For what and to whom is the chief accountant responsible? Accounting and accountant: their role in the organization What the chief accountant is not responsible for

The position of chief accountant is very attractive - high status, good pay. However, it also implies considerable responsibility. This responsibility is so serious that some specialists deliberately do not seek promotion, not wanting to bind themselves to such obligations. Let's figure out what the chief accountant is responsible for?

Responsibilities of the chief accountant

The responsibility of the chief accountant directly stems from his job responsibilities. It is the chief accountant who forms the accounting policy at the enterprise, organizes and manages the work of collecting accounting information, maintaining accounting and tax registers, accounting for the assets, liabilities of the enterprise and the financial results of its activities. He ensures that accounting records comply with accounting, tax, management and statistical requirements.

The chief accountant is required to organize accurate and timely reflection of all business transactions in the accounts, the formation of financial results, the fulfillment of obligations, and the movement of assets. They exercise control over the quality and order of preparation of primary documentation.

The chief accountant heads the work of the accounting department, and in small companies he often performs all this work, being both the manager and the performer in one person. He is responsible for the timely transfer of due taxes and fees to budgets of all levels, for the repayment of debts, ensures compliance with cash and financial discipline, interacts with regulatory authorities, ensures the preparation of all necessary reports and their submission in the prescribed manner. He is also responsible for storing accounting documents.

As can be seen from the above, the chief accountant has enough worries. And for failure to fulfill all these duties he faces quite serious responsibility.

Responsibility of the chief accountant

Working in such a complex position comes with several responsibilities.

Disciplinary responsibility occurs in case of poor quality of performance or failure to fulfill his duties by the chief accountant. For example, an employee did not show up for work or did not submit a reporting package on time. Since in his work the chief accountant reports directly to the head of the enterprise, it is the manager who can impose a penalty in the form of a reprimand or reprimand. In this case, the employer must act within the framework established by federal law, the Charter of the enterprise, regulations on discipline and other regulatory documents. For repeated disciplinary action, the manager may terminate the employment contract with the chief accountant.

The essence financial liability consists of compensating the employer for direct damage caused. Direct damage is recognized as a real decrease in the existing property of the enterprise or a decrease in the quality of the condition of such property. The legislation establishes a number of cases in which the chief accountant is obliged to compensate the employer for losses caused. This is an identified shortage of valuables, cases of intentional damage caused for criminal purposes or in a state of intoxication, when disclosing trade secrets and other damage caused during the performance of work duties.

Officials of the organization, including the chief accountant, may be involved in tax proceedings. The Tax Code of the Russian Federation does not provide tax liability chief accountant. If a tax violation is detected, the chief accountant may be held, depending on the circumstances of the offense, to administrative, criminal or financial liability.

When an official commits an administrative offense, he is brought to justice administrative responsibility. Such offenses usually involve failure to perform or poor performance of one's duties. At the same time, if the organization in which the chief accountant works is held liable for a tax offense, then the chief accountant himself may also be held administratively liable. It is worth knowing that the chief accountant bears administrative responsibility only when his guilt is fully proven. If the blame for the offense lies with the leader, then the leader is punished for it. Therefore, in the event of a divergence of opinion between the chief accountant and the director on the implementation of a separate business transaction, it is better for the chief accountant to insure himself with a written order from the director, in which he assumes full responsibility for the consequences.

Crimes in the economic sphere can also lead to criminal liability. This will happen if the chief accountant is proven guilty of embezzlement, misappropriation, unlawful actions during the bankruptcy of the company, abuse of his powers, particularly serious tax crimes and evasion of customs duties.

The chief accountant may be subject to an administrative fine, he may be assigned corrective labor, and he may be deprived of his freedom or the right to hold certain positions. A competent specialist can avoid all this, guided in his work by the main axiom known to every chief accountant: any business transaction must be confirmed by correctly executed documents.

Vasilisa Mezentseva

The financial life of an organization depends on the competent work of an accountant. The accounting specialist is responsible for calculating employee salaries, paying taxes and contributions, sending reports and reducing the tax burden. This employee records all receipts and expenses of the enterprise. In this article, we have listed the main functions of an accountant in an organization.

The accounting of a small enterprise can easily rely on one specialist. If the company has a large staff and many operations are performed daily, then most often the organization has an accounting department headed by a chief accountant.

If an accounting specialist regulates the work of the entire accounting department alone, then he performs a wide range of responsibilities. Several accountants on staff typically share these functions, specializing in certain areas (payroll, taxes, etc.).

• Formation of accounting policies in accordance with the law, based on the characteristics of the company’s activities and structure.
• Primary accounting. Reception, processing and control of primary documents: cash orders, acts, invoices, invoices, contracts with counterparties, etc.
• Registration of business transactions that occur at the enterprise in the relevant accounting documents.
• Formation of a database of accounting documents and ensuring their safety.
• Accounting for property and its depreciation.
• Monitoring cash discipline and conducting cash transactions.
• Calculation of salaries, registration of payments under civil contracts, registration of sick leave benefits, vacation pay, travel allowances, compensation, penalties.
• Registration of personal income tax, calculation and payment of mandatory insurance contributions for employees.
• Reporting to extra-budgetary funds for employees.
• Personnel records (in a small company), registration of employees, issuance of certificates.
• Tax accounting: calculation of taxes, their optimization, preparation of payments, preparation and sending of reports.
• Providing complete information on the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.
• Maintaining management accounting or assisting the manager in this direction: proposing options for more efficient use of the organization's resources.
• Development and implementation of measures to maintain financial discipline and rational use of the organization’s resources.
• Interaction with banks.
• Participation in inventory.
• Monitoring changes in legislation, innovations and current forms of documents.

An accountant is a specialist who is constantly developing, since the field of his work is also subject to regular changes. The enterprise expands, new accounting areas and new business situations appear, legislation changes, new reporting forms or new types of payments are introduced. All this inevitably stimulates the accountant to professional growth.

In many organizations, as a rule, an accountant is considered the right hand of a manager. The question arises: what does an accountant do, and why does he have such a privilege? A person in this position documents accounting and tax records, as well as all business transactions, without which it is impossible to conduct business. An accountant always follows the regulations established by law and also monitors all changes in them. Today, the profession of accountant is still relevant among economic specialties, as it is in demand in the labor market.

The profession of accountant and its history

The activities of any company cannot fully function without proper document flow, so in any company there is always a person of this specialty. What are the functions of an accountant? The size of the subject matters directly here. If we talk about small institutions, then all duties are performed by one person - the chief accountant.

In large organizations, a whole department of highly qualified accountants is engaged in conducting business transactions and documenting them, where each is concentrated in a specific area, and also performs the job duties assigned to him. One is responsible for the cash register and payment of wages, the second interacts with foreign exchange transactions, the third manages the warehouse of goods produced. The headquarters is always headed by the chief accountant; his task is to coordinate the work of the entire department and prepare reports. Only he bears full responsibility for the financial activities of the company as a whole. The profession of an accountant is always an advantage, because he can work not only in one place at once, but also keep records of several small companies at the same time.

Interesting fact about the profession

Accountant(from German “Buch” - book and “Halter” - holder) - a specialist in the field of accounting. The first accountants carried out their activities back in Ancient India, only then they were called accountants; they worked, as a rule, on agricultural accounting. The name of the profession itself appeared only in the 15th century by the decision of Emperor Maximilian. Around the same time, the first book on accounting was published - a treatise by the Italian Luca Pacioli “On Accounts and Records”. In his manuscript, he described and organized what an accountant does. In our country, this profession appeared at the beginning of the 18th century by order of Peter the Great.

Qualification requirements for an accountant

In general terms, what an accountant does is clear. Now let's look at what he should be able to do and what qualities he should have. The work of an accountant is suitable for neat, diligent and mathematically capable people who can work with large amounts of information. In addition to personal qualities, this type of activity requires knowledge in the field of finance, economics, management, statistics and a number of others. During work, any accountant is required to engage in self-development, attend seminars and advanced training courses, and also monitor changes in accounting rules. When applying for a job, the following general requirements are presented to the candidate::

• higher or secondary specialized economic education;
• knowledge of accounting rules and tax legislation;
• PC skills, knowledge of the 1C program;
• If you are going to work in international companies, knowledge of IFRS (the international financial reporting system) is required.

The age range of specialists most in demand on the labor market is 23-50 years old; accountants under 30 years of age make up 60% of the total number of specialists; from 30 to 40 years - 25%, from 40 to 50 - 12%. The salary of a qualified specialist depends entirely on his professional experience and the industry in which he works. This profession has good prospects for career growth.

Accountant job description

Each organization has its own job description for an accountant.. Since there is no standard regulating the content and procedure for developing a job description, all companies independently create a description of a particular position. That's why a document from one company may not be suitable for another. This local document spells out the production powers and job responsibilities of the specialist, which vary from the scope of the company’s activities, the structure of the financial and economic department, as well as from the area that the specific specialist will manage.

The candidate is introduced to the job description before signing the employment contract. If this moment is missed, then in the future the specialist cannot be brought to disciplinary liability for negligent attitude to work. Moreover, it is desirable that the document strictly lists all responsibilities to make it easier to resolve pre-trial and judicial disputes between the parties. If the company is large, then each department accountant should have its own job description.

The document is developed by a personnel employee or department head together with a lawyer. Afterwards, the instructions are approved by the management having such authority, affixing the main seal of the company to it. Usually documents come in triplicate. The first copy of the job description for each employee is kept in the personnel department, the second - with the head of the department, and the third - with the employee.

If an accountant performs a wider range of duties, then his job description will be more complete.

Job responsibilities of an accountant

Functional responsibilities are reviewed and changed for each specific case. The following functional responsibilities of an accountant are general; you can draw up your own instructions on them. These include:

• calculation, calculation of wages at the rates established by law;
• calculation, accrual, and transfer of taxes for reporting periods;
• preparation of documentation for assessment and subsequent planning of actions to optimize the use of financial resources;
• participation in settlements with clients and suppliers;
• preparation and submission of tax reports to the tax authorities within the appropriate time frame;
• recording in accounting accounts transactions related to the movement of fixed assets, as well as inventory items;
• participation in various investment projects;
• finding sources of financial and resource losses, preventing shortages;
• carrying out many financial transactions for the purchase and sale of enterprise products: drawing up receipt documents, reconciling calculations of product costs;
• accounting of the organization’s property, fixed assets, liabilities;
• work with financial documentation, which includes acts, invoices, contracts;
• inventory of the company’s material assets, as well as execution of relevant acts;
• registration and issuance of all kinds of certificates to workers, in particular, certificates of wages;
• cooperation with other banks;
• fulfilling requests from superiors.

Typical job responsibilities of accounting employees are given in Qualification directory for positions of managers, specialists and other employees, approved by Resolution of the Ministry of Labor of Russia dated August 21, 1998 No. 37. From this document it immediately becomes clear what an accountant does at an enterprise. If the chief accountant is temporarily absent from the workplace, then his duties fall on the deputy, who receives the corresponding rights and is responsible for the performance of the duties assigned to him.

This Regulation on Accounting reveals the main functions and tasks of the accounting department of an enterprise, as well as the rights and responsibilities of the accounting department.

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1. General Provisions

1.1. This Regulation on the accounting department of the Financial Department of the Company (hereinafter referred to as the Department) is an internal document of the Company that defines the legal status, tasks and functions, structure and procedure for formation, rights and responsibilities of the Accounting Department.

1.2. Accounting is a structural unit of the Department and reports to the Chief Accountant, as well as the Financial Director of the Company in accordance with the organizational structure of the Company and the order of the General Director of the Company.

1.3. The accounting department in its activities is guided by the legislation of the Russian Federation, the Charter of the Company, decisions of the Board of Directors of the Company, internal documents of the Company, instructions of the Chief Accountant, Financial Director and these Regulations.

1.4. The accounting department interacts with structural divisions in the manner determined by the Company’s internal documents.

2. Main tasks of accounting

2.1. Maintaining reliable accounting, tax and management records of the financial and economic activities of the Company.

2.2. Formation and submission of accounting, tax and management reporting of the financial and economic activities of the Company.

2.3. Interaction with state tax and other authorities within the limits of their competence.

2.4. Interaction with counterparties and financial organizations within their competence.

2.5. Making payments in cash and non-cash form in the manner determined by the internal documents of the Company.

2.6. Tax planning. Monitoring of current legislative and regulatory documents.

3. Basic functions of accounting

3.1. Formation of accounting and tax policies in accordance with current legislationvom and the needs of the Company;

3.2. Preparation and adoption of a chart of accounts, forms of primary accounting documents used for registration of business transactions, development of forms of internal accounting documents;

3.3. Timely provision of complete and reliable accounting and management informationinformation about the activities of the Company, its property status, income and expenses;

3.4. Implementation of activities aimed at strengthening financial discipline;

3.5. Accounting for all business transactions of the Company;

3.6. Accounting for the execution of the Company's budgets;

3.7. Tax accounting of the Company, preparation and timely submission oflog and other reporting required by law;

The accounting profession has always been necessary and important, and in recent years it has also become prestigious. The accountant is aware of all the affairs of the enterprise, since he must reflect financial and economic transactions in accounting and, by correctly taking advantage of the benefits, minimize taxes. How much will be transferred to the budget and whether the company will have to pay fines depends on its work. Therefore, many managers respect accountants and trust them.

But we should not forget that this profession is also associated with financial responsibility. For serious violations in work, both unconscious and accidental, as well as intentional, for using his official position for personal gain, an accountant can be brought not only to disciplinary and administrative, but also to criminal liability. We will tell you how and for what exactly in this article.

Responsibilities of an accountant

Paragraph 2 of Article 7 of the Federal Law of November 21, 1996 N 129-FZ “On Accounting” establishes that the chief accountant is responsible for the formation of accounting policies, accounting and timely submission of complete and reliable financial statements.

The chief accountant is appointed and dismissed by the head of the organization, and he reports to him. Well, what to do in case of disagreement? An accountant, by written order of his boss, is obliged to accept documents on controversial transactions for execution, but then only the manager will bear responsibility for the consequences.

Issues related to the work of an accountant at an enterprise are regulated by the Regulations on Chief Accountants, approved by Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the USSR of January 24, 1980 N 59. However, this document is practically not used today. However, it has not been officially cancelled, so accountants can be held accountable in the cases provided for here. For example, it is punishable:

As is known, without the signature of the chief accountant, monetary and settlement documents are considered invalid and cannot be accepted for execution. Therefore, the accountant is responsible for the content of these documents.

By the way, authorized persons can sign instead of an accountant (clause 14 of the Regulations). Their list is approved by the manager in agreement with the chief accountant. A document flow schedule at the enterprise is also drawn up. But only the chief accountant controls the implementation of this schedule, and he is also responsible for its violation.

As for primary documents, accounting registers, accounting reports and balance sheets (before transferring them to the archive of the enterprise), then, of course, their execution and safety are under the responsibility of the accountant.

It remains to add that in accordance with the letter of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation dated October 4, 1993 No. 18 “On approval of the Procedure for conducting cash transactions in the Russian Federation,” control over the correct conduct of cash transactions is assigned to the chief accountant of the enterprise. Consequently, the appointment, dismissal and relocation of all financially responsible persons (cashiers, warehouse managers, etc.) must be coordinated with him.

Disciplinary responsibility

The punishment is determined in accordance with labor legislation. This could be a reprimand, a reprimand, a severe reprimand, or dismissal. Moreover, dismissal is possible only in cases expressly provided for in the Labor Code of the Russian Federation (Labor Code of the Russian Federation). Please note that any other measures of liability for violation of discipline cannot be applied to an accountant. For example, the manager does not have the right to fine him or reduce the vacation allotted to him by law. Of course, an employee’s salary can be reduced, but this cannot be made dependent on his misconduct.

When imposing disciplinary sanctions, the head of the enterprise should adhere to a certain procedure. Let's look at this order using a hypothetical example. Suppose an accountant missed one of his working days. An employee can be punished for this one offense no later than six months after it was committed. As soon as the administration finds out about absenteeism, the accountant should be required to provide a written explanation. From this moment on, management has exactly one month to punish the offender. The recovery is formalized by an order for the organization, which the accountant must be familiar with against receipt. Here it must be added that, based on the results of an audit or inspection of financial and economic activities, penalties can be imposed within two years from the date of the offense.

Material liability

Example 1

The accountant of Gvozdika LLC signed a power of attorney, according to which an employee of this enterprise was to receive 15,000 rubles from another organization. and bring them to the accounting department. The money had to be delivered urgently, so an agreement on full financial responsibility was not concluded with the employee. The employee received the money, but lost it on the way. The head of the enterprise issued an order in which he obliged the chief accountant to compensate for the damage caused: after all, he signed a power of attorney and sent the employee to collect valuables without concluding an agreement with him on full financial liability. The accountant refused to pay the money and went to court. The matter was decided in his favor. The court indicated that the accountant does not bear any responsibility in this case, since he himself did not service the valuables. The court ruled that the employee who received the goods under a one-time power of attorney should be punished. In this case, the court referred to paragraph 5 of Article 31 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

Unlike an accountant, a cashier bears full financial responsibility. Based on Article 121.1 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, the enterprise enters into a corresponding agreement with it in writing. Please note that such contracts can only be concluded with employees who have reached the age of 18 and perform work directly related to the storage of valuables, their transportation, sale, etc.

Example 2

The cashier discovered that 20,000 rubles were missing from the cash register. He reported this to the head of the organization. He decided that the cashier himself was to blame for the loss and demanded a refund from him. The cashier wrote a statement about the theft to the police and indicated in it that the money was stolen by a worker who, two days before the discovery of the loss, changed the wiring in the cash register. However, the head of the organization still went to court with a demand to recover the missing money from the cashier. The court ruled in favor of the employer, and the cashier had to pay 20,000 rubles. Two months after this, law enforcement agencies detained a fitter, who admitted to stealing money from the cash register. The court reviewed the case and found that the cashier was not financially responsible, since he was innocent of the loss. According to this decision, the money was returned to him.

Administrative responsibility

What is an administrative offense? This is an unlawful act or omission that was committed intentionally or through negligence. Intent occurs if the offender was aware that his action was illegal, foresaw harmful consequences, desired or consciously allowed them. Negligence is a situation where the culprit knew about the possibility of harmful consequences, but thoughtlessly hoped to prevent them or did not anticipate such consequences, although he should have and could have foreseen them.

The chief accountant bears administrative responsibility only in cases where he has violated the norms of legislation on taxes and fees, the implementation of which is entrusted to him.

Indeed, sometimes organizations accrue taxes and other obligatory payments at the wrong time or not in full. Then the federal tax police authorities have the right, as a preventive measure, to issue written warnings to the managers, chief accountants and other officials of these enterprises. Accountants who fail to comply with such requirements must pay a fine of up to 100 minimum wages, that is, 10,000 rubles. Let us recall that from January 1, 2001, fines are calculated based on a base amount of 100 rubles. This is stated in Article 5 of Federal Law No. 82-FZ of June 19, 2000 “On the Minimum Wage.”

Criminal liability

Well, what is the punishment? Those found guilty are deprived of the right to engage in accounting activities for up to five years. Arrest for a term of four to six months or imprisonment for a term of up to four years is also possible. But in each specific case the punishment is determined by the court.

There are no exact criteria here, but the court always takes into account the mitigating circumstances specified in Article 61 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation: for example, a confession or the fact that the perpetrator has young children. In such cases, the maximum penalty is four months of arrest. In addition, a suspended sentence or deferment of the sentence is possible.

If there are aggravating circumstances listed in Article 63 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the sentence is more severe and there can be no question of any conditional sentence.

If an accountant has repeatedly evaded calculating taxes and the non-payment amounted to a particularly large amount, or he was in collusion with a group of people, then he may be imprisoned for a term of two to seven years. A particularly large amount is 5,000 minimum wages, that is, 500,000 rubles.

Example 3

The accountant deliberately did not take into account part of the tax base, which is why the organization underpaid tax to the budget. This was revealed by the inspection. As a result, 100,145 rubles were collected from the organization. tax and penalties, as well as a fine of 1900 rubles. The tax police opened a criminal case against this accountant under Article 199 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. However, it was later closed because the accountant managed to prove that there was no crime. He proved that he was right in the following way. Although 100,145 rubles were collected from the budget, the amount of unpaid tax is only 95,000 rubles, the rest is 5,145 rubles. - penalties for 65 days of delay. Penalties were calculated as follows: 95,000 rubles. * ((25%/300%)*65 days) = 5145 rub. Note that the refinancing rate did not change during this period and amounted to 25 percent. Thus, the amount of hidden tax is only 95,000 rubles. In accordance with the Criminal Code, this cannot be considered large in size, therefore, there is no corpus delicti.

But let’s assume that the accountant himself did not commit the crime, but only contributed to its commission with advice, instructions, etc. This means that he will be held liable under Article 33 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation as an instigator or accomplice.

It must be said that when deciding whether to punish an accountant, the court always takes into account the accountant’s dependence on the head of the organization. After all, as we have already said, the chief accountant is obliged to carry out the written order of his boss, despite his inner conviction of its illegality. This relieves the accountant of criminal liability. As Part 1 of Article 42 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation states: “It is not a crime to cause harm by a person acting in pursuance of an order or instruction that is binding on him.” In such cases, criminal liability is borne by the person who gave the illegal order, that is, the head of the organization.

Particular consideration should be given to the situation when the chief accountant is employed by government agencies or municipal institutions. He can be attracted if he: abuses his official powers (Article 285 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), exceeds these powers (Article 289 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), illegally participates in business activities (Article 289 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), takes bribes (Article 291 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) RF), commits forgery (Article 292 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) or is negligent in his official duties (Article 293 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

When holding accountants criminally liable for such crimes, the court may apply the following sanctions to them:

• fine;
• deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities;
• compulsory work, in which the convicted person performs unpaid community service in his free time from his main job;
• correctional labor served at the place of work of the convicted person;
• confiscation of property;
• restriction of freedom when a convicted person is kept in a special institution without isolation from society;
• arrest, that is, keeping a convicted person in conditions of strict isolation from society;
• deprivation of liberty.