Organizations that have an obligation to prepare accounting (financial) statements must submit annual accounting statements for 2015 to the territorial bodies of Rosstat and tax authorities no later than March 31 of this year. But what if the report is submitted, but you need to make changes, for example, due to the discovery of errors? Is it always possible to adjust the annual financial statements? How to reflect the adjustments made in 1C programs? Read about it in the article of 1C experts.

Who submits the annual financial statements

Organizations are required to submit annual accounting (financial) statements to the tax authority at their location.

Exceptions are organizations that are not required to keep accounting records in accordance with paragraph 2 of Article 6 of Federal Law No. 402-FZ of 06.12.2011 (hereinafter - Law No. 402-FZ), namely:

• individual entrepreneurs, persons engaged in private practice - if, in accordance with the law Russian Federation on taxes and fees, they keep records of income or income and expenses and (or) other objects of taxation or physical indicators characterizing a certain type of entrepreneurial activity;
• branches, representative offices or other structural subdivisions of the organization located in the territory of the Russian Federation, established in accordance with the law foreign state, - in the event that, in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation on taxes and fees, they keep records of income and expenses and (or) other objects of taxation in the manner established by this legislation.

Or, if they are religious organizations that did not have an obligation to pay taxes and fees for the reporting (tax) periods of the calendar year (clause 5, clause 1, article 23 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

Article 18 of Law No. 402-FZ also provides for the submission of a mandatory copy of the annual accounting (financial) statements to the state statistics authority at the place of state registration no later than three months after the end of the reporting period.

Therefore, the deadline for signing and submitting the annual (financial) financial statements is March 31 of the year following the reporting one.

Duty to file accounts in electronic format not specified in the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. The organization has the right to submit it both on paper and in electronic form. Such an explanation was issued by the Federal Tax Service of Russia in a letter dated 07.12.2015 No. SD-4-3/21316.

However, it is no secret that the tax authorities prefer the submission of any reporting, including accounting, in electronic form via telecommunication channels.

To do this, the company must apply the formats approved by the tax department for most economic entities or small businesses, depending on which category the organization belongs to. Reporting for 2015 in electronic form must be submitted in the formats approved by orders of the Federal Tax Service of Russia:

• dated December 31, 2015 No. AS-7-6/ [email protected]“On Approval of the Format for Presentation of Simplified Accounting (Financial) Statements in electronic form»;
• dated December 31, 2015 No. AS-7-6/ [email protected]"On Approval of the Format for Presenting Accounting (Financial) Statements in Electronic Form".

There are frequent situations when in the current period it is necessary to correct or reflect the facts of economic life related to past periods.

In this case, it is necessary to make adjustments, generate a new annual accounting (financial) statement and submit it to the regulatory authorities.

When are annual accounts adjusted?

Annual accounting (financial) statements can be adjusted only if certain rules are observed in accordance with the Accounting Regulation “Correction of errors in accounting and reporting” (PBU 22/2010), approved. by order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated June 28, 2010 No. 63n:

1. The error of the previous reporting period was revealed even before the end of the year, let's say in December.

In accordance with paragraph 5 of PBU 22/2010, an error in the reporting year identified before the end of this year is corrected by entries in the relevant accounts accounting in the month of the reporting year in which the error was discovered.

2. If an error is discovered exactly in the period of preparation of annual reports, for example, in January - February of the next year before the date of signing the financial statements.

In accordance with paragraph 6 of PBU 22/2010, corrections in accounting registers are reflected in entries in the relevant accounting accounts for December of the reporting year (the year for which the annual financial statements are prepared), for example, from December 31 of the reporting year.

3. The error of the previous reporting period was discovered after the signing of the financial statements and their submission to the relevant authorities, but before approval by the meeting of shareholders (founders).

In a joint-stock company, in accordance with paragraph 1 of Article 47 of the Federal Law of December 26, 1995 No. 208-FZ “On joint-stock companies» dates of the meeting - March - June.

In these cases, according to paragraph 7 of PBU 22/2010, it is necessary to replace the annual financial statements (balance sheet and all annexes to it), already submitted to the tax authorities and the state statistics service, with new statements. Moreover, corrections in accounting registers are reflected in entries in the corresponding accounting accounts for December of the reporting year (the year for which the annual financial statements are prepared), for example, as of December 31 of the reporting year.

Accountant actions:

• adjust entries by December of the reporting period;
• submit revised financial statements to the relevant authorities.

4. An error was discovered during the meeting - the owners reviewed the statements, but have not yet approved them.

In accordance with clause 8 of PBU 22/2010, the previous financial statements must be replaced with new, revised ones. At the same time, the revised financial statements disclose information that these financial statements replace the originally presented financial statements, as well as the grounds for compiling the revised financial statements.

The revised financial statements are submitted to all addresses to which the original financial statements were submitted.

Otherwise, the procedure is the same as in the third case.

Accountant actions:

• reflect in the accounting adjustment entries in December of the reporting period;
• calculate the financial result;
• generate new annual financial statements;
• prepare explanations about the need to adjust the reporting;
• submit revised financial statements, including an explanation of the grounds for revision, to the relevant authorities instead of the original.

5. Errors of the previous tax period were discovered after the meeting of shareholders, let's say in July.

In this case, according to paragraph 10 of PBU 22/2010, the financial statements submitted to the tax and statistical authorities for previous reporting periods are not subject to revision, replacement and re-submission to all its users.

This means that a significant error last year corrected already in the current period in which it was discovered.

Accountant actions:

• reflect the entries in the relevant accounting accounts in the current reporting period. At the same time, the corresponding account in the entries is account 84 of retained earnings (uncovered loss);
• recalculate the comparative indicators of the financial statements for the reporting and previous periods, reflected in the financial statements for the current reporting year.

Recalculation of comparative indicators of financial statements is carried out retrospectively. Comparative figures are recalculated starting from the previous reporting period presented in the financial statements for the current reporting year in which the corresponding error was made.
An insignificant error for the previous year, detected after the date of signing the financial statements, is corrected in the period of detection.

Profit or loss arising as a result of its correction is reflected in other income or expenses of the current reporting period in accordance with clause 14 of PBU 22/2010. The amounts of profits and losses of previous years resulting from the correction of minor errors are written off to other income and expenses of the current period and are taken into account when forming the financial result of the current year. When minor errors are corrected, comparative figures for previous reporting years in the current financial statements are not adjusted.

Thus, corrective annual accounting (financial) statements need to be submitted only in cases 3 and 4.

Reflection of the adjustment of accounting (financial) statements in 1C programs

In 1C programs, you can specify the number of adjustments to the annual financial statements for Title page balance sheet(Regulated reports on the menu 1C-Reporting) - see fig. 1.

On February 4, 1C: Lecture Hall will host a lecture “Accounting (financial) statements for 2015” (T.A. Schneiderman, Ministry of Finance of Russia). You can get an invitation by

Each chief accountant, regardless of the organization in which he works, annually prepares for the submission of financial statements. It is a consolidated set of documents characterizing financial condition company, the size of its assets and liabilities, results of activities (profit or loss), as well as the direction of receipt and expenditure of funds.

Annual reporting is necessary for making economic decisions by its users. It is important for the founders or shareholders of an enterprise to have an idea of ​​the financial situation of the organization in order to develop a strategy for its development. It is important for investors to understand the possible economic benefits from cooperation with the company, the bank, when making a decision on issuing a loan, must take into account the solvency of a potential borrower.

In addition, financial statements are subject to control by the tax authority at the place of registration of the economic entity. And if the organization is registered in the form of an OJSC or has an annual revenue of more than 400 million rubles or balance sheet assets of more than 60 million rubles, the reliability of the financial statements of such an organization must be confirmed by the results of an audit.

Given the particular importance of the annual report, the degree of responsibility in its preparation, as well as the constant changes in accounting legislation, the formation financial reporting invariably raises many questions and often leads to errors.

TYPICAL ERRORS IN PREPARATION OF ACCOUNTING STATEMENTS

The most generalized classification of violations committed by accounting staff in the preparation of annual reports identifies two groups of errors: technical and methodological.

Technical errors

Currently, almost every company uses specialized accounting software. Cases where financial statements are filled in manually are quite rare. However, with all the convenience of using computer technology, it can create many problems for an accountant who relied on automatic filling of the balance sheet.

In addition to technical failures of the program, software settings can significantly distort reporting indicators.

Incorrect reflection of the analytics of receivables and payables, erroneous qualification of assets and liabilities as long-term or short-term, incorrect reflection of indicators on the lines of financial statements - this is far from a complete list of the consequences of automated completion of the annual report.

Competent internal control by accounting staff will help to avoid such troubles.

Methodological errors

Methodological violations imply a direct human factor and are associated with a misunderstanding by accountants of the theoretical requirements of the law regarding the formation of annual reports.

The most common mistakes made in the preparation of the balance sheet are the following.

Balance discrepancy

Often, when comparing the balance sheet data as of the 1st day of the reporting year with the indicators of the last year's balance sheet as of December 31st of the previous year, it turns out that these indicators are not equal.

For the inspectors, this means that the accounting staff, having discovered an error last year, made corrections to the accounting of the immediately previous year. This circumstance led to a change in the indicators of the reporting of the past period already submitted to the tax authority.

The current legislation allows corrections to be made to accounting only at the time an error is discovered, that is, in the current year. Thus, the adjustment of the reporting indicators of the previous period is unacceptable.

Incorrect disclosure of debt

Often, an organization has both receivables and payables to any counterparty on the basis of several concluded agreements. In such cases, the accountant erroneously "offsets" these amounts and reports the result as a receivable or payable.

It must be borne in mind that the offset between the items of assets and liabilities is prohibited by law. The balance sheet should reflect "detailed" information about the assets and liabilities of the company based on analytical accounting data.

Misrepresentation of short-term and long-term indicators

Many organizations issue interest-bearing loans to other legal or individuals or vice versa, they themselves attract borrowed funds. As a rule, loan agreements are concluded for several years, and it is also not uncommon for an agreement concluded for a calendar year to be repeatedly extended by concluding additional agreements.

When preparing annual reports, accountants have questions regarding the correct qualification of this debt. Considering that the total term of the contract since its conclusion has exceeded one year, specialists mistakenly reflect such a loan in the “Long-term liabilities” section.

It should be borne in mind that, according to clause 19 of PBU 4/99 “Accounting statements of an organization”, based on the maturity date in balance sheet, liabilities are divided into short-term (with a maturity of not more than 12 months after the reporting date ) and long-term (other liabilities).

It means that accounts payable on a loan is reflected in the balance sheet as short-term liabilities if there are no more than 12 months left until the repayment of obligations on it. Thus, despite the fact that the loan was received, for example, 5 years ago, but as of the reporting date, less than a year remained until the maturity date according to the agreement - such debt is short-term.

Incorrect reflection of accounting data for balance sheet items

Interest-free loans are often erroneously classified as financial investments and, accordingly, are reflected in a certain line of the balance sheet.

It should be borne in mind that one of the main criteria for financial investments is the ability of an asset to generate income in the future.

Obviously, loans that do not accrue interest are not a source of future income for the organization and should be reflected in accounts receivable.

No allowance for doubtful debts

The concept of a reserve for doubtful debts was theoretical for accountants for a long time - accounting legislation allowed them to decide whether to create a reserve for overdue receivables or not.

The decision was to be approved by accounting policy organizations. However, starting from 2011, by virtue of the provisions of clause 70 of the Regulations on Accounting and Accounting in the Russian Federation, approved by Order of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation of July 29, 1998 No. 34n, the creation of reserves for doubtful debts with the attribution of their amounts to the financial results of the company in case of recognition of receivables dubious has become an imperative norm.

Regardless of the source of debt formation, the necessary and sufficient basis for recognizing it as doubtful is the fulfillment of two conditions:

• the debt is overdue (with a high probability it will be overdue);
• the debt is not guaranteed.

The fact of delay is determined by the terms of the concluded contract.

Thus, all types of doubtful receivables are subject to reservation in accounting, including advances transferred to suppliers and loans issued. From a reporting point of view, accounts receivable reduced by the amount of the created reserve.

However, many accounting staff ignore this provision of the law, believing that the creation of a reserve is still their right, not their obligation. Some accountants deliberately go for such a violation, wanting to overestimate the financial result of the enterprise.

Indeed, if the company has a small profit, then the formation of a reserve for doubtful debts will entail an increase in other expenses and, as a result, an even greater decrease in profits and possibly even a loss.

However, despite the reasons that prompted the accountant not to create a reserve for doubtful debts, upon verification, this circumstance will be recognized as a gross violation of the accounting procedure.

Existing outstanding debt limitation period

Write-off of receivables and payables, the limitation period for which has expired, is the responsibility of the organization. Before preparing annual reports, each company conducts an inventory of property and liabilities, during which the specified debt, if any, should be identified. Based on the order of the General Director, the debt with the expired limitation period is written off from the balance sheet of the enterprise.

Often, employees of the accounting department, not receiving timely information about the terms of contracts with counterparties from the legal department, do not have data on the expiration dates of the limitation period for the obligations of the parties to the transaction.

In addition, the annual inventory is often carried out formally, all receivables and payables are indicated as current, despite the fact that some amounts have not been confirmed by reconciliation acts for more than three years. At the same time, regardless of whether the organization took measures to collect overdue debts, after the expiration of the limitation period, it must be written off the balance sheet.

ACCOUNTING REPORTING: VIOLATIONS AND LIABILITY

The procedure for making corrections to the accounting will depend on the materiality of the error made, as well as on the period of its discovery.

Errors in accounting revealed later than the reporting deadline can become a real headache even for a very experienced accountant, since they involve additional labor and time costs for the recalculation of financial statements. Consider the question of what errors significantly affect accounting and how to correct them?

Significant or unimportant?

In PBU 22/2010 there is a division of accounting errors into significant and insignificant. A material error is understood to mean an error that (individually or together with others) affects the economic decisions made on the basis of financial statements in a given period.

IN accounting regulations there is no certain threshold, after which the concept of a significant one can be assigned to an error. Identification of errors is an independent process for any taxpayer, and the expression of errors can be determined by him both in absolute numbers and in percentage terms. In any case, the level after which the error becomes material should be prescribed in the accounting policies of the company.

Whenever and how you identify errors in accounting, the Bukhsoft online system for accounting electronic reporting will allow you to quickly resolve the issue and transfer the necessary information to the supervisory authorities.

Ways to correct significant errors

For significant errors in accounting in 2017, there are a number of requirements for correction. To begin with, we will analyze the methods of correction, they depend on the documents in which the error was made - directly in the reporting or in the primary documentation, on the timing of detection and on the aforementioned materiality of the error.

There are the following ways to correct the primary and registers:

• The corrective method is valid only for paper media. Incorrect data is simply crossed out, while the primary information should be visible under the strikethrough. The correct entry is made next to it. The correction is certified by a responsible person, for example, the chief accountant, the date and seal of the company are affixed, if any (clause 7, article 9 of the Federal Law of December 6, 2011 No. 402-FZ).

An important point, in a number of documents, this method of correction is unacceptable - this is banking and cash documentation.

• The red storno method is used to correct account entries. If the input was handwritten on paper, then the erroneous wiring is repeated with red paste. The amounts highlighted in red in the transaction are deducted when calculating the totals. The incorrect entry should be canceled and the posting repeated with the correct data. If software is used to enter information, as a rule, it is enough to make the same posting, but indicate the amount in it with a minus sign. After making the correct entry. Incorrect posting will be automatically deducted by the program.
• Additional posting - this method of correcting errors is used if the original correspondence of the accounts is correct, but they indicate the wrong amounts, or if the transaction was recorded late. If the amount is missing in the initial posting, an additional amount is made with the remaining amount, if, on the contrary, the amount was overstated, then the additional posting is made with the excess difference and is posted using the red reversal method. In addition, with this method of correction, an explanation is needed, which indicates the reason for the corrections.

The procedure for correcting errors in accounting for 2016

The procedure for making corrections will again depend on the significance of the error made, as well as on the period of its discovery. Namely:

• If an error was identified in the accounting for 2016 in the same 2016, corrections can be made in the month in which the inaccuracy was discovered. If the next calendar year has already begun, but the reporting has not yet been signed and submitted to the regulatory authority, you can make amending entries in December 2016.
• If the error in the accounting statements of 2016 has the status of material, while the statements have already been signed, but not yet approved, corrections are also made in December 2016. In the new submitted reporting, it should be stated that it is replacing the previously submitted one and indicate the reason for the replacement.

An important point: the new reporting with the correction of the error is submitted to all instances where the previous information was previously sent.

Of course, in the middle of the year there is no need to talk about this method of correcting errors, but this option will also be valid for accounting for 2017.

• If the error is insignificant and was made in 2016, but the accountant discovered it only in 2017, when the financial statements for the previous year had already been approved and submitted, corrections are made to the accounting records in the month the error was discovered in 2017. Losses incurred or, on the contrary, profits received due to this error should be transferred to account 91.
• If a significant error in the accounting for 2016 was identified after the approval and submission of information to the supervisory authorities in 2017, then corrections should be made to the accounting accounts as early as 2017. In postings, account 84 is used.

Significant errors of previous reporting periods, corrected in the current period, must be indicated in explanatory note to the 2017 annual financial statements.

It should be noted that the Ministry of Finance, in its letter dated January 22, 2016 No. 07-01-09 / 2235, indicated that companies themselves can develop an algorithm for correcting errors in accounting, guided by the provisions of the current Russian legislation. Any chosen order must be fixed by the provisions in the accounting policy of the organization.

It always seems like recent months before the new year, they remain the calmest for every accountant, because one report has already been submitted, and the second has not yet begun. But in reality, everything is different, at the end of the year, all accountants prepare for the final closing of the year, look for errors in the documentation and submit updated reports and declarations. With the latter, problems and misunderstandings most often arise.

How can I submit a balance sheet for 2018 so as not to break the law: news

There are quite a few reasons why an accountant may have to make an adjusted balance sheet. Professionals working with accounting software, they say that the chief accountants very often ask to put a ban on adjusting the base by the company's employees. So, the situation: an ordinary accountant working in an organization receives documents in November that date back, for example, to the 1st quarter of the current year. They should be entered during the closed period. After that, the balance begins to change, and the chief accountant cannot control the figures for which reporting was made both for the 1st quarter of the year and for the remaining nine months. Another reason for the inconsistency of data in accounting is the inventory and its results.

When all reporting was carried out manually, then in normative documents it was clearly indicated how to make adjustments correctly. Today step-by-step instruction available only for credit and budget organizations. In commercial offices, accountants make an updated balance sheet without any criteria. For example, most chief accountants of Russia make adjustments in a very original way: they submit an updated balance sheet (namely, accounting, not tax). In fact, it is forbidden to change financial statements after they have been approved, but few people think about it.

In the professional environment, there is such an expression as "replaced balance". After verification, the client is advised to replace the incorrect balance in the tax reporting with the correct one. All this is happening, despite the fact that from the order of the Ministry of Finance on July 29, 1998, in paragraph 34, this is prohibited. It can be concluded that most accountants simply forget about the existence of such a norm and do as their soul tells them. Therefore, it is not surprising that the majority of inspections today refuse to accept the adjusted balance sheet.

If your documentation is still accepted by your inspection, then it’s too early to start rejoicing at this, this does not mean at all that there are no errors in your revised accounting reports. In such situations, you should wait a bit. If you did not say in your cover letter that the revised balance sheet is being handed over due to a technical error when entering information into the form, then there is a possibility of receiving an administrative fine for such a violation of accounting rules.

The whole problem is that in the Code of Administrative Offenses, in Article 15.11, it is considered an inadmissible violation to fill in one line with a distortion of numbers by more than ten percent. As we have already learned, it is forbidden to correct the balance, therefore such clarifications will be calculated as carelessness and an accountant's mistake.

How can you solve the situation in 2018

Fans of refined balances not only make mistakes themselves, but also provoke the mistakes of others. All the forums that are at least somehow related to accounting give a lot of wrong advice. When a forum user starts complaining that the tax inspectorate refuses to accept the corrected balance for past periods, other users immediately begin to resent the incompetence and tyranny of the tax authorities and demand to go to the head of the inspectorate or demand a document confirming the refusal to accept the balance sheet. Other users will laugh no less, they declare that in the Tax Code of our country the obligation to submit updated accounting is not spelled out at all, and it is only about declarations.

Only a few understanding accountants state that all corrections will be made in the current period and be marked as for the selected period. Of course, you should issue an accounting certificate, which describes all the transactions, and also indicates that all operations were carried out in accordance with the audit report and such and such adjustments were made. After checking, it is necessary to present only this certificate to the tax office, and in the event that the tax authorities begin to be interested in the discrepancy between the numbers in the accounting registers and the primary.

correct and helpful tips very often for some reason they are ignored and criticized by other users. The fact is that, of course, it is much easier to immediately make adjustments to the database and redo the balance than to fill out a certificate and display all accounting registers on paper. Modern supporters of accounting with their views do not understand that a violation in the maintenance of accounting documents can be punished by law and an administrative fine is issued for this.

Rules of conduct with the tax authorities

For 9 months, accountants submit the same reporting form as for six months. Some accountants in offices prefer to send all documents by mail, so they still receive “refunds” for the 1st quarter of this year on declarations that were filled out incorrectly or last year's forms were used.

Today, not every tax office decides to report an error to accountants, but still continues to wait for changes. Some immediately notify that the reporting has not been submitted. In this case, there is every likelihood of receiving an administrative fine, as well as being liable under Articles 119 and 126 of the Tax Code of Russia. Another "surprise" that you may encounter if you submit papers incorrectly is the freezing of bank accounts. Therefore, Russian “one-day” firms prefer to submit declarations on forms that correspond to the established model.

It was interesting to find out what answers tax inspectors give to questions about outdated declarations, what is their fate (we are talking about those documents that were sent in a postal envelope). They say that the "undelivered" declaration is ubiquitous today. There are piles of such documents in the offices of the tax authorities, so if some other declaration is among them, this will not change things.

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If in your tax office are set up unfriendly and have already written you a round sum as a fine, then you can try to go to court. If you sent the declaration in a timely manner, but it is placed on the old form, then this will be a circumstance that will mitigate your responsibility before the law. Moscow judges argue that the outdated form of the declaration does not become an obstacle even at the time of tax reimbursement from the budget.