is relevant only to the organization. And the participant can be brought to unlimited subsidiary liability, which financially equalizes him with an individual entrepreneur.

Leader and founder in one person

The subsidiary liability of the founder and director of an LLC for the obligations of a legal entity has its own characteristics. In a situation where the organization is managed by an employee CEO, some share of financial risks passes to him. According to Article 44 of the Law "On LLC", the head is liable to the company for losses caused by his guilty actions or inaction.

Liability for debts arises if there are such signs of guilty acts or omissions:

making a transaction to the detriment of the interests of the enterprise managed by him, based on personal interest;
hiding information about the details of the transaction or not obtaining the approval of the participants, when such a need exists;
failure to take measures to obtain information relevant to the transaction (for example, information about the contractor has not been verified or clarified, if the nature of the work requires it);
making decisions on the transaction without taking into account the information known to him;
forgery, loss, theft of company documents, etc.

In such situations, the participant has the right to file a claim against the head for compensation for the damage caused. If the director proves that in the process of work he was limited by the orders or requirements of the owner, as a result of which the business became unprofitable, then responsibility is removed from him.

But what if the owner is the manager of the company? In this case, it will not work to refer to an unscrupulous hired manager. The presence of outstanding debts obliges the sole executive body to take all measures to pay them off, even if the owner is the only one, and at first glance, no one's interests are infringed by their actions.

Indicative in this sense is the ruling of the Arbitration Court of the Jewish Autonomous Region dated July 22, 2014 in case No. A16-1209/2013, in which 4.5 million rubles were recovered from the founding director. Having a company that has been engaged in heat and water supply for many years, in the competition for the right to lease utility infrastructure facilities, he declared new company with the same name. As a result, the former legal entity was left without the ability to provide services, and therefore did not repay the amount of the previously received loan. The court recognized that the insolvency was caused by the actions of the owner and ordered to repay the loan from personal funds.

Tax debts

The Federal Tax Service of Russia is proud of the high collection of taxes to the treasury. We will not now discuss the legitimacy of the methods of work of the tax authorities, we will simply admit that they are not to be trifled with. It is with private creditors that you can agree on writing off part of the debt or restructuring payments, and with the budget, the amount of debt over 300,000 rubles will be critical.

The responsibility of the founder for the debts of a legal entity to the state is also spelled out in the law.

Article 49 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation: "If the funds of the liquidated organization are not enough to fulfill in full the obligation to pay taxes and fees, penalties and fines, the remaining debt must be repaid by the participants of the specified organization."

If the amount of tax debt exceeds 300,000 rubles, and the maturity is more than 3 months, then the organization is at risk. It is necessary to take all measures to pay off the debt or declare the LLC bankrupt, otherwise it will tax office, but already with the requirement to recognize the head and / or founders as guilty.

Attempts to withdraw assets from the organization in order not to pay tax arrears will not lead to anything good either. For example, in case No. A07-7955/2009 court of Arbitration The Republic of Bashkortostan brought the founders to subsidiary liability under the following circumstances.

The company, having a tax debt in the amount of 675 thousand rubles, transferred all its assets to another organization created by the same persons. The participants believed that in the absence of funds to pay tax and the company is declared bankrupt, the obligations of a legal entity cease. However, the tax inspectorate, having filed a lawsuit, proved the guilt of the company's owners in the formation of arrears and collected the debt from their personal funds.

Of course, attracting the founder of an LLC for the debts of his company is more difficult and longer than an individual entrepreneur, because the bankruptcy procedure is quite lengthy. However, since 2015, tax inspectors have had another collection tool - as part of the initiation of a criminal case under article 199 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

Thus, in the ruling of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation No. 81-KG14-19 dated January 27, 2015, the court found the head and sole owner liable for non-payment of VAT on a large scale and confirmed the legality of the recovery from individual damage to the state in the amount of the unpaid amount of tax. This decision, in fact, has become a judicial precedent, after which all such cases are considered easier and faster. The founder, in addition to the obligation to pay the debt itself, also receives a criminal record.

Liability procedure

From what moment does the founder's responsibility for the activities of the LLC begin? As we said above, this is possible only in the process of bankruptcy of a legal entity. If an organization simply ceases to exist, having honestly paid off all creditors in the process, then there can be no claims against the owner.

The interests of the budget and other creditors are protected by the law of October 26, 2002 No. 127-FZ “On Insolvency (Bankruptcy)”, the provisions of which are also valid in 2019. It details the procedure for conducting bankruptcy and bringing to responsibility the managers and owners of the company, as well as persons controlling the debtor.

The latter means persons who, although not formally owners, had the opportunity to instruct the head or members of the company to act in a certain way. For example, one of the most impressive amounts in the case of bringing to subsidiary liability (6.4 billion rubles) was recovered from the controlling debtor of a person who was not part of the company and did not formally manage it (Resolution of the 17th Arbitration Court of Appeal in the case No. A60-1260/2009).

The manager must submit an application for recognition of a legal entity as a debtor, but if he does not do this, then employees, counterparties, tax authorities. At the same time, the party that filed the claim appoints the chosen arbitration manager, and this is of particular importance in bringing the owner to the obligations of the LLC.

In addition, in order to increase the bankruptcy estate, the plaintiff has the right to challenge transactions made during the year before the adoption of the application for declaring the debtor bankrupt. In the event that a transaction is made at prices below market prices, the contestation period is extended to three years.

In the process of considering an insolvency case, a director, a business owner, a beneficiary are involved in litigation. If the court recognizes the connection between the actions of these persons and insolvency, then a penalty in the amount of the plaintiff's claims is imposed on personal property.

What conclusions can be drawn from all this:

The liability of the participant is not limited to the size of the share in the authorized capital, but may be unlimited, and be repaid at the expense of personal property. Establishing an LLC just to avoid financial risks does not make much sense.
If the business is managed by a hired manager, provide for an internal reporting procedure that allows you to have a complete picture of the state of affairs in the business.
Accounting statements must be under strict control, the loss or distortion of documents is a particular risk factor indicating intentional bankruptcy.
Creditors have the right to demand the collection of debts from the owner himself if the legal entity is in the process of bankruptcy and is unable to meet its obligations.
It is more difficult to attract the owner of an enterprise to pay business debts than an individual entrepreneur, but since 2009 the number of such cases has been in the thousands.
Creditors must prove the connection between the financial insolvency of the company and the actions / inaction of the participant, but in some situations there is a presumption of his guilt, i.e. proof is not required.
The withdrawal of assets from the company on the eve of bankruptcy is a significant risk of criminal liability.
It is better to initiate the bankruptcy procedure yourself, but this should be done only with the involvement of highly specialized lawyers with positive experience in such cases.

Federal Law No. 402 dated 06-12-11 “On Accounting” places the responsibility for organizing accounting work on the head of the company. At the same time, other normative acts contain the concept of the responsibility of the head and the responsibility of the chief accountant, up to the criminal one.

What requirements does the law impose on persons responsible for maintaining accounting work in an organization, what should the chief accountant or the person performing his functions do if the requirements of the head violate the rules and regulations of accounting, who bears the final and full responsibility for the violations committed, we will consider in the article .

Who should organize and maintain accounting work

Based on the Federal Law No. 402, in particular, Art. 7, it follows that:

the head of the organization is responsible for the organization of accounting;
responsibility for the practical organization of accounting work lies with the accountant or the person (persons) performing his functions.

The head can organize accounting in the following way:

form an accounting service headed by the chief accountant;
entrust accounting to a third-party company;
entrust all accounting to one person with the appropriate qualifications;
keep records on your own.

The last two options are usually used in small and medium-sized businesses.

The employee who is responsible for maintaining accounting must meet a number of requirements. A significant part of them is related to the industry in which records are kept, the form of ownership, the organizational and legal form of the company. General requirements to the qualifications of an accounting employee are set out in the professional standard "Accountant" (Order of the Ministry of Labor No. 1061n dated 12/22/14).

So, in general, the chief accountant must have at least 7 years of work experience, of which at least 5 - in the specialty, be engaged in accounting or auditing organizations. In the presence of higher education, the terms are 5 and 3 years, respectively.

In addition, the said specialist must:

generate accounting information and control its movement to the consumer without distortion;
be able to determine the volume of accounting work, distribute it among the performers, control the performance of work by them;
independently develop accounting forms required by the organization, within the framework of the legislation;
form reporting indicators based on primary accounting data;
enjoy modern means transfer of reporting data and accounting services;
know the legislation in the field of accounting and judicial practice;
be able to analyze information;
own information security techniques;
have an idea about foreign experience in the accounting field, etc.

However, for example, Art. 7-4 of Federal Law No. 402, contains certain requirements for the chief accountant (a person performing similar functions) responsible for accounting work in a JSC, in companies participating in the auction:

higher education;
in the absence of specialized higher education - at least 7 years of experience, of which 5 - in accounting work;
in the presence of higher economic education, respectively, 5 and 3 years;
no outstanding criminal record in the economic sphere.

Chief accountant of a credit institution or financial organization must comply with the requirements of the Central Bank. Similarly, other Additional requirements to the chief accountant or a person replacing him in accordance with federal law (FZ No. 402, art. 7-5).

The functions of the head of accounting organization consist in preparing a legally significant package of documentation that allows regulating the work of the accounting service, acquiring and adjusting equipment for the work of accountants and professional software, recruiting personnel, deciding who to entrust the accounting process, and other administrative and economic problems.

The functions of the person directly responsible for accounting (the manager himself, an accountant or a chief accountant, a third-party organization) are as follows:

registration of business transactions with primary documents in accordance with the requirements of the legislation;
provision of timely information without distortion to regulatory authorities, counterparties;
inventory of the company's assets, taking into account the timing and features, by type thereof;
work with contractors, reconciliation of settlements;
storage of documentation and reporting in accordance with the established deadlines.

Responsibility of the accountant and manager for the state of accounting

In some cases, the manager, having the appropriate qualifications and experience, can keep records of the company on his own: if it is possible to keep simplified accounting, or we are talking about a medium-sized business (Article 7-3 of the Federal Law No. 402). The head is responsible for the state of the accounting work of the company.

If the work is entrusted to a single accountant with the functions of a chief accountant, or the company has an accounting staff headed by a chief accountant, he will be responsible for accounting by law. The chief accountant is responsible for each employee of his service and for the quality of the credentials generated by him. When hiring new employees, it is advisable to monitor the content of their employment contracts in terms of the personal responsibility of the performers for the quality of work.

Currently, all types of punishments can be applied to the chief accountant, up to criminal ones.

Labor Code of the Russian Federation

Contains a number of articles that allow punishing the chief accountant (Art. 81 (9), 192.243), up to and including dismissal. According to Art. 243, liability arises in cases where:

the damage was caused intentionally;
due to negligence;
under the influence of mind-altering substances;
if a secret protected by law was disclosed, etc.

Attention! If in employment contract conditions are not specified liability chief accountant, the amount of liability cannot be higher than the average monthly salary (plenum of the Supreme Court, post 52 of 16-11-06).

Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation

For gross violations of accounting Art. 15.11 provides for fines of 5-10 thousand rubles, and if the violation is committed after re-checking the work of the accounting department, the amounts increase to 10-20 thousand rubles. In addition, the chief accountant may be disqualified.

Russian Criminal Code

The criminal liability of the chief accountant is also possible in accordance with Articles 199, 199.1 or 199.4. It comes for malicious non-payment of mandatory payments to funds, contributions, and in the most extreme case, if it is proven by the court that there have been abuses, causing significant material damage, leads to imprisonment.

Attention! Gross violations of accounting are understood as: distortion of indicators by more than 10%, underestimation of the tax burden by the same percentage, due to poor-quality accounting and tax accounting, entering into source documents events of economic life, which in fact did not exist, etc. (Article 15.11, paragraph 2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, note 1).

Responsibility of a third-party organization for the state of accounting

The head can conclude an agreement with a company providing accounting services within the framework of his right to organize accounting (or similarly with a private person). The contract for the provision of services must be drawn up in such a way that in the event of claims to the quality of accounting work, responsibility can be assigned to the actual performers of such and prove their rights in court. Otherwise, the entire burden of guilt under the law will have to be borne by the head, as he did not fulfill his duty properly, in accordance with Art. 7-1 Federal Law No. 402.

Who bears the greatest responsibility

In case of unlawful demands on the part of the manager in relation to the chief accountant (replacing him responsible person) the employee is released from liability if he was forced to unlawful actions. Such a conclusion follows from the decision of the plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation No. 18 of October 24, 2006. At the same time, the courts have not developed an unambiguous position on the issue of responsibility of one or another leader on the issue under consideration by us. The chief accountant must keep this in mind in order to avoid conflict with the law.

The main thing

Responsibility for the organization of accounting of the company lies with its head.
The manager either assumes responsibility for accounting or uses the services of an accountant (chief accountant at the head of the accounting service).
In addition, third-party organizations may be involved in accounting work.
The qualifications of accounting employees are determined by the current professional standards and legislative acts of the Russian Federation.
Responsibility for incorrect accounting: from fines and reprimands to imprisonment for gross violations of accounting.

Russian legislation establishes a requirement: to correctly form and maintain accounting records. And the presence of gross errors entails undesirable consequences for the enterprise. From our consultation, you will find out which violations are classified as serious, and who in the end responsible for organizing accounting.

What role does accounting play?

Every company strives to get the maximum profit. But to achieve best result impossible without efficient and understandable distribution financial flows. To this end, a special system is being formed that provides accurate accounting of business transactions, fixing cash flows and inventory items.

The results of the correct organization of accounting are as follows:

cost optimization;
control of the company's cash flows;
extracting maximum efficiency in the distribution of funds;
easier to analyze reports.

All types of economic entities are required to keep accounting records, with the exception of merchants. They take into account income and expenses in slightly different ways, which are provided by law.

Procedure

In medium and large organizations, the considered procedure for launching the accounting mechanism occurs as follows:

They determine the structural link and its employees who will deal with accounting issues, as well as control the document flow with contractors and suppliers, calculate salaries, etc. The range of tasks that will face the chief accountant should also be defined here.
The responsible person forms the rules of accounting policy, the procedure for documenting, the working chart of accounts, the mechanism for preparing financial statements, etc.
Starts on time and correct design documents and reports for submission to regulatory authorities (IFTS, Rosstat).

Accounting requirements are set out in federal law about him No. 402-FZ. The main ones include:

accounting of business transactions in rubles;
separate accounting of property owned by the organization;
maintaining double entry on the basis of the approved chart of accounts;
reporting in Russian, etc.

The company must keep records from the moment of registration until the entry in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities about its liquidation. Otherwise, the imposition of a large fine or disqualification of officials threatens.

Who is responsible for accounting and its organization

The concepts of "organization" and "keeping" accounting must be separated. The head of the company is entirely responsible for the first, and the chief accountant is also partially responsible for the second. The legislation of the Russian Federation says that accounting and storage of its documents should be organized by the head of the enterprise.

Ministry of Finance: responsibility for organizing accounting is borne by the head of the enterprise (clause 6 of order No. 34n of 07/29/1998).

In practice, accounting functions are usually transferred to the chief accountant. To do this, the head performs a number of certain formalities:

documents the accounting system (issues an appropriate order);
defines the list of duties of the chief accountant and includes them in job description this specialist;
installs the necessary equipment (computers, software, etc.);
organizes the workflow.

The chief accountant must:

competently formulate an accounting policy taking into account the specifics of the company;
submit the invoice on time. Reporting where needed
keep records of funds in the enterprise, etc.

Thus, the chief accountant responsible for accounting, first of all, in accordance with the law, and only then - in accordance with the terms of the employment contract.

How will serious violations be punished?

Accounting has great importance for a company, it must be conducted in compliance with all the requirements of regulatory and legal documentation. If a serious mistake is made, the violator is held accountable.

Unfortunately, the legislation does not distinguish between punishment for the head and the chief accountant. It all depends on who actually organizes and maintains accounting.

Gross violations include (Article 15.11 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation):

distortion in the financial statements of the indicator (the error exceeds 10%);
understatement of taxes in the amount of 10% or more due to distortions in accounting;
reflection in the accounting register of a false fact;
reporting is not prepared on the basis of data from accounting registers;
maintaining accounts bypassing the applicable registers;
when there is no "primary", reporting, registers, auditor's report, while their storage period has not expired by law.

In the listed cases manager's responsibility for bookkeeping- This is a fine of 5000 - 10 000 rubles. Moreover, the chief accountant is responsible for the same norm.

For repeated violation of accounting requirements, the punishment is tougher:

recovery from 10,000 to 20,000 rubles;
or disqualification up to 2 years.