How to quickly check the balance sheet and income statement. What and how to check in the financial statements How to find out the balance sheet of an organization

How often, we hear from behind the wall of the neighboring office how the kind and cheerful chief accountant Maria Igorevna does not balance. Reports were submitted quarterly, and everything seemed to converge, but at the end of the year the balance does not want to go to zero. An asset is not the same as a liability. If your balance sheet does not add up, read on for the main mistakes that can occur when generating financial statements.

What is a balance sheet

"Why can't the balance come together?" - a frequent question that arises among accounting staff at the end of the reporting period. Balance sheet is a summing up of the results of the company's work for the entire past year. It reflects:

• All information about the activities of the company;
• Financial position as at 31 December.

From this we conclude: if the balance does not converge, it is necessary to proceed to the verification of the constituent data, i.e. reports, and in them primary documentation.

We check very carefully

So, the first step in the event of this problem, you should check how correctly the information was entered.

Today, the 1C.Accounting program is used to enter accounting documentation and prepare reports. Entering some documents are optional (protocols) and mandatory (primary documentation). The latest documents include papers confirming the completion of a financial-hoz.operation. For example, on the basis of them, further shipment of goods takes place, on the basis of a PKO from one employee, an RKO is issued for another employee. Thus, if the time of arrival of the goods is incorrectly entered in the program, the shipment of products will be impossible. For example, the arrival of goods in the program was entered on 11/20/15, and the sale was carried out on 11/19/15. As a result, if the program allows the document to be held, it will be displayed in red or minus until it is received.

Recheck:

• Accounting operations must be entered in the accounting registers in a timely manner and correctly. The time interval, even within one day, literally for a few minutes, will violate the entire established order;
• Check the reflection in the financial activities of each transaction, whether all documents have been entered and at least one of them has not been omitted;
• An obligatory component of the completion of the annual reporting period is an inventory. It is carried out in accordance with the regulations established by law and within the enterprise. In addition to conducting, we document. The results are recorded in the relevant documents;
• If any errors are found, they cannot be hidden. We record them properly;
• Reformation of the accounting balance is the closing of accounting accounts on December 31 of the reporting period. It is the final stage, after all business transactions.

If your balance does not add up, you may have forgotten to complete the last point or missed one of its constituent stages.

The structure of the balance sheet and the principle of its preparation

If your balance sheet did not converge, then you have a good idea of ​​its structure: an asset (property of an organization, raw materials, etc.) is entered on the left, and a liability (financial investments) on the right. Accordingly, both components must be checked. First an asset, then a liability.

Tip: check carefully and consistently.

The essence of the balance lies in the principle of double entry. The sum of assets should always be equal to the sum of liabilities. If not, then your balance is out of whack.

How to correctly allocate amounts to balance lines

Consider the following points when drawing up a balance sheet:

• All figures reflected in the documents are entered in thousands of rubles, decimal places are not indicated in this case (for large turnovers - over millions, it is allowed to indicate in "millions");
• Rounding is a common mistake made by accountants. This issue is not legally fixed anywhere. Therefore, it is tacitly accepted, according to the laws of mathematics: we discard up to 499, over 500 rounding up to 1 thousand;
• Not all fixed assets are subject to depreciation. For example, this does not include objects of nature use, land plots. You can find the full list in the relevant legislative acts;
• Long-term financial investments are another item that many accountants fill out inaccurately. All attachments for a period of more than 12 months, and not 6, should be entered in the line. Also, do not forget about exceptions. These include promissory notes, leased property and shares issued by the company itself;

• You have carefully studied the balance asset, but the balance does not converge. Let's move on to passives. The most significant and with a probability of 80% that this is where the error lies - p. 1370 - the undistributed profit of the enterprise, or the uncovered loss of previous years. For the correct entry of data, it is necessary to transfer the debit or credit balance from account 84.

Tip: if the balance is debit, it must be indicated in brackets. When calculating the totals for Section III, it must be subtracted. Isn't that your mistake?

• Capital is reflected on line 1310. If the founders have not fully paid the authorized capital, the accountant may have difficulties and the amount does not agree with the balance sheet. There is another error in this. CC in the balance sheet should not be reduced. It is fixed and equal to the amount specified in the constituent documents of the organization.
• Reserve capital (line 1360) - must be obtained by summing up legally established reserves and reserves fixed by internal local documents.
• Advances for leased premises. They can be reflected in two ways. The first one is transferred from account 98 to deferred income (str. 1530). The second - since the advance relates to income not related to the revenue of the enterprise, it is recorded on accounts payable. It is allowed to choose one of two approaches, while indicating the chosen method in the accounting policy of the organization.

So , your balance did not converge, but the article covered the main points that you should pay attention to with this problem. Check everything again. Consistently study the asset and liability of the balance sheet. By following the tips above, you will get the desired result.

"Practical accounting", 2010, N 1
HOW TO TAX "CAMERALIT" ACCOUNTING STATEMENTS
By itself, financial statements are not the object of a tax audit, but serve as a source of information for inspectors during its implementation. During desk audits, the inspector identifies inconsistencies in the data in the taxpayer's reporting available to the inspectorate. Identified discrepancies may be the reason for conducting an on-site tax audit. In order to reduce the likelihood of an unscheduled meeting with the tax authorities, it is necessary to independently identify its “weak points” before submitting reports.
The taxpayer at the place of his registration is obliged to submit financial statements in accordance with the requirements established by the Federal Law of November 21, 1996 N 129-FZ "On Accounting" (clause 5, clause 1, article 23 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). Tax officials are among the active users of financial statements. As well as tax declarations (calculations) and other documents necessary for the calculation and payment of taxes, financial statements are used by tax authorities for the purposes of tax control.
For your information. The financial statements consist of a balance sheet (form N 1), a profit and loss statement (form N 2), Annexes to them in forms 3 - 6, an auditor's report confirming the accuracy of the financial statements if the organization is subject to mandatory audit, and an explanatory note. It may not be represented by small enterprises, if they are not subject to mandatory audit, and public organizations (clause 2, article 13 of the Law of November 21, 1996 "On Accounting").
The criteria for assessing the risks of conducting a tax audit are set out in the Concept for the planning system for field tax audits (approved by Order of the Federal Tax Service of Russia dated May 30, 2007 N MM-3-06 / 333, hereinafter - Order N MM-3-06 / 333@). If the results of the financial and economic activities of the organization meet the established Criteria, then, most likely, it will be included in the audit plan. The most closely monitored by the tax authorities is the criterion of unprofitability of the company, however, even the presence of this indicator can be explained in an explanatory note.
This document is a mandatory part of the annual financial statements and, despite the fact that it is drawn up in an arbitrary form, it can help to avoid enhanced tax control.
Accounting and tax returns
The financial statements of the organization serve as a source of information when conducting a desk audit of tax returns. At the first stage of such an audit, the inspector controls the correctness of the calculation of the tax base, analyzes the relationship between the indicators of financial statements and tax returns.
This procedure, as a rule, is carried out automatically, so the inspector will not understand why the indicators do not match. He will take note of the taxpayer, may call him to give explanations, and possibly recommend him for inclusion in the plan of on-site inspections. All this can be avoided if you independently analyze your reporting, identify inconsistencies, eliminate errors and explain legal discrepancies.
To do this, the accountant, before submitting reports, can independently compare the key positions that the inspector checks without fail.
For example, when checking a declaration for value added tax to verify the correctness of the tax base, the inspector can compare the amount of revenue from the declaration with the amount of revenue from the income statement (Form N 2). And when checking tax deductions, it will analyze information on the balances of inventory items, on the balances of accounts payable on the balance sheet (form N 1).
When checking the declaration on the property tax of organizations, the inspector compares the data on the value of fixed assets with the data of the balance sheet (form N 1) and the capital flow statement (form N 3), Appendix to the balance sheet (form N 5).
When checking the income tax return, the inspector can compare:
- the amount of income according to the declaration with the amount of proceeds according to the income statement (form No. 2);
- the amount of expenses according to the declaration with the amounts of expenses according to the profit and loss statement (form No. 2), Appendix to the balance sheet (form No. 5).
If the financial statements reflect profit, and the tax return shows a loss, or the profit indicators in the accounting and tax statements differ significantly from each other, then the reasons for such deviations can be seen both in the balance sheet and in the income statement if the company applies PBU 18/02 "Accounting for corporate income tax settlements" (Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated November 19, 2002 N 114n). Therefore, in order to prevent additional questions in the explanatory note to the annual report, it is better to immediately decipher the list of deferred tax liabilities, deferred tax assets and permanent tax liabilities.
It is important. Individual indicators of tax returns with the data of the relevant financial statements are compared by the tax authorities for the last three years preceding the year of the analysis. In this way, inspectors track trends in the formation of income and expenses and other indicators that affect income tax and other taxes.
"Weaknesses" in income tax returns
Carry out an economic analysis of the "profitable" declaration as it takes place in the tax office.
I stage. Comparison of declaration indicators for several years
The indicators are calculated as the ratio of the current indicator to the base one (for example, the indicator for the last year and for the current year).
Analysis of the dynamics of income and expenses. If the inspector establishes that expenses are growing at a faster pace than revenues, then the question of the validity of such a ratio will certainly arise.
Thus, the growth rate of income and expenses can be calculated using the formulas:
Income growth rate = Amount for 2008 (line 010 of sheet 02 of the income tax return) : Amount for 2009 (line 010 of sheet 02 of the income tax return);
Cost growth rate = Amount for 2008 (line 030 of sheet 02 of the income tax return) : Amount for 2009 (line 030 of sheet 02 of the income tax return).
If, when comparing the obtained indicators, it turns out that the growth rate of expenses is higher than the growth rate of income, this can be explained by the fact that prices for finished products have not increased significantly, while prices for raw materials have increased significantly, labor costs have increased, rental costs have increased, utility costs, etc.
Analysis of the structure of income and expenses and the dynamics of individual items. According to the share of direct costs in the sales proceeds, the inspector will check the profitability of the organization. If expenses have risen, but revenue remains at the same level, this will be a reason for checking.
Analysis of the share of indirect costs. If their value increases several times from year to year, and revenue for the periods under review has grown slightly, you can consider yourself a candidate for verification.
II stage. Comparison of indicators for income tax and VAT
Theoretically, the indicators of sales proceeds should be the same: most taxpayers, when calculating income tax, as well as when calculating VAT, use the accrual method. But in life it often happens that these indicators do not match, and legally. Therefore, it is possible to reflect these justifications in the explanatory note, for example:
- the sale of certain goods (works, services) is not subject to VAT;
- the presence in the audited period of operations on the gratuitous transfer of property, as a result of which such an operation is not reflected in the income tax return, and is reflected in the VAT return;
- a special procedure for the transfer of ownership of goods and works under separate contracts, which led to different periods of occurrence of objects of taxation for VAT and income tax: for VAT - on the date of shipment, and for income tax - at the time of transfer of ownership;
- part of the proceeds (rent of property, interest on a trade loan) is reflected in the income tax return as part of non-operating income.
III stage. Comparison of declaration indicators
and financial statements
As a rule, the inspector checks the correlation of individual indicators of the income tax declaration with the data of the profit and loss account. Compare for you:
- the sum of indicators of lines 010 "Income from sales" and 020 "Extra-operating income" of sheet 02 of the declaration with the sum of indicators of lines 010, 060, 080, 090 and 120 of Form No. 2;
- the sum of indicators of lines 010 "Proceeds from sales - total" and 100 "Extra-operating income - total" of Appendix N 1 to sheet 02 of the declaration with the sum of indicators of lines 010, 060, 080, 090 of form N 2;
- indicator of line 020 of Appendix N 2 to sheet 02 "Direct costs" of the declaration with the indicator of line 020 "Cost of goods sold, products" of form N 2;
- the indicator of line 201 of Appendix N 2 to sheet 02 "Expenses in the form of interest on debt obligations ..." of the declaration with the indicator of the line "Interest payable" of form N 2;
- the indicator of line 205 of Appendix N 2 to sheet 02 "Fines, penalties and other sanctions for violation of contractual or debt obligations, compensation for damage caused" of the declaration with the indicator of the line "Fines, penalties and forfeits recognized or on which decisions of the court (arbitration court) were received on their recovery" table of decoding of individual profits and losses of Form No. 2;
- the indicator of line 101 of Appendix N 1 to sheet 02 and line 301 of Appendix N 2 to sheet 02 with the indicator of the line "Profit (loss) of past years" in the table for decoding individual profits and losses of form N 2. If there are no data in the declaration, the inspector will check whether the organization submitted updated declarations for previous tax periods;
- the amount of income tax on the declaration (line 180 of sheet 02) with the amount of income tax reflected in line 150 "Current income tax" of Form No. 2.
Test yourself. In the income tax return, the proceeds from the sale are reflected in line 010 of Appendix N 1 to sheet 02. This, in addition to income from ordinary activities, includes proceeds from the sale of other property and property rights. In accounting, such income of the company is reflected in the composition of non-operating income. Therefore, it is impossible to directly compare the indicators of line 010 of form N 2 and line 010 of Appendix N 1 to sheet 02 of the declaration.
To find out how much income from ordinary activities is included in the calculation of income tax, you can do this. From the amount of line 010 of Appendix N 1 to sheet 02 of the declaration, subtract the amount of proceeds from the sale of property rights, with the exception of income from the sale of the right to claim (line 013 of Appendix N 1 to sheet 02) and the amount of proceeds from the sale of other property (line 014 of Appendix N 1 to sheet 02). If an organization sells securities or financial services, and also receives income from the operation of service industries, then the amount of income from these types of activities must be added to the indicator obtained. The resulting indicator can be compared with the indicator of line 010 of form N 2. If there are differences, look for an error.
Reasons for discrepancies
Here are the reasons for the discrepancies that may occur when comparing these indicators:
- the organization conducts operations with securities. The company reflects the income from their sale in sheet 05 of the declaration;
- revenue is not recognized in accounting in case of non-fulfillment of additional conditions for the transfer of ownership under the transaction;
- the presence of production with a long technological cycle without a phased delivery of work;
- application of Art. 40 of the Tax Code, which led to the recalculation of revenue in tax accounting;
- revaluation of property value. Revaluation is reflected in accounting, but not in tax accounting. This explains why the "tax" income is lower than that reflected in Form No. 2.
These are the most common causes of discrepancies, which are also mentioned in the internal methodological materials used by the tax authorities. If you have identified such discrepancies, be sure to describe their reasons in an explanatory note. This will surely "rehabilitate" your reporting.
In addition to this "minimum" set by the tax authorities, there can be many more reasons for discrepancies in the indicators of the tax return and financial statements. For example:
- positive difference obtained from the revaluation of securities at market value;
- the value of property received free of charge from the founders, whose share in the authorized capital of the company is more than 50 percent;
- the cost of inseparable improvements to the leased property made by the lessee, received by the lessor;
- revealing the distortion of the amount of income tax for previous years, as a result of which the value of the current income tax indicated in form No. 2 will differ from the data of the declaration. In accounting, the amount of tax is adjusted at the time an error is discovered, and the result is reflected in line 150 of the income statement. As for tax accounting, it is necessary to submit an updated declaration for the previous period;
- some types of income can be reflected only in tax accounting. For example, interest on a loan agreement that is valid for more than one tax period. In tax accounting, this income will be recognized at the end of the corresponding reporting (tax) period (clause 6, article 271 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). In accounting, interest is reflected based on the terms of the agreement, in accordance with which the accrual and payment of interest can be provided for on the date of repayment of the entire loan amount;
- combination of the general tax regime and the special tax regime in the form of UTII. The amount of proceeds from the sale in the income tax declaration will be less than the proceeds from the financial statements (Form No. 2). The difference in these indicators is related to the non-taxable implementation of "imputed" activities. Therefore, in the income statement, revenue from combined activities is better reflected in separate lines. It would not be superfluous to write about this in an explanatory note. This will enable the inspector to immediately get an explanation of why the revenue indicators in accounting differ from those of the "profitable" declaration, and the VAT declaration as well.
An important criterion is the growth rate of expenses and incomes
Also pay attention to the ratio of growth rates of expenses and income in accounting and tax accounting. Tax officials believe that ideally, the proportion should be maintained from year to year. To check yourself, use the formula:
Growth rate of tax expenses (p. 30 of sheet 02 of the income tax return): Growth rate of tax income (p. 010 of sheet 02 of the income tax return) \u003d Growth rate of accounting expenses (sum of lines 020, 030, 040, 070, 100 Form N 2 "Profit and Loss Statement"): The growth rate of accounting income (the sum of lines 010, 060, 080, 090 of Form N 2 "Profit and Loss Statement").
The difference in indicators can be explained by operations that are reflected differently in accounting and tax accounting (for example, depreciation of fixed assets). In turn, the methodology for accounting for such transactions should be reflected in the accounting policy of the organization.
"Weaknesses" in the VAT return
Analyzing the financial statements during the VAT check, the inspector will take note of the organization if:
- deduction on advances will be more than VAT on shipment;
- changes in stocks of finished products and goods for resale, which are reflected in line 214 of the balance sheet, are not comparable with the difference between the value of the realized and acquired values ​​according to the declaration;
- the amount of sales in the VAT declarations will be less than the accounting revenue for the same periods or income from sales according to the profit declaration;
- the organization combines general and special tax regimes.
However, the first criterion in terms of importance is the reflection in tax reporting of significant amounts of VAT tax deductions, which are always in the focus of attention of tax authorities. Their critical value is, on average, 89 percent of the amount of the accrued tax. The indicator is calculated based on the data of VAT declarations:
Share of VAT deductions = Amount of VAT deductions: Amount of calculated VAT x 100%.
If an organization declares for payment an amount of VAT less than 2 percent of the tax base (the product of the remaining 11 percent by the tax rate), then controllers will not like it. Pay attention to this.
Deductions are not made dependent on the field of activity. Their large size can be caused by a number of reasons: the purchase and commissioning of expensive equipment, payment for expensive services, an increase in inventories of goods and materials due to the planned expansion of production, and other reasons.
In addition, it should be remembered that exceeding the "permissible" level of deductions may be due to external reasons, for example, late receipt of documents entitling the deduction. In this case, you need to take care of documentary confirmation of this by entries in the log of incoming correspondence or the log of received invoices, registered in chronological order.
The tax burden
The level of tax burden of the taxpayer is a calculated indicator. It is considered as the ratio of the amount of taxes paid to the amount of revenue (Appendix N 3 to the Order of the Federal Tax Service of Russia dated October 14, 2008 N MM-3-2 / 467, hereinafter - Order N MM-3-2 / 467).
Tax burden = Taxes paid (line 180 of form N 4 "Cash flow statement"): Revenue (line 010 of form N 2 "Profit and loss statement") x 100%.
Attention! When calculating the tax burden for 2009, one should take into account the amounts of taxes paid: on profit, VAT, UST (excluding pension contributions), on property, excises, transport and land.
The organization should compare this indicator with its industry value (Appendix N 3 to Order N MM-3-2 / 467 @). Control data by industry is also published on the website of the tax service.
If the organization's indicator is below the industry average by more than 10 percent, try to justify this by the lack of data on sub-sectors, on the subjects of the Russian Federation, on the climatic conditions of doing business, or on other indicators that directly affect its results. However, if the indicator of the tax burden has increased compared to the previous year, then this should be drawn to the attention of the tax authorities in the explanatory note as a positive factor in the work of the organization.
Average monthly salary per employee
Information on statistical indicators of the average level of wages by type of economic activity in a city, district or in general for a constituent entity of the Russian Federation can be obtained from the statistical authorities (from official websites, from statistical collections, upon request), as well as from the bodies of the Federal Tax Service of Russia (Order N MM-3-06/333@).
Based on the results of 2009, this indicator can be calculated using the formula:
Average salary \u003d Wage fund (page 040 of the UST declaration): (Average headcount x 12 months) x 100%.
The average headcount is taken from the form of Information on the average headcount for the previous calendar year, approved by Order of the Federal Tax Service of Russia dated March 29, 2007 N MM-3-25 / 174@.
It is important. Information on the average number of employees for the previous calendar year (KND form 1110018, approved by Order of the Federal Tax Service of Russia dated March 29, 2007 N MM-3-25 / 174@) for 2009 must be submitted to the tax office before January 20, 2010.
Possible reasons for low wages can be explained in different ways:
- a consequence of temporary difficulties, for example, re-profiling of production, reduction of sales markets, unfavorable market conditions, etc.;
- The company has just started its activity and is unprofitable. This is especially true for small firms where the founders are also the main employees. They agree to low salaries until the company gains the necessary momentum;
- the company has a large proportion of part-time workers who are employed part-time;
- the company has a system of personnel motivation, when the salary of an employee depends not on the time spent at work, but on its result, for example, on the number of contracts concluded. In practice, the employee's income is divided into salary and bonus, and the bonus is paid not every month, but at the end of the quarter or year (in the absence of a result, the bonus may not be paid), etc.
Profitability of sold goods, products, works and services
The economic activity of the firm is its transactions that generate income or are associated with expenses.
The profitability of goods, products, works, services sold is the ratio of the balanced financial result (profit minus loss) from sales and the cost of goods, products, works, services sold.
As a rule, inspectors are suspicious of a significant deviation of the organization's profitability according to its accounting data from the level of profitability for this field of activity (according to Rosstat).
You can calculate the return on sales using the formula:
Return on sales \u003d Profit from sales (p. 50 of form N 2 "Profit and loss statement"): Production costs (the sum of lines 020, 030, 040 of form N 2 "Profit and loss statement") x 100%.
The data obtained are compared with the average indicators for the main type of activity of the taxpayer (Appendix No. 4 to Order No. ММ-3-06/333@). A deviation of more than 10 percent is considered significant.
If the results are below the industry average, this can be explained, in particular, by the fact that in order to maintain the competitiveness of the organization, it was necessary to increase discounts to attract customers, set minimum margins for goods, rise in price of raw materials, attract more qualified personnel to work, capital costs for the modernization of production, etc. d.
Return on assets
Return on assets is the ratio of the balanced financial result (profit minus loss) and the value of the assets of organizations. If the balanced financial result is negative, the organization is unprofitable.
Return on assets \u003d Net profit (line 190 of form N 2 "Profit and Loss Statement"): Asset value (line 300 of form N 1 "Balance sheet") x 100%.
The low performance can be explained by a large number of non-core assets (for example, auxiliary shops), a large amount of receivables.
Finally
It is obligatory to carry out quarterly economic analysis of declarations with declared losses, declarations of the largest taxpayers, as well as reports of budget-forming taxpayers whose tax revenues account for at least 60 percent of all budget revenues.
For the majority of taxpayers, such an analysis is done once a year based on the results of annual reports. The completeness of disclosures can help avoid premature scrutiny.
S. Shestakova
Expert editor
Signed for print
28.12.2009

The financial statements of state (municipal) institutions are the object of close attention of both the state (municipal) financial control bodies and the authorities acting as the founder of these institutions. The article considers the methodology for checking the correctness of the preparation of accounting forms.

Forms of financial statements completed by budgetary and autonomous institutions are subject to verification:

• employees of the executive body performing the functions of the founder (hereinafter referred to as the founder) as part of a desk audit, when accepting quarterly, annual reporting forms within the time limits established by the founder;
• within the framework of carrying out activities of external (internal) state (municipal) control, as well as departmental control conducted by the founder.

We will talk about the methodology for the correct preparation of financial statements in this article.

The control measures carried out in relation to the forms of financial statements can be schematically displayed as follows:

The purpose of the audit of financial statements

When reviewing forms of financial statements, inspectors usually set themselves the following goals:

Preparing for an External Review

Preparation for an external audit includes:

• collection and study of legislative acts of the Russian Federation, in accordance with which the audited institution performs its financial and economic activities and conducts transactions;
• developing an external audit program;
• preparation of an external audit work plan, which should contain the terms of the external audit and responsible executors;
• sending performers for verification.

Subject of verification

Verification of reporting forms can be carried out in office and (or) field forms. A desk audit of reporting forms is usually carried out by the founder upon acceptance from the subordinate institution of the forms drawn up on the reporting date, within the time limits established by the founder. The subject of the cameral check are:

• submission of reports no later than the deadline set by the founder;
• compliance by the institution when filling out the accounting forms with the requirements of Instruction No. 33n;
• compliance with the control ratios in the submitted reporting forms.

Regarding the subject of the audit of the forms of financial statements during the on-site audit, we note the following. The audit of financial statements during this audit is usually carried out as part of the audit of the financial and economic activities of the institution. During such a check, controllers are requested to:

• annual forms of financial statements;
• general ledger, accounting registers, primary accounting and other documents;
• plan of financial and economic activities of the institution;
• institutions;
• report on the fulfillment of the state (municipal) task;
• report on the amount of targeted subsidies used;
• information on operations with targeted subsidies provided to a state (municipal) institution.

The subject of the on-site inspection are:

• observance by the institution of the rules for storing primary documents, accounting registers and other accounting documents of the current year and for previous years;
• fulfillment by the chief accountant of the obligation to organize accounting and control over the safety of funds and material assets;
• compliance of accounting indicators in accounting registers at the beginning of the year with data for the previous year;
• timeliness of preparation of primary accounting documents and their reflection in accounting;
• correspondence of the results of the balances for each group of analytical accounts of the turnover sheets to the results of the balances of these sub-accounts of the general ledger and financial reporting indicators;
• establishing the reliability of indicators reflected in the reporting;
• implementation of control ratios between reporting forms;
• registration of the submitted reporting forms to the requirements of Instruction No. 33n;
• assessment of the effectiveness and efficiency of the use by the institution of funds allocated to it in the audited period from the budget.

Methodology for auditing financial statements

There is no single methodology for checking reporting forms. Auditors, when gaining experience in conducting audits, develop a sequence of actions that they use in doing their job. Below we will offer our own version of the sequence of actions that can be used when conducting an audit and when developing audit programs.

I. Studying the charter of the institution and the accounting policy of the institution. From the charter, the controller learns a set of rules according to which the inspected institution carries out its activities, its structure, structure, types of activities, relations with other persons and state bodies, rights and obligations. Based on the accounting policy, the inspector draws a conclusion about the methods of organizing and maintaining accounting used by the institution when recording business transactions.

II. Analysis of indicators of financial statements forms. The diagram below presents to your attention the main methods of financial analysis that can be carried out by inspectors.

In the course of analyzing the indicators of the accounting forms, the inspector examines the results of the institution's activities, formed on the basis of the results of the reporting periods, by which one can judge:

• on the property status of the institution;
• on the nature of the activities carried out;
• on the ratio of funds by their types in the composition of assets;
• on the presence of receivables and payables and its change, etc.

III. Verification of the reliability of indicators reflected in the reporting forms submitted for verification which includes several steps:

1. Inventory of non-financial assets. Based on the results of the audit, the actual number of non-financial assets is established, which is compared with the accounting data reflected in the reporting forms (balance sheet (f. 0503730), certificate of the presence of property and liabilities on off-balance accounts, information on the movement of non-financial assets of the institution (f. 0503768)) . It also checks the institution's mandatory inventory before compiling annual reporting forms. As the results of the audit show, not all institutions, before compiling annual reporting forms, conduct an inventory of non-financial assets and settlements with the budget, suppliers, accountable persons, employees, other debtors and creditors and cash, monetary documents. As a result, the compliance of accounting and actual data (availability, condition and assessment of liabilities) was not confirmed, the reliability of accounting data was not ensured.

2. Identification of the compliance of the planned indicators indicated in the financial and economic activity plan with the indicators reflected in the reporting forms (in the report on the implementation by the institution of its financial and economic activity plan (f. 0503737)). Recall that, by virtue of the norms of clause 19 of the Requirements, it is possible to make changes to the plan of financial and economic activity an unlimited number of times. The plan indicators should reflect the actual data on the income and expenses of the institution, which are reflected in the report (f. 0503737).

3. Verification of confirmation of financial and economic operations by primary documents drawn up in compliance with the requirements of the legislation of the Russian Federation and taken into account in a timely manner. According to the norms of paragraph 7 of Instruction No. 157n, the basis for reflecting information on assets and liabilities, as well as operations with them, in accounting are primary accounting documents. Primary accounting documents are accepted for accounting if they are drawn up according to unified forms of documents approved in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation by legal acts of authorized executive bodies, and documents whose forms are not unified must contain the mandatory details specified in clause 7 of Instruction No. 157n. Entries in accounting registers (transaction journals, other accounting registers) are made as operations are performed and the primary (consolidated) accounting document is accepted for accounting, but no later than the next day after receipt of the primary (consolidated) accounting document - as on the basis of separate documents , and on the basis of a group of homogeneous documents (clause 11 of Instruction No. 157n). The auditor, when checking the reliability of indicators of reporting forms, can selectively check the transaction logs with primary accounting documents attached to them for:

• compliance of primary documents with the norms of the legislation of the Russian Federation;
• timeliness of acceptance of primary documents for accounting;
• the correctness of the formation of the transaction log.

4. Analysis of the compliance of financial statements with the data of synthetic and analytical accounting (the data of synthetic and analytical accounting must be linked both to each other and to the documents that are the basis for the implementation of operations).

5. Verification of compliance by the institution with the norms of legislative acts that may affect the content of the reporting (for example, the norms of instructions No. 33n, 157n, 174n, Instructions No. 65n).

6. Verification of the fulfillment of the state (municipal) task approved by the founder, identification of the reasons for the failure to fulfill the task of the founder, timely return of the balance of subsidies to the budget in case the institution fails to fulfill the state task.

It should be noted that the Ministry of Finance, in its Letter No. 02-01-09/5870 dated February 5, 2016, recommended that the main administrators of federal budget funds, when determining the balance of the subsidy for the implementation of the state task, formed due to the failure to achieve the indicators established by the state task characterizing the volume of public services (works ), take into account the norms of the Regulations in force in 2015 on the formation of a state task in relation to federal state institutions and financial support for the implementation of a state task, approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of 02.09.2010 No. 671, based on the values ​​​​of standard costs for the provision of public services (performance of work) and unfulfilled volume of the state task for each state service (work).

At the same time, the federal executive authorities exercising the functions and powers of the founders in relation to federal budgetary or autonomous institutions are entitled, in the prescribed manner, to make changes to it, if necessary, during the period for fulfilling the state task, including specifying the indicators characterizing the volume of public services (work performed ).

According to paragraph 33 of Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 1456 of December 28, 2015 No. 1456 “On measures to implement the Federal Law on the Federal Budget for 2016”, federal budgetary and autonomous institutions until July 1, 2016 ensure the return to the federal budget of funds in the amount of balances of subsidies for the implementation of state assignments provided to them in 2015, formed in connection with the failure to achieve the indicators established by the state assignment, characterizing the volume of public services (works), on the basis of a report on the implementation of the state assignment submitted to the bodies exercising the functions and powers of the founders in relation to federal budgetary or autonomous institutions.

At the same time, the mentioned resolution does not define the source of funds at the expense of which the federal budgetary and autonomous institutions return to the federal budget the indicated balances of the subsidy for the fulfillment of the state task.

According to the Ministry of Finance, set out in Letter No. 02-01-09/20629 dated April 12, 2016, the return to the federal budget of the indicated balances of the subsidy for the fulfillment of the state task can be carried out both at the expense of the balances of subsidies formed by the federal budgetary and autonomous institutions for the fulfillment of the state task, and at the expense of other receipts not prohibited by law to institutions, with the exception of funds provided to federal budgetary and autonomous institutions in accordance with Art. 78.2 of the RF BC for other purposes.

It should be noted that according to the legislation of the Russian Federation, if the state task is fulfilled (including if the indicators set in the state task are achieved, taking into account their possible deviation, within which the state task is considered fulfilled), the balances of the subsidy formed in the reporting financial year for the implementation of the state tasks can be used by the institution in accordance with the plan of financial and economic activities of the state institution, approved in the prescribed manner.

7. Compliance of the forms submitted by the institution as part of the reporting with the forms established by Instruction No. 33n. Sometimes during the audit it is revealed that the accountants filled out and submitted the form to the founder without taking into account the changes made to it, therefore, not applicable at the time of reporting.

8. Presence of all required signatures in the reporting forms. The need for the signatures of the chief accountant and the head of the institution is also established in clause 5 of Instruction No. 33n. Forms of financial statements containing planned (forecast) and analytical indicators are also signed by the head of the financial and economic service (if it is available in the structure of the institution).

9. Availability of all reporting forms that are mandatory for inclusion in its composition, and the correctness of their completion. According to the norms of paragraph 10 of Instruction No. 33n, if all the indicators provided for in the financial statements form do not have a numerical value, such a reporting form is not drawn up and is not presented in the financial statements. If numerical data is available, the reporting indicators must be completed. For example, during the audit, it may be revealed that the institution has no turnover during the year on account 0 104 00 000 “Depreciation of fixed assets” in the presence of fixed assets. This indicates that depreciation was not charged during the year, a violation of the accounting methodology and a distortion of reporting indicators. Or, say, in the form 0503769 “Information on receivables and payables” and in the balance sheet (f. 0503730) the absence of debt at the end of the reporting period is indicated. However, according to general ledger data, institutions have account balances of 0 205 00 000, 0 206 00 000, 0 208 00 000, 0 302 00 000, 0 303 00 000, 0 304 00 000. Reconciliation statements with counterparties were not submitted for verification. In other words, financial statements give an unreliable idea of ​​the financial position of an economic entity at the reporting date, as well as the financial result of its activities and cash flows for the reporting period.

To facilitate the work on the compliance of indicators reflected in the reporting forms and in the general ledger, inspectors can develop and apply analytical tables in their work. For example, this one:

Comparative table of the data of the general ledger of the audited institution and the indicators reflected in the statements (thousand rubles)

10. Checking the consistency of indicators of reporting forms (compliance with control ratios). The site www.roskazna.ru regularly posts (as changes are made to Instruction No. 33n) control ratios of indicators both within the forms of financial statements and between forms of financial statements. These control ratios are also used by developers of software products used to compile reporting forms. Controllers can use these control ratios and check their compliance in the forms submitted for verification by the institution being audited.

Formulation of test results

Based on the results of control actions at the object of the control measure, an act is drawn up, which usually has the following structure:

• grounds for conducting a control measure;
• the subject of the control measure;
• the audited period of activity of the object of the control measure;
• a list of issues that have been checked at this facility;
• the term of the control measure at the facility;
• a brief description of the object of the control measure (if necessary), the volume of which should not exceed two or three pages of printed text;
• results of control actions for each issue of the program (work plan).

The act is accompanied by a list of laws and other regulatory legal acts, the implementation of which was verified during the control event, as well as, if necessary, tables, calculations and other reference and digital material, numbered and signed by the drafters.

If violations and deficiencies are detected at the facility of the control measure, they are reflected in the act, while indicating:

• names, articles of laws and paragraphs of other regulatory legal acts, the requirements of which are violated;
• types and amounts of detected violations, while the amounts are indicated separately by year, type of funds (budgetary funds and funds received from the implementation of income-generating activities), as well as types of state property and forms of their use;
• causes of violations and shortcomings, their consequences;
• measures taken during the control measure to eliminate the identified violations and their results.

When drawing up the act, the following must be observed:

• objectivity, brevity and clarity in the presentation of the results of control measures at the facility;
• the clarity of the wording of the content of the identified violations and shortcomings;
• logical and chronological sequence of the presented material;
• presentation of factual data only on the basis of the materials of the relevant documents, checked by the employee conducting the check.

The act based on the results of the control activity is submitted for familiarization and signing to the head and (or) other responsible official of the audited institution. In case of disagreement of the responsible officials of the objects of the control measure with the facts stated in the act, they are invited to sign the act indicating the presence of comments.

At the end of the article, we note that a gross violation of accounting requirements, including accounting (financial) reporting, entails the imposition of an administrative fine on officials in the amount of 5,000 to 10,000 rubles. (Article 15.11 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation). Repeated commission of such an administrative offense shall entail the imposition of an administrative fine on officials in the amount of 10,000 to 20,000 rubles or their disqualification for a period of one to two years.

Gross violation of accounting requirements, including accounting (financial) reporting, means, in particular:

• distortion of any indicator of the accounting (financial) statements, expressed in monetary terms, by at least 10%;
• preparation of accounting (financial) statements not based on the data contained in accounting registers;
• the economic entity does not have primary accounting documents, and (or) accounting registers, and (or) accounting (financial) statements, and (or) an audit opinion on accounting (financial) statements (if an audit of accounting (financial) statements is mandatory) within the established periods of storage of such documents.

Instructions on the procedure for compiling, submitting annual, quarterly financial statements of state (municipal) budgetary and autonomous institutions, approved. Order of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation dated March 25, 2011 No. 33n.

Requirements for the plan of financial and economic activities of the state (municipal) institution, approved. Order of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation dated July 28, 2010 No. 81n.

Instructions for the use of the Unified Chart of Accounts for Accounting for State Authorities (Government Bodies), Local Self-Government Bodies, Management Bodies of State Extra-Budget Funds, State Academies of Sciences, State (Municipal) Institutions, approved. Order of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation dated December 1, 2010 No. 157n.

Instructions for the use of the Chart of Accounts for accounting of budgetary institutions, approved. Order of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation of December 16, 2010 No. 174n.

Instructions on the procedure for applying the budget classification of the Russian Federation, approved. Order of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation dated July 1, 2013 No. 65n.

The balance sheet is one of the main financial statements of any company. It reflects many key indicators characterizing the financial position of the company. It is used not only within the company, but also by many third parties, including regulatory authorities. Therefore, the correctness of the preparation of the document is of particular relevance in the preparation of reports.

The indicators reflected in indicate the financial position of the company. They are necessary for the enterprise itself to have an accurate idea of ​​the results of its activities obtained for a specific period: month, quarter, year.

All firms are required to maintain and submit annual balance sheets. various persons:

• tax office;
• statistical government bodies;
• shareholders.

The document shows the financial stability of the company. Therefore, it is used by counterparties: existing and potential partners, customers, banking institutions, government agencies.

The balance is determined Not only the current state of the company, but also the results of its future activities are predicted. Banks calculate the creditworthiness of a legal entity based on it in the course of assessing it as a potential client for servicing and lending.

The balance sheet should be drawn up in a specific form for presentation in a convenient form to users. It is usually framed according to the form No. 1 approved by the Ministry of Finance in 2010. The form is not mandatory, therefore, it can be modified depending on the characteristics of business activities and the needs of the company.

For internal use, various forms are created, classified on various grounds:

1. By frequency: balance (as of a certain date) and turnover (turnover for a specific period).
2. According to the initial data: inventory or accounting balance.
3. Accounting for regulatory articles.
4. Depending on the volume: full and short (simplified) report.
5. The document can be preliminary, intermediate, final, forecast.
6. Regarding the event: introductory, unifying, dividing, liquidation.

This list is not closed. There are other classifications of report forms used by enterprises depending on their needs, interests, and characteristics.

Rules and techniques for compiling

When filling out the document, it is necessary to take into account following most important rules:

1. Formation of balance on December 31.
2. Reflection of similar figures for the previous two years (also as of December 31). They can be taken from previous reports.
3. Use to fill in the information of the balance sheet.
4. The indicators are entered as integers with rounding according to the usual mathematical rules.
5. Amounts are indicated in thousands or millions of rubles, depending on their size.
6. On the lines in which the company does not have information, dashes are put down.
7. Negative scores are enclosed in parentheses and subtracted from the totals.

The main rule of the balance sheet: the equality of the final values ​​of assets and liabilities. If it is not observed, it is impossible to submit a report to state bodies.

Available some important details to be taken into account when preparing the document:

• indicators of the beginning of the reporting period must correspond to the data of the end of the previous one;
• All information must be verified.

How to fill in article by article and line by line

The document consists of two parts: active and passive. The first contains information about the property of the company. Working capital and are shown separately. The second part shows the sources of formation of the firm's property. It includes three sections:

• capital and reserves of the company;
• its long-term obligations to creditors (for a period of more than a year);
• short-term liabilities of the firm (with a maturity of less than one year).

Total in the balance sheet 5 sections: 2 to reflect property and 3 for information about the sources of its formation. Each of them is assigned its own digital encoding, which includes four characters.

All codes start with "1". The second digit indicates the belonging to a particular section. For example, line "1110" shows the amount of intangible assets held by the firm, which is included in the first section.

The line "1370" reflects the retained earnings of the company, related to the third section of the document.

Filling example for 2018

For the correct preparation of the balance sheet for 2018, it is worth using illustrative examples for filling out.

Table 1 - Filling in the non-current assets of the company.

Table 2 - The procedure for making current assets.

Table 3 - Contributions of capital and reserves of the company.

Table 4 - Reflection of long-term liabilities of the firm.

Table 5 - Introduction of short-term obligations of the enterprise.

After the distribution of the balance sheet indicators from the balance sheet, the final parameters are calculated:

all assets reflected in line 1600: 4304565 + 7422765 = 11727330 thousand rubles;

all liabilities on line 1700: 10348260 + 262767 + 1116303 = 11727330 thousand rubles.

The results obtained must be compared. If they are equal, then the document is written correctly.

No instructions. However, this does not mean that this important form of reporting can be compiled by an accountant arbitrarily based on his own understanding. Not at all. The content of the balance sheet is established in sec. IV PBU 4/99 "Accounting statements of the organization" (Approved by Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated 07/06/1999 N 43n).

In addition, it is necessary to take into account the requirements of other accounting provisions, which in one way or another affect balance sheet indicators. The most obvious illustration is paragraph 29 PBU 2/2008 "Accounting for construction contracts" (Approved by Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated October 24, 2008 N 116n).
It says that the difference between the amount of accrued revenue not presented for payment, which is recognized in the income statement for previous and / or current reporting periods, and the amount of accrued revenue on interim accounts presented for payment reflected in the balance sheet organizations:

• as an asset - accrued revenue not presented for payment (if the difference is positive);
• as a liability - debt to customers (if the difference is negative).

Agree, failure to comply with this requirement for a detailed reflection of the named indicator will make the balance sheet unreliable.
Also, a good help to the accountant is the recommendations issued annually by the main financial department of the country to audit organizations, individual auditors, and auditors on conducting an annual audit for the corresponding year.

For your information. These recommendations are communicated to interested parties by a letter from the Ministry of Finance, which is assigned the same number every year - N 07-02-18 / 01, which makes it easy to find a document, including for all previous years. These letters are dated late January and usually appear on the website of the Ministry of Finance in early February of the following year, which gives the accountant the opportunity to take into account the position of financiers when preparing annual financial statements.

Since there are no fresh recommendations at the time of preparation of this article, we will be guided by the Letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated January 27, 2012 N 07-02-18 / 01, which contains Recommendations to audit organizations, individual auditors, auditors on auditing the annual financial statements of organizations for 2011 year (hereinafter - Recommendations). And our readers are advised not to miss and not disregard the updated version of the recommendations of the financial department for 2012 reporting.

About the form of balance

It is known that the Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia N 66n (Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated 02.07.2010 N 66n "On the forms of financial statements of organizations") approved two forms of the balance sheet - general and simplified. (The second can only be used by small businesses.) The main difference between these forms is that the balance of "kids" includes indicators only for groups of articles (without detailing the indicators for articles) (clause "a" clause 6 of the Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia N 66n ). Accordingly, the principles for compiling the general and simplified forms of balance differ significantly, so we will consider them separately.

As noted above, it is established in sect. IV PBU 4/99. Note that this document, despite its considerable age, is still used for the purposes of preparing financial statements, as evidenced, among other things, by the latest clarifications from the competent department (see Information of the Ministry of Finance of Russia N PZ-10/2012 "On entry into force from January 1, 2013 of the Federal Law of December 6, 2011 N 402-FZ "On Accounting").

Note! The situation will change in the future. The point here is the following. Subparagraph 6, paragraph 3, Art. 21 of the Federal Law of December 6, 2011 N 402-FZ "On Accounting" provides that composition, content and procedure for generating information disclosed in the accounting (financial) statements, including sample forms accounting (financial) statements, as well as the composition of the annexes to the balance sheet and the income statement and the composition of the annexes to the balance sheet and the report on the intended use of funds are established by federal standards. However, in accordance with Part 1 of Art. 30 of the said Law, before the federal standards are approved by the state accounting regulatory authorities, the rules for maintaining accounting and compiling financial statements approved before the date of entry into force of this Law are applied, which once again indicates the legitimacy of the provisions enshrined in Sec. IV PBU 4/99, at the moment.

Note. It is the new Law on Accounting that must be guided by the preparation of reports, because the Federal Law of November 21, 1996 N 129-FZ "On Accounting" from January 1, 2013 became invalid.

So, sec. IV PBU 4/99 consists of three paragraphs - from 18 to 20. The first two contain well-known phrases that the balance sheet should characterize the financial position of the organization as of the reporting date (paragraph 18). Assets and liabilities should be presented in it with a division, depending on the maturity (maturity) for short-term and long-term. Assets and liabilities are presented as short-term if the term of circulation (repayment) for them is not more than 12 months after the reporting date or the duration of the operating cycle, if it exceeds 12 months. All other assets and liabilities are presented as non-current (paragraph 19). Paragraph 20 is interesting in that it indicates which numbers must contain a balance sheet. For example, as part of the group of articles "Intangible assets", it is prescribed to separate into separate articles:

• rights to objects of intellectual (industrial) property;
• patents, licenses, trademarks, service marks, other similar rights and assets;
• organizational expenses;
• business reputation of the organization.

In the group of articles "Fixed assets" should be reflected separately:

• land plots and objects of nature management;
• buildings, machinery, equipment and other fixed assets;
• Construction in progress.

The balance sheet section "Current assets" provides for the following detailing of indicators (since in the article we will repeatedly refer to this fragment of the balance sheet, we will agree that in the future it will be referred to as the Table):

Even without considering liabilities, we understand that the form of balance given in the Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia N 66n does not provide this detail. How to be? In any case, enter the missing listed lines into the balance sheet on your own? No, you don't need to do that. But such an approach to the formation of a balance sheet, when only those lines that are presented in the form recommended by the Ministry of Finance, are filled in it, is also incorrect.

For your information. In the hierarchy of documents regulating accounting, PBUs occupy a higher place than the orders of the Ministry of Finance. Therefore, in principle, the norms of PBU 4/99 are priority, and not Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia N 66n. However, PBU 4/99 does not meet the requirements of the time, and officials, as often happens, did not get around to updating it. Therefore, the Ministry of Finance currently recommends using a compromise option - to draw up a balance sheet on the form introduced by Order No. 66n, and, if necessary, include additional lines in it to reflect significant indicators. In this case, for the purpose of detailing, it is necessary to be guided by clause 20 of PBU 4/99.

In accordance with paragraph 3 of the Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia N 66n organizations independently determine the detailing of indicators for balance sheet items. What does this mean? The answer is simple: when detailing indicators for balance sheet items, the accountant should proceed from the level of materiality established in the accounting policy of the organization for 2012. Thus, if one or another indicator is recognized as significant, the accountant must enter an additional line in the balance sheet for its separate reflection.

The same conclusion follows from paragraph 11 of PBU 4/99, according to which indicators on individual assets, liabilities, income, expenses and business transactions should be presented separately in the financial statements if they are significant and if, without knowledge of them by interested users, it is impossible to assess the financial position of the organization or the financial results of its activities. If each of these indicators individually is insignificant, then they can be given in the reporting forms as a total amount.

How to be guided in determining the detail and names of indicators of the balance sheet? According to the Ministry of Finance, expressed in the Recommendations, in this case it is advisable to proceed from:

• essence of the reflected asset;
• the nature and conditions of the organization's activities;
• the need to present objective and useful information in the financial statements (in particular, so that the meaning of the name of the indicator is clear to the user of the financial statements).

The last of these conditions again brings us back to the level of materiality established by the organization.

Materiality level of balance sheet indicators

In the previous Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated July 22, 2003 N 67n "On the Forms of Accounting Statements of Organizations", it was established that an enterprise can decide when an amount is recognized as significant, the ratio of which to the total result of the relevant data for the reporting year is at least 5%. Currently, the recommended five percent materiality barrier is not fixed in regulatory documents, but an organization can either continue to proceed from the named five percent limit, or change it both up and down. There are no restrictions. The solution to this issue is at the mercy of the accountant. However, the accounting policy should not only indicate that the materiality level is 5%, but also determine from what value these 5% are calculated.

The easiest way is to establish that the materiality limit is calculated from the balance sheet currency. But along with simplicity and versatility, this option has an obvious drawback - it will not allow presenting in the balance sheet those indicators that, based on the nature of the asset (liability) and the nature and conditions of the organization's activities, are important (for reporting users), but have a small share relative to the currency balance.

Note. These are the first two of the conditions named by the Ministry of Finance, which should be taken into account when determining the detail and name of the balance sheet indicators (see above).

Note. Significant indicators on certain types of assets and liabilities should be separated from the composition of the corresponding group of articles into separate articles (lines) of the balance sheet.

If an organization is interested in making the balance sheet more informative, the materiality level should be set as a percentage of the total for the corresponding section of the balance sheet, or even from the value presented for each of the lines. At the same time, the lower the level of materiality, the more meaningful is the balance sheet. However, in order to ensure the completeness of the information presented in the balance sheet, it is not necessary to overload the balance sheet with unnecessary information, because there are still explanations that provide a breakdown of the balance sheet indicators. In other words, when filling out the balance sheet, you need to find that golden mean, which, on the one hand, will allow you to reflect in separate lines information that is important for reporting users, and on the other hand, will not lead to the transformation of the balance sheet into a kind of turnover sheet containing everything, even the most insignificant , account balances.

Note. This possibility is also confirmed by clause 18.1 of PBU 9/99 "Income of the organization", approved. Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated May 6, 1999 N 32n, according to which in the income statement (financial result report) revenue, other income (revenue from the sale of products (goods), revenue from the performance of work (rendering services), etc.) etc.) that make up five or more percent of the total amount of the organization's income for the reporting period are shown for each type separately. Accordingly, information about the expenses of the organization is also separately reflected.

Example 1 .

Note. Recall that construction organizations may well have balances on accounts 41 "Goods" and 43 "Finished products". In particular, real estate objects intended for sale can be taken into account as part of goods, and finished products, for example, from a developer who performed construction and installation work on their own, are recognized as completed objects (Letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated 18.05.2006 N 07-05-03 / 02) .

The currency of the balance sheet compiled by the accountant is 40,600 thousand rubles, the total for Section. II "Current assets" - 14,800 thousand rubles.

According to the accounting policy of the organization, the level of materiality for the purposes of compiling the balance sheet is equal to:

• option 1: 5% of the balance sheet, that is, 2030 thousand rubles. (40,600 x 5%);
• option 2: 5% of the total for the corresponding section of the balance sheet, that is, 740 thousand rubles. (14,800 x 5%);
• option 3: 5% of the indicator of the corresponding line of the balance, that is, 193 thousand rubles. (3855 x 5%).

With option 1 information on reserves as of 12/31/2012 will be presented in the balance sheet in one line. The balance sheet will look like this:

With option 2 information on reserves on the same date will be presented in the balance sheet more fully, since such significant indicators as:

• Cost of materials;
• the cost of finished products and goods (by virtue of clause 20 PBU 4/99, finished products, goods for resale and goods shipped are reflected in one balance sheet item - see the table above).

In this case, the balance sheet will look like this:

With option 3 Another significant indicator is the cost of work in progress in the amount of 195 thousand rubles, which is also subject to separate reflection in the balance sheet. Then the same fragment of the balance will take the following form:

Now each user of the organization's reporting will immediately understand what the indicator of the line "Stocks" of the balance sheet includes, because the decoding of the components is the most detailed.

However, we will not rush to conclude that it is the third option that should be used. According to the author, this example clearly shows that a 5% level of materiality from the indicator of each line of the balance sheet can lead to excessive detail. Judge for yourself. Under option 3, the indicator is recognized as significant if it is greater than or equal to 193 thousand rubles. This value in comparison with the balance sheet is 40,600 thousand rubles. is negligible and amounts to less than 0.5%. Is it really so important for users of the balance sheet to get an idea of ​​the asset, the share of which in the total value of all assets of the organization is equal to half a percent? We think the answer is obviously no.

And to dispel the remnants of doubt, we will give one more example. Let's assume that the indicator of line 1250 "Cash and cash equivalents" is 1500 thousand rubles, including cash on settlement accounts in the bank - 1420 thousand rubles, at the cash desk - 80 thousand rubles. A five percent materiality level of the line indicator will be 75 thousand rubles. (1500 x 5%). In this case, the accountant is obliged, in addition to line 1250, to enter two more lines to reflect non-cash and cash separately. However, how valuable is the information that a small part of the organization's cash as of 12/31/2012 is kept in cash? According to the author, this information can hardly be considered fundamentally important, capable of influencing decision-making.

Nevertheless, it is impossible to exclude the situation when the establishment of a 5% level of materiality from the indicator of each line of the balance sheet will be justified. Let's consider a simple example.

Example 2 OOO "Stroymontazh" as of December 31, 2012 has the following indicators:

According to the accounting policy of the organization, the level of materiality for the purposes of compiling the balance sheet is 5% of the indicator of the corresponding line of the balance sheet, that is, in relation to reserves, it is 193 thousand rubles. (3855 x 5%).

In this case, the stocks will be presented in the balance sheet in the same way as in option 3 of example 1. However, it is no longer necessary to say that the allocation of costs in work in progress to a separate line led to excessive detailing of the balance sheet, because the share of this indicator in the currency balance sheet is slightly less than 5% (to be precise, 4.7%), and its absolute value exceeds the size of other indicators presented in separate lines (VAT on acquired valuables, receivables, cash).

In view of the foregoing, it is obvious that the choice of materiality level should not be arbitrary, it is necessary to take into account the specifics of the indicators of each particular organization.

This, of course, ideally ... But in practice it often happens that the accounting policy of an organization does not contain a clause on the level of materiality at all. In this case, the accountant needs to prepare an addition to the accounting policy, which must be approved by the head of the organization. It is clear that this must be done before the preparation of the annual financial statements.

Fixed assets, construction in progress

Throughout 2011 and 2012 experts argued as part of which group of articles to reflect the balance of account 08 "Investments in non-current assets". Some stated that it would be advisable not to include the cost of construction in progress in the group of articles "Fixed assets" and to reflect it in line 1190 "Other non-current assets" so that tax inspectors would not have unnecessary questions when checking the tax base for property tax. Others insisted that the value of construction in progress should be included in line 1150 Property, plant and equipment. Taking into account the requirements of clause 20 of PBU 4/99, it is obvious that the accountant has no alternative, the balance of account 08 must be included in the indicator of line 1150 "Fixed assets". This conclusion also follows from the Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia N 66n (construction in progress and incomplete operations for the acquisition, modernization, etc. of fixed assets are reflected in the explanations to section 2 "Fixed assets" - table 2.2 "Incomplete capital investments". At the same time and the code of the corresponding lines begins with the numbers 52, which corresponds to the code of the group of articles "Fixed assets").

It is possible that it will be enough for the accountant to reflect in the named line the residual value of all fixed assets and the value of construction in progress in one amount. However, if such indicators as land plots and nature management facilities, buildings, machinery, equipment and other fixed assets, construction in progress are recognized as significant, additional lines must be entered into the balance sheet to reflect them.

Note! If the organization during the reporting year carried out transactions for the sale and purchase of fixed assets - real estate, then the buildings, structures, structures transferred under the act, even in the absence of state registration of the transfer of ownership, must be excluded by the seller from the list of fixed assets and accepted by the buyer for accounting in this category of assets (with mandatory segregation on a separate sub-account, for example, "Fixed assets, the rights to which have not passed state registration"). Thus, the value of the retired object in the seller's balance sheet will be reflected in line 1210 "Inventories", and for the buyer - in line 1150 "Fixed assets" (This accounting procedure for the disposal of fixed assets is due to the convergence of Russian accounting standards with international ones. In the latter, priority is given not the organization's registered ownership of the asset, but the transfer of control of the asset and the risks of accidental loss and damage). At the same time, having reflected the disposal of the object from the composition of fixed assets on the date of signing the acceptance certificate, the seller ceases to be recognized as a payer of property tax - this obligation passes to the buyer. The legitimacy of this conclusion is confirmed, among other things, by the Information Letter of the Presidium of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation dated November 17, 2011 N 148.

Note. To reflect the retired fixed asset until the moment of recognition of income and expenses from its disposal, the Ministry of Finance recommends that the seller use account 45 "Goods shipped", opening a separate sub-account "Transferred real estate objects" for it (Recommendations, Letter dated 03/22/2011 N 07-02-10 /20, which was sent to the tax authorities by the Letter of the Federal Tax Service of Russia dated 31.03.2011 N KE-4-3/5085@).

So, to fill in line 1150 "Fixed assets", the accountant uses the data reflected on accounts 01 and 02. Information about the property (including real estate) provided by the organization for a fee for temporary use (temporary possession and use) in order to generate income, according to the named the line of the balance sheet is not reflected, but is indicated on line 1160 "Profitable investments in tangible assets". The indicator of this line is equal to the value of the property accounted for in the debit of account 03, reduced by the amount of accrued depreciation, which should be taken into account separately on account 02.

Financial investments

To reflect financial investments in the balance sheet, two lines are allocated: 1170 - in the composition of non-current assets and 1240 - in the number of current assets. The division of the organization's financial investments into long-term and short-term ones is made on the basis of an analysis of investments, based not only on the period of their circulation or redemption (conditions for the issue of relevant securities, the duration of loan agreements, etc.), but also on the organization's intentions regarding these investments. Let us explain what has been said on the example of investments in the authorized capital of other organizations. On the one hand, such investments are indefinite, but this is not a reason to classify them as long-term in any case. In particular, if a share in the authorized capital of an LLC was acquired in order to influence this company for a long time, control it and regularly receive dividends (income), this is a long-term financial investment. If the acquired share is expected to be resold in the near future (during 2013, i.e. within less than 12 months after the reporting date) and make a profit on the difference between the purchase price and its sale price, such investments must be classified as short-term and reflected in sec. II "Current assets" balance sheet.

For your information. Along with contributions to the charter capitals of other organizations, financial investments include loans granted to other organizations, deposits in credit institutions, receivables acquired on the basis of an assignment of the right to claim, contributions from a partner organization under a simple partnership agreement, etc.

Stocks

We have already said a lot about the reflection in the balance of reserves. Therefore, in this section, we will only focus on whether it is necessary to present information on reserves in the balance sheet for 2012, dividing them into non-current and current ones, referring to the first category the cost of materials purchased for the construction of fixed assets. The answer to this question is negative. The fact is that such a procedure is applied in IFRS, but at the moment it is, firstly, not provided for by Russian national standards and, secondly, does not comply with the same paragraph 20 of PBU 4/99. From the table presented in it, it can be seen that this paragraph provides the only option reflections in the balance sheet of information about materials, namely as part of current assets. Other regulatory documents on accounting currently do not contain instructions on the obligation to isolate in the reporting information about materials intended for the construction of fixed assets. Therefore, in the reporting for 2012, the cost of materials must be reflected in line 1210 "Stocks".

Note! If the draft of the new PBU "Reserves", as expected, will be put into effect from the reporting for 2013, then raw materials, materials, finished products or work in progress intended to create non-current assets of the organization will no longer be recognized as reserves (this is expressly stated in item 4 of the project). Accordingly, the procedure for reporting the listed assets in the reporting will change.

Cash equivalents

The concept of "cash equivalents" was introduced by PBU 23/2011 "Cash flow statement" (Approved by Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated 02.02.2011 N 11n), in accordance with paragraph 5 of which, cash equivalents are understood as highly liquid financial investments, which can be easily converted into a known amount of cash and which are subject to an insignificant risk of changes in value. Cash equivalents may include, for example, demand deposits opened with credit institutions. The international methodology uses the concept of "cash equivalents". These are short-term highly liquid investments that are easily convertible into known amounts of cash and are subject to an insignificant risk of changes in their value (IFRS (IAS) 7 "Statement of Cash Flows" (Entered into force in the Russian Federation by Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated November 25, 2011 N 160n)).

Due to the fact that cash equivalents should be reflected in the balance sheet not as part of long-term and short-term financial investments in lines 1170 and 1240, but in line 1250 "Cash and cash equivalents", the accountant needs to classify them correctly, that is, separate them from financial investments highly liquid falling under the definition of cash equivalents. As an example of cash equivalents, PBU 23/2011 names demand deposits opened with credit institutions. In addition, as follows from paragraph 5 of the Letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated December 21, 2009 N PZ-4 / 2009 "On the disclosure of information about the organization's financial investments in the annual financial statements", for example, bills of Sberbank of Russia used organizations when making payments for goods sold, work performed, services rendered, with a maturity of up to three months.

Note! By virtue of clause 20 of PBU 4/99 and clarifications of the financial department, information on funds in current accounts, foreign currency accounts and other funds should be allocated in separate articles in the balance sheet (in the case of materiality of indicators). However, if cash equivalents are a significant indicator, the accountant is obliged to allocate them in a separate line.

Accounts receivable, advances issued

Accounts receivable should be reflected in the balance sheet less the amount of the allowance for doubtful debts (if any). In other words, in order to correctly form the indicator of line 1230 of the balance sheet, you need to add up the balances of receivables on accounts 62, 76 and other settlement accounts, and subtract the credit balance of account 63 "Reserves for doubtful debts" from the resulting amount.

Recall that the mandatory formation of such a reserve since 2011 is enshrined in clause 70 of the Regulation on accounting and financial reporting in the Russian Federation (Approved by Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated July 29, 1998 N 34n). However, if the organization's debtors are disciplined (in terms of meeting the deadlines for payments) and reliable (that is, despite the delay, the organization has no doubts about repaying the debt) or provided appropriate security, the organization does not have an obligation to make deductions to this reserve.

Note. It is necessary to determine the amount of the reserve separately for each doubtful debt, depending on the financial condition (solvency) of the debtor and the assessment of the probability of repaying the debt in full or in part. At the same time, a specific methodology (procedure) for such an assessment should be fixed in the accounting policy of the organization.

The details of the significant indicators included in the group of articles "Accounts receivable" (line 1230 of the balance sheet) are given in the Table. It shows that advances issued should be reflected in the balance sheet separately from the rest of the receivables. The Ministry of Finance also drew attention to this nuance in the Recommendations, emphasizing that such an obligation arises only if the indicator on the amount of advances issued to suppliers is significant.

Special mention should be made of advances issued in connection with the acquisition and creation of non-current assets. In 2011, the Ministry of Finance, unexpectedly for everyone, announced that when issuing advances and pre-payment for works, services, etc., related to the construction of fixed assets, the repayment of which is carried out within a period exceeding 12 months, the amounts of advances issued and pre-payment are reflected in balance sheet in sect. I "Non-current assets" regardless of the terms of repayment by counterparties of obligations on advances issued to them (advance payment)(Letters dated 01/24/2011 N 07-02-18/01 and dated 04/11/2011 N 07-02-06/42). These recommendations were based on the principle of liquidity enshrined in IFRS. However, this principle has not yet been established by regulatory documents in Russian accounting. And by virtue of the same paragraph 20 of PBU 4/99, receivables should be reflected in section. II "Current assets" of the balance, and the accountant has no alternative. Supporters of this approach believe that the Ministry of Finance accepted these criticisms and that is why similar explanations were not included in the text of the Letter with recommendations on reporting for 2011. It is to be hoped that they will not appear in the fresh letter on the nuances of reporting for 2012 either.

Borrowed funds

To reflect them in the balance sheet form approved by the Ministry of Finance, two lines are intended: 1410 (in section IV "Long-term obligations") and 1510 (in section V "Short-term obligations"). However, it is wrong to assume that the balance of account 67 "Settlements on long-term credits and loans" should be clearly indicated as part of long-term liabilities. The point is that a loan (credit) obligation may contain both long-term and short-term parts, and these parts will constantly change as the payment deadlines approach. Therefore, the accountant needs to allocate the long-term and short-term parts of the debt based on the maturity of the loan and the loan. Amounts of loans and borrowings due to be repaid within 12 months after the reporting date are reflected in line 1510.

The same approach applies to the reflection of accrued interest in the balance sheet. If their amounts must be paid during 2013, we indicate them in section. V "Short-term obligations", otherwise - we reflect in the composition of long-term obligations in section. IV balance. In this regard, the amounts of loans and borrowings can be classified as long-term liabilities, and accrued interest - as short-term debt.

Note! Paragraph 20 of PBU 4/99 obliges to separate the amounts of loans and borrowings in the balance sheet. Therefore, if the corresponding indicator is recognized as significant, the accountant must enter an additional line in the balance sheet to reflect it.

Let us explain what has been said on a specific situation.

Example 3 . As of December 31, 2012, Stroitelnye Tekhnologii LLC has a short-term debt on borrowed funds in the amount of 18,500 thousand rubles, including:

• loans in the amount of 10,000 thousand rubles;
• loans in the amount of 8500 thousand rubles.

There are no outstanding interest payments. The level of materiality, determined in accordance with the accounting policy in the amount of 5% of the total for the relevant section of the balance sheet (in this case, section V "Current liabilities"), is equal to:

• option 1: 11,000 thousand rubles;
• option 2: 9000 thousand rubles;
• option 3: 8000 thousand rubles.

With option 1 information on borrowed funds as of 12/31/2012 will be presented in the balance sheet in one line. The balance sheet will look like this:

With option 2 information about borrowed funds on the same date will be presented in the balance sheet more fully and the same fragment of the balance sheet will take the following form:

With option 3 significant indicators will be information about loans and credits. Since they should be reflected in the balance sheet separately, it will be filled in like this:

Estimated liabilities

Information about estimated liabilities, as well as about borrowed funds, is presented in two sections of liabilities - IV "Long-term liabilities" and V "Short-term liabilities". In accordance with PBU 8/2010 "Estimated Liabilities, Contingent Liabilities and Contingent Assets" (Approved by Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated December 13, 2010 N 167n) and the Recommendations, the obligation to reflect an estimated liability arises:

• under obviously unprofitable contracts;
• in connection with participation in litigation, if the organization has reason to believe that the judgment will not be in its favor and it can reasonably estimate the amount that will have to be paid to the plaintiff;
• on future expenses for paying vacations to employees;
• in connection with upcoming payments to employees at the end of the year or for length of service (if such payments are provided for by collective or employment contracts);
• in connection with the existence of obligations for warranty service of the products sold, the work performed.

Recall that all types of estimated liabilities are reflected in account 96, the credit balance for which forms the indicators of lines 1430 and 1540 (depending on the expected time for the fulfillment of this obligation).

Accounts payable

In the composition of accounts payable in the balance sheet, if there are indicators and their materiality, the following items should be distinguished (paragraph 20 of PBU 4/99):

• suppliers and contractors;
• bills payable;
• debt to subsidiaries and dependent companies;
• debt to the staff of the organization;
• debt to the budget and state off-budget funds;
• debts to participants (founders) for payment of income;
• advances received;
• other creditors.

In this case, additional balance lines must be assigned codes 1521, 1522, 1523, etc.

"Simplified" balance

Being a small business entity, a construction organization has the right to use the opportunity provided by Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia N 66n to present a "simplified" balance sheet, in which indicators are given only for groups of articles (without detailing by articles). Thus, the balance sheet for small enterprises includes only eleven indicators (five lines in assets and six in liabilities).

Note. The accountant of a small business does not have an obligation to enter additional lines into the balance sheet, it is enough to fill in the ones provided for in the approved form.

Fixed assets (including profitable investments in tangible assets (In the traditional balance sheet, as we noted above, there is a separate line to reflect the residual value of such assets)) and unfinished capital investments in fixed assets, the accountant must reflect in the line "Tangible non-current assets".

The line "Intangible, financial and other non-current assets" provides information on the value of intangible assets, results of research and development, investments in intangible assets, research and development, deferred tax assets and long-term financial investments.

Inventories include materials, work in progress, goods and finished goods.

The line "Cash and cash equivalents" is intended to reflect data on the organization's cash on hand and on current accounts, demand deposits, bills that serve as a means of settlement.

The indicator of the line "Financial and other current assets" implies the inclusion of receivables, VAT on acquired valuables, short-term financial investments, and other current assets.

The liability of the simplified balance sheet contains the lines:

• "Capital and reserves" (authorized, additional, reserve capital, retained earnings (uncovered loss));
• "Long-term borrowed funds" (borrowed funds, including bank loans);
• "Other long-term liabilities" (deferred, estimated and other liabilities);
• "Short-term borrowings" (borrowings, including bank loans);
• "Accounts payable" (debt to suppliers and contractors, personnel, budget, funds);
• "Other current liabilities" (estimated and other liabilities).

Note. A small enterprise may not have deferred and estimated liabilities if the accounting policy provides that it does not apply PBU 18/02 "Accounting for corporate income tax calculations" (approved by Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated November 19, 2002 N 114n) and PBU 8 /2010.

When filling out a simplified balance sheet (as opposed to a traditional one), the accountant may have to devote a little more time to coding the lines. Due to the fact that in a "small" balance sheet several heterogeneous indicators can be included in one line, a special procedure for assigning codes is provided - the line code is indicated for the indicator that has the largest share in the composition of the aggregated indicator (clause 5 of the Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia N 66n). The necessary information for specifying the codes is available in Appendix 4 to this Order.

Example 4 . LLC "Stroyservis" as of December 31, 2012 has the following assets:

• residual value of fixed assets - 25,500 thousand rubles;
• the cost of construction in progress - 12,000 thousand rubles;
• the cost of materials - 400 thousand rubles;
• the cost of goods - 90 thousand rubles;
• cash on the current account - 500 thousand rubles;
• cash on hand - 2 thousand rubles;
• accounts receivable - 600 thousand rubles;
• VAT on acquired valuables - 50 thousand rubles.

Information about the presence of fixed assets and work in progress forms the indicator of the line "Tangible non-current assets", which is assigned code 1150, set for fixed assets.

For stocks, a code other than 1210 is not provided.

For cash and cash equivalents, only one code is also entered - 1250.

Accounts receivable and VAT on acquired valuables are reflected in the line "Financial and other current assets", the code of which is determined by the code established for "accounts".

Therefore, the balance sheet asset will look like this: