Tasks and objectives of accounting. Basic requirements and rules of reference. Federal Law No. 402-FZ "On Accounting"

The accounting system is regulated by various legal documents. The regulatory acts provide for uniform requirements for reporting for all enterprises, regardless of their form of ownership. Consider the basics of accounting.

General information

The accounting system provides for the use of double entry when reflecting the composition of property, liabilities, business operations. Interconnected accounts included in the work plan are used for posting. It is accepted by enterprises on their own. At the same time, it must comply with the Chart of Accounts approved by authorized state bodies. Accounting is carried out in national currency - rubles. Fixing of economic activities, composition of property, obligations is made in Russian.

Key requirements

Accounting must be developed and approved at enterprises accounting policy. Compliance with it throughout the reporting period is mandatory for companies. The basis of the enterprise accounting laid down certain requirements:

1. Completeness, timeliness, diligence.
2. Priority content over form. This principle implies the need to proceed not so much from the legal situation as from the economic essence of the facts.
3. Consistency. Accounting and analysis of accounts should show the equality of data on turnover and balances on the last calendar date of the month.
4. Rationality. Accounting should be carried out in accordance with the specifics of the activity and the scale of the enterprise.

Other provisions

The primary accounting of current production costs, expenses for the performance of work, the provision of services, costs associated with capital investments is carried out separately. Property that belongs to the enterprise by the right of ownership is reflected separately from the material values ​​of other legal entities held by it. Accounting is carried out continuously from the date of registration of the company until its liquidation or reorganization in the manner prescribed by law. Responsibility for the preparation and submission of reports, compliance with regulatory requirements in the process of carrying out business activities, ensuring the established cases of the audit is vested in the heads of enterprises.

Accounting objectives

At the enterprise, the formation of reliable and complete information about his work and property status should be carried out. For this, accounting documents are compiled. They are intended both for internal users - managers, participants, founders, owners, and for external - lenders, investors and so on. The purpose of accounting is to ensure the data of interested parties for them to monitor compliance by the company with applicable regulations in the process. Internal and external users of reporting check the appropriateness of use, the safety of material, financial, labor resources. Using accounting tools, specialists identify negative trends in the functioning of the enterprise, identify and mobilize on-farm reserves.With the help of reporting, the company predicts the results of the company’s activity for the future.

Data Qualitative Characteristics

To ensure achievement of the key goal of accounting - providing interested users with the necessary information for making managerial decisions - the information contained in the statements should be relevant. This characteristic implies the ability of internal and external users to evaluate previous, current, future events. Accounting goals are achieved if the data presented in the statements are reliable. This is information that does not contain material errors. To ensure reliability, accounting operations should be reflected objectively. As indicated above, the events and facts of the economic life of the company should be recorded in reports not so much with their legal form as with their economic content and operating conditions.

Information Reliability

It is provided by:

1. Verity - an objective representation of the real state of affairs.
2. Neutrality. Information should be free from one-sidedness and should not affect the assessments and decisions of interested parties to achieve their predetermined results.
3. Discretion. When reporting, overstatement of income, increase in property, understatement of expenses and obligations, as well as the formation of hidden reserves are not allowed. One of the specific manifestations of caution is the reflection of income in accounting only after operations, and loss - from the moment the assumption of the probability of its occurrence appears.
4. Fullness. The data that is generated in accounting should reflect all the facts of the economic life of the company.

The specified conditions are specified in normative acts. In particular, the requirements on the completeness, reliability, reliability of reporting information are contained in the Federal Law "On Accounting".

Comparability of Information

It means that internal and external users of reporting have the ability to correlate information for different time periods. This is necessary to determine trends in the financial condition and results of the company. Interested parties should be able to compare data on different enterprises to compare their property status and changes in it. This requirement is ensured due to the fact that, in accordance with the Federal Law "On Accounting", external and internal users must be informed about the state of affairs and plans of the company. The norms stipulate the obligation of companies to familiarize interested parties with any changes and adjustments made to financial programs.

Principles

402 Federal Law establishes the rules for reporting and reflecting information in it. In accordance with the normative act, instructions and methodological recommendations, rules for specialists are developed. All of them reflect the principles of accounting in any enterprise. The key ones include:

1. Autonomy.
2. Double entry.
3. The principle of a working organization.
4. Objectivity.
5. Discretion.
6. Accrual principle.
7. Periodicity.
8. Confidentiality.

Autonomy

In accordance with 402 Federal Law, reporting information is a single set used to solve problems of managing property, business events, and company obligations. Those elements that do not affect the processes occurring in the company are excluded from the structure as superfluous. In the balance sheet and accounting should be reflected only those objects of property that are recognized as property of a particular enterprise.

The principle of the current company

He assumes that the company functions normally, maintaining its position in the foreseeable future, repays obligations to consumers and suppliers, as well as other partners in the manner prescribed by the norms. This principle makes it necessary to link the company's assets with its forthcoming income, which can be extracted with their help. It acquires special significance in the process of assessing the obligations and property of an enterprise.

Objectivity

This principle indicates that all transactions should be accounted for. They must be recorded during all stages of reporting. Moreover, each fact must be confirmed by relevant documents.

Accrual basis

To achieve the goals of accounting, all facts and events are recorded as they appear / are implemented, and not at the time of payment. Moreover, they should relate to the period in which they took place. This provision is divided into principles:

1. Revenue Registration. In accordance with it, income is recognized when it is recognized, and not in the period in which the payment was made.
2. Compliance. Revenues in the reporting period should be correlated with the costs from which they were received. At the same time, expenses / revenues related to profit / expenses recognized in each time period are accounted for separately.

Frequency and Confidentiality

The regulatory acts stipulate that the balance summarization of information should be carried out regularly. Based on the results of specific periods - six months, a year, a month, a quarter - a balance sheet and other reporting forms are drawn up. This principle ensures comparability of information, allows you to calculate financial results, which, in turn, serves the purposes of accounting. The confidentiality clause stipulates that the content of the reporting data is classified as a trade secret. For its disclosure and occurrence as a result of this damage to the interests of the enterprise, liability is provided.

Important point

Accounting principles act as the basis, the general concept of accounting. They contribute to the development of its standards. Violation or non-observance of these principles leads to significant distortion of information, loss of objectivity and reliability. Accordingly, such information cannot be used in the course of decision-making aimed at improving the functioning of the enterprise.

Features of information storage

The primary accounting documentation, registers, statements, conclusions of auditors must be at the enterprise for the periods specified in the rules for the organization of archiving. Moreover, the periods may not be less than 5 years from the end of the reporting year. The business entity is required to provide safe conditions for the storage of documentation. He must also take the necessary measures to prevent changes in its content. Information on accounting policies, standards, other acts relating to accounting should be kept by the subject for at least 5 years. The same deadline has been set for the objects that provide electronic data reproduction, digital signature verification. The calculation of the five-year period is carried out after the end of the year in which they were used for reporting. In the event of a change in the head of the enterprise, the transfer of accounting records must be ensured. The procedure in accordance with which it will be carried out is determined by the company independently.

Nuance

Economic entities are required to maintain accounting in accordance with regulatory requirements. However, there are a few exceptions. In particular, Federal Law 402 determines that the following are exempted from accounting:

1. Individual entrepreneurs engaged in private practice.These entities may not conduct accounting if, according to the Tax Code, they prepare reports on income or income and expenses or other objects of taxation / physical indicators characterizing a specific type of commercial activity.
2. Branches, representative offices and other structural subdivisions of an enterprise formed in accordance with regulatory acts of a foreign state located in the Russian Federation. These entities may be exempted from the obligation to keep records if they compile reports on income / income and expenses or other objects of taxation in the manner prescribed by the Tax Code.

Conclusion

In practice, in order to achieve accounting goals, it is often necessary to choose between different requirements. The task is to form the optimal ratio between the requirements. In particular, when summarizing information in accounting, it is necessary to take into account factors that limit the relevance and reliability of the data obtained. One of them is the timeliness of information. Excessive delay in providing information to external or internal interested parties may lead to the loss of its relevance. To ensure timeliness of data, it is often necessary to make it public before all parties to the business become known. As a result, the reliability of the collected information is damaged. Along with this, the expectation of the moment when all aspects of the work will be known can make the information of little use to interested users, since it will lose its relevance.

It must be said that the benefits that are derived from accounting data should be higher than the costs of obtaining or preparing it. This provision means that reporting should not be too time consuming. The cost of accounting should be lower than the cost of the results that are expected when using the data. The entity whose responsibilities include reporting should entrust the execution of this work to the appropriate full-time specialist. Regulatory acts allow the involvement of competent third-party individuals and companies in accounting. In this case, an appropriate contract for the provision of such services should be concluded. A specialist who conducts accounting should have a higher education, work experience in the specialty. In addition, he should not have a criminal record (outstanding or unexpunged) for crimes in the field of economic activity. Regulatory acts may provide for other requirements for specialists conducting accounting at the enterprise. When engaging in the activities of a third-party legal entity, its staff must have at least one employee who meets the above conditions.