Forms of primary accounting documentation for. Application of unified forms of primary documents

"Accounting", 2010, N 6

The tax authorities pay attention to the non-use of documentation or shortcomings in their execution, which is often the subject of legal proceedings. Is the use of these forms mandatory?

Unification of primary forms accounting documentation. Tax authorities have the right to require from the taxpayer documents that serve as the basis for the calculation and payment of taxes in the forms established by the relevant federal body executive branch.

What forms are we talking about and are the documents such?

The concept of unified forms of primary accounting documentation appears in the Accounting Law. It established that primary accounting documents are accepted for accounting if they are compiled in accordance with the form contained in the albums of unified forms of primary accounting documentation.

Documents whose form is not provided for in these albums must contain the mandatory details listed in Art. 9 of this Law. Albums of unified forms were approved by the State Statistics Committee of Russia, but not for all sections of accounting (Table 1). As you can see, the albums were not created for unified accounting forms intangible assets, materials, fixed assets, labor and its payment, construction machinery work, cash transactions, inventory results.

Table 1

List of albums of unified forms of primary accounting documentation

The concept of “album of unified forms” is not subject to a broad interpretation, and the list of existing albums given in table. 1 is comprehensive.

Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated July 8, 1997 N 835 assigned the functions of developing and approving albums of unified forms to the State Statistics Committee of Russia, which was later transformed into Federal service state statistics (Rosstat). However, the latter was not vested with any powers in relation to unified forms.

Recognition of decisions of federal executive authorities as normative legal acts. Let us turn to the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of August 13, 1997 N 1009, which approved the Rules for the preparation of normative legal acts of federal executive bodies and their state registration(Rules).

During the period of approval of decisions on unified forms, the State Statistics Committee of Russia was a federal executive body.

A resolution of a federal executive body acquires the status of a legal act subject to its registration by the Ministry of Justice of Russia. The very fact that it was published in pursuance of a decree of the Government of the Russian Federation does not yet allow it to be classified as a legal act. None of the decisions of the State Statistics Committee of Russia that interest us were registered with the Ministry of Justice of Russia.

Acts that do not require registration with the Ministry of Justice of Russia do not acquire the status of legal acts and do not contain legal norms, mandatory for all organizations. Therefore, the unified forms approved by the resolutions of the State Statistics Committee of Russia are advisory in nature.

In this regard, the Letters of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated 04.05.2009 N 07-02-10/24 and the Federal Tax Service of Russia dated 27.07.2009 N 3-2-09/147 deserve attention, in which it is reported that Rosstat, the Ministry of Finance of Russia, the Federal Tax Service of Russia do not have powers to explain the use of forms of primary accounting documents. Therefore, Letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated 01.08.2001 N 16-00-14/364, prohibiting deviation from “landscape” forms, in our opinion, cannot be applied.

The procedure for the entry into force of laws and regulations. From clauses 8 and 10 of Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of May 23, 1996 N 763, which sets out the procedure for the publication and entry into force of acts of the President of the Russian Federation, the Government of the Russian Federation and regulatory legal acts of federal executive bodies, it follows that the legal acts of federal executive bodies , which have not passed state registration, as well as not published in the prescribed manner, do not entail legal consequences as they have not entered into force. They cannot serve as a basis for regulating relevant legal relations or applying sanctions to officials and organizations for failure to comply with the instructions contained therein. They cannot be relied upon when resolving disputes. A similar position is set out in the Determinations of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation dated 03/02/2006 N 58-O and dated 02/11/2006 N 537-O.

State registration of legal acts implies assignment to it registration number. Consequently, references in tax disputes to decisions of the Russian State Statistics Committee on the approval of unified forms are unlawful.

Tax disputes regarding the use of unified forms. The use of the provisions of Decree No. 763 has more than once allowed companies to win tax disputes in arbitration courts (Table 2).

Table 2

Application of Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of May 23, 1996 N 763 in tax disputes

Today, arbitration practice on the application of unified forms is developing mainly in favor of taxpayers.

Unified forms for cash transactions. According to clause 12 of the Procedure for conducting cash transactions in Russian Federation, approved by the Bank of Russia dated September 22, 1993 N 40 (Procedure), cash transactions are formalized using standard interdepartmental forms of primary accounting documentation for enterprises and organizations, which are approved by the State Statistics Committee of Russia. The procedure is considered a normative legal act on the basis of Order of the Bank of Russia dated December 1, 1992 N 02-209. It follows from it that the resolution of the State Statistics Committee of Russia approving standard forms primary documentation, is interdepartmental in nature. Clause 13 of the Accounting Regulations and financial statements in the Russian Federation identifies standard forms with unified ones.

But Resolution of the State Statistics Committee of Russia dated August 18, 1998 N 88 was not registered with the Ministry of Justice of Russia. Consequently, the Unified forms for cash transactions, in our opinion, are not mandatory.

Are unified forms applicable to small businesses? Clause 5 of the Standard Recommendations for the Organization of Accounting for Small Businesses (Order No. 64n) states that small enterprises can use independently developed forms containing the mandatory details provided for by the Accounting Law. This position is also supported in the Determination of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation dated April 10, 2008 N 3856/08. Nevertheless, it is not recommended to refer to Order No. 64n. Why?

Firstly, it is not registered with the Russian Ministry of Justice, which means it is not a legal legal act. Therefore, the reference to it may be disputed tax authority; secondly, the Model Recommendations were developed in accordance with Federal Law No. 88-FZ of June 14, 1995, which became invalid as of January 1, 2008 due to the adoption of Federal Law No. 209-FZ of July 24, 2007.

And most importantly, the criteria for small enterprises contained in the old and new Laws do not coincide.

In conclusion, we note that accountants often underestimate the requirement of paragraph 4 of PBU 1/2008 regarding the approval of forms of primary accounting documents in accounting policy, which does not contain any mention of unified forms. However, it is incorrect to assume that an organization has the right to refuse to use unified forms. It is necessary to either develop your own forms or determine which details of the unified forms can be used.

The organization has no influence on the accounting policies of its counterparties. And since unified forms are not mandatory, it does not have the right to demand their compliance from counterparties. However, you can take care of the quality of the documents that the organization receives from them at the stage of concluding the contract. Fulfillment of the agreed condition can be achieved from the counterparty in court.

E.Yu.Dirkova

NIFI Academy of Budget and Treasury

The Accounting Law requires that all business transactions carried out by an organization be documented with supporting documents (Article 9). These documents are the primary accounting documents on the basis of which accounting is conducted.

Unified forms

The State Statistics Committee of Russia, in development of the above-mentioned resolution of the Government of Russia, approved the Procedure for the use of unified forms of primary accounting documentation, as well as albums of unified forms of primary accounting documentation for certain accounting objects. The table provides a list of these decisions.

Let us note that by Decree of the State Statistics Committee of Russia dated December 25, 1998 No. 132, albums of unified forms of primary accounting documentation for recording trade operations were approved. Namely:

Registration of a wide variety of primary accounting documents is an integral part of the daily business practice of any enterprise. Primary accounting documents are used in personnel and financial activities. This article will discuss the preparation and storage of these documents.

From the article you will learn:

Mandatory forms of primary accounting documents

Primary documents contain accounting information on the basis of which confirmation of the implementation of management actions or business transactions is carried out. In economic and organizational activities Firms use such papers very widely.

In the very general view The document flow of any organization can be classified into three large groups:

• Management documents. Through business papers of this group, administrative management decisions are received and transmitted. These also include papers that contain information used to compile various reports. In turn, management decisions are made on the basis of these reports;
• Personnel documents. These papers contain information about the personnel of the enterprise, data on personnel records, as well as about the organization of work with personnel. This also includes information on personnel rotation, data on changes in positions, and dismissal of employees. Information about rewards and punishments is also included in this group. Finally, vacation schedules, staffing schedules and all primary personnel records are another type of personnel documents.
• Accounting and financial documents. These papers contain information about the economic and production activities of the enterprise. This group includes planning, accounting, analytical and financial statements, various contracts, regulations and all primary accounting documents.

Standard forms of primary accounting documents

In 2017, different forms of primary documents exist both in personnel and accounting records. This also includes supporting and supporting documents containing initial information about different types organizational and economic activities of the organization. In view of the fact that primary documents that were drawn up in accordance with established rules have legal significance, these papers become confirmation of the fact of an organizational action or the fact of performing some business transaction and they are filled out immediately after this fact has occurred.

List of forms of primary accounting documents

Personnel and accounting records are maintained on the basis of standard forms of primary documents. Thus, these business papers are divided respectively into primary personnel and accounting documents.

For example, primary personnel records include an employee’s personal card, an order to grant leave or an order to transfer an employee, a staffing table, a vacation schedule, a dismissal order, an order to send on a business trip, travel certificate, if it continues to be used by the organization in 2017, orders to reward and punish employees.

The types of accounting primary documents are much more diverse. For example, these include records of working hours, settlements with employees regarding wages, evidence of cash and trade transactions, cash receipts received as a result of settlements with individuals when making transactions, settlement and payment documents, records of fixed assets and intangible assets and much more.

It should be borne in mind that primary documents, according to their origin, can be divided into external and internal. External, i.e. incoming from external sources, represent various payment orders, payment requests, demands-orders and invoices. Internal, that is, created within the company, are of four types: administrative, accounting, executive and combined.

Read also:

In 2017, the main document on the basis of which the creation of archives of organizations and the storage of primary documents of all types discussed above is carried out remains the Federal Law of October 22, 2004 No. 125 Federal Law. As follows from this legislative act, the storage periods for business documentation are determined not only by federal, but by other regulations.

Application of forms of primary accounting documents

With the introduction of the new Federal Law “On Accounting” several years ago, the forms of primary accounting documents contained in albums of unified forms of primary accounting documentation became optional. In this regard, employees of the personnel service, accounting department and preschool educational institutions faced a logical question - do they need to develop their own forms or continue to use the old ones that were approved by the State Statistics Committee?

Using old forms

In order to develop their own versions of primary accounting documentation forms, employees of these departments need special knowledge and experience. When deciding to develop your own forms, you need to clearly assess the feasibility of this step.

The existing unified forms continue to remain relevant and fulfill their accounting function. Moreover, if they are adequate to the business processes in the organization, then there is no point in switching to new forms.

It should also be borne in mind that employees of regulatory authorities are more lenient towards old forms and are prejudiced towards new ones. A labor dispute, if one arises, will be easier to win if you use the old forms of primary documentation.

Another argument in favor of the previous forms is that if you keep records of documentation using software, then continuing to use unified forms will not require changes to existing systems.

For some companies, primarily joint ventures or branches of foreign companies in Russia, the transition to new forms may be very relevant. The fact is that they have to simultaneously keep records according to the laws of their country, and according to Russian legislation. Developing their own forms that take into account all the details required by the laws of both countries will help them avoid double preparation of documents.

Please keep in mind that even if you decide to keep office work using old forms, you will have to make some adjustments to them. For example, remove OKUD and OKPO codes, remove the link to the State Statistics Committee Resolution, allocate space for deciphering the signature of the person signing the document (last name and initials), etc.

Application of new forms

The first step in developing new forms should be to determine who will perform this task. By law, the responsibility for developing such forms lies with the person involved in accounting. The problem is that primary documents include not only accounting papers, but also personnel documents. An accounting employee may not know all the intricacies of personnel records management. Therefore, it is necessary to involve an employee of the HR department in the development of new forms.

Our recommendation for creating unified forms for an enterprise is that the template part of the form must be formulated very briefly, avoiding the possibility of double interpretation of the text. It is advisable to use templates, stencils, standard phrases and expressions: “Control over the execution of (document title) is entrusted to (position and surname), “In connection with...”, “Taking into account...”, “Based on...”.

Do not rush to abandon those forms that are often used - time sheets, vacation schedules, staffing tables - you can create new forms based on them. If older forms seem too data-heavy, you can simplify them and remove some lines, columns, or redundant information.

Let's give an example. There is a standard form No. T-3 " Staffing table" It contains columns 6, 7 and 8, intended for recording the allowances that are established for the employee. If these columns are no longer needed, they can be deleted.

All business transactions must be carried out with the preparation of primary documents on the basis of which accounting is maintained.

Accounting documents are classified according to various criteria:

by appointment;

by the volume of transactions reflected in them;

by method of use;

by the number of transactions taken into account;

at the place of compilation;

according to the filling method.

Accounting documents can be divided into groups according to their purpose:

TO organizationally-administrative documents include orders, instructions, instructions, powers of attorney, etc. These documents contain an order, permission, instruction or the right to conduct a business transaction. The information contained in these documents is not entered into accounting registers, since they do not reflect the very fact of the transaction.

TO acquittal(executive) documents include invoices, requirements, receipt orders, acceptance certificates, etc. Supporting documents are drawn up at the time of the transaction, reflecting its execution, and represent a source of primary accounting information or the first stage of the accounting process. The information contained in them is entered into accounting registers.

There are a number of documents that combine permitting and exculpatory nature; such documents are classified as combined(payroll, cash order).

Accounting documents filled out by an accountant to justify entries that have no other documentary evidence. These are various calculations and certificates that play a supporting role and are compiled to facilitate and speed up the work of the accounting department (accounting department certificate for reversing an erroneously made entry; distribution of enterprise profits, general production, general business, non-production expenses, etc.). Information from such documents is also entered into accounting registers.

Unified forms of primary accounting documentation

In accordance with the Law on Accounting and Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated July 8, 1997 No. 835 “On Primary Accounting Documents,” the State Statistics Committee of the Russian Federation, in agreement with the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Economy of the Russian Federation, approves albums of unified forms of primary accounting documentation.

The use of unified forms of primary accounting documentation is regulated by the Regulations on Accounting and Reporting in the Russian Federation.

Primary documents are accepted for accounting if they are compiled according to unified forms approved by the State Statistics Committee of the Russian Federation. The unification of forms of primary accounting documentation is of great importance for improving accounting, as it establishes and consolidates uniform requirements for documenting the economic activities of organizations, systematizes accounting, excludes outdated and arbitrary forms from circulation, and promotes the rational organization of accounting.

The State Statistics Committee of Russia, as necessary, makes changes and additions to the unified forms of primary accounting documentation, and also ensures the further development of unified forms of primary accounting documentation.

The forms of unified documents are adapted for accounting in conditions of mechanized processing of accounting data, as well as for manual processing. Duplicate details are excluded in the forms, the location areas of indicators subject to machine processing are outlined with thick lines, form formats are used in accordance with GOST 9327-60 - A3 ( 297 x 420); A4 (210 x 297); A5 (148 x 210). The formats of the forms indicated in the albums of unified forms are recommended and may change.

Each of the forms is assigned a code designation according to the All-Union Classifier of Management Documentation (OKUD), which is indicated as a separate requisite in the upper right corner of the form.

If necessary, the organization can enter additional details into the unified forms. In this case, all details of the unified forms of primary accounting documentation approved by the State Statistics Committee of Russia must be left unchanged, and the requirements of the standards for their structure and design must be met. Removing individual details from unified forms is not allowed. Changes made must be documented in the relevant organizational and administrative document of the organization.

Documents, the form of which is not provided for in these albums, must be approved in the order on the accounting policy of the enterprise and must contain the following mandatory details:

name of the document (form);

form code;

date of compilation;

business transaction indicators (in physical and monetary terms);

names of positions of persons responsible for carrying out business transactions and the correctness of its execution;

personal signatures and their transcripts.

The forms of such documents may be a separate appendix to the organization’s accounting policy for the corresponding year and approved by a separate order (instruction) of the head of the organization.

Primary accounting documents are important both in matters of accounting and in determining the volume of tax obligations. It is important for the company specialist responsible for drawing up primary accounting documents to clearly understand the content and forms of such documents, as well as to know the specifics of maintaining accounting registers.

The role of the primary document in accounting

Primary documents are documents with the help of which the company formalizes the economic events that occurred at the enterprise (Clause 1, Article 9 of the Law “On Accounting” dated December 6, 2011 No. 402-FZ).

The first thing that accountants of any organization should clearly understand is that today there is no specific mandatory list of forms for primary accounting documents. Any company determines for itself the forms of primary documents depending on the purpose of their use.

However, for such documents a list of mandatory details is legally established (Clause 2, Article 9 of Law No. 402-FZ).

IMPORTANT! The forms used in accounting must be fixed in the accounting policy of the organization (clause 4 of PBU 21/2008, approved by order of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation dated October 6, 2008 No. 106n).

List of possible primary accounting documents

The list of primary accounting documents in 2018-2019 may be as follows:

1. Packing list. This is a document that reflects the list of transferred inventory items. The invoice is issued in 2 copies and contains information that is subsequently reflected in the invoice. The invoice is signed by representatives of both parties involved in the transaction and certified by a seal (if the company uses it in its practice).

1. Acceptance certificate. It is drawn up upon completion of certain works (services) to confirm that the result of the work meets the original requirements of the contract.

See a sample of such an act.

1. Primary documents for payment of wages to personnel (for example, pay slips).

For more information about these statements, see the article “Sample of filling out the payroll statement T 49” .

1. Documents related to the presence of fixed assets - here the company can draw up such documentation from the list of primary accounting documents:

• Certificate of acceptance and transfer of fixed assets in the OS-1 form - upon receipt or disposal of an object not related to buildings or structures.

For more information about this act, see the material "Unified form No. OS-1 - Certificate of acceptance and transfer of fixed assets" .

• If the fixed asset is a building or structure, then its receipt or disposal is formalized by an act in the OS-1a form.

For more details, see the article “Unified form No. OS-1a - form and sample” .

• The write-off of an asset is formalized by an act in the OS-4 form.

For more details, see the material “Unified form No. OS-4 - Act on decommissioning of an asset” .

• If it is necessary to document the fact of the inventory carried out, an inventory list of the fixed assets is drawn up in the INV-1 form.

For more information about such a primary document, see the article “Unified form No. INV-1 - form and sample” .

• If the inventory was carried out in relation to intangible assets, then the inventory will be compiled according to the INV-1a form.

For more information, see the material “Unified form No. INV-1a - form and sample” .

1. A separate group of primary documents are cash documents. These include, in particular, the following list of primary accounting documents for 2018-2019:

• Receipt cash order.

For more information on its compilation, see the article “How is a cash receipt order (PKO) filled out?” .

• Expense cash order.

1. Payment order.

Read about the rules for preparing this document.

1. Advance report.

1. The act of offsetting mutual claims.

Read about the specifics of using this document.

1. Accounting certificate.

For information on the principles of its design, see the material “Accounting certificate of error correction - sample”.

The above list does not exhaust the entire scope of primary documents used in accounting, and can be expanded depending on the characteristics of accounting carried out in each specific organization.

IMPORTANT! They are not primary accounting documents from the 2018-2019 list - the list was proposed above:

• Agreement. This is a document that stipulates the rights, obligations and responsibilities of the parties involved in the transaction, the terms and procedure for payment, special conditions etc. His data is used to organize accounting based on the analytics of settlements with counterparties, but he himself does not generate accounting transactions.
• Check. This document reflects the amount that the buyer agrees to pay by accepting the supplier's terms. The invoice may contain additional information on the terms of the transaction (terms, payment and delivery procedures, etc.), i.e. it supplements the contract.
• Invoice. This document is drawn up for tax purposes, since on its basis buyers accept for deduction the amounts of VAT presented by suppliers (clause 1 of Article 169 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). Thus, in the absence of other documents characterizing a particular transaction, it will be impossible to confirm expenses for this transaction with an invoice (letter of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation dated June 25, 2007 No. 03-03-06/1/392, Federal Tax Service dated March 31, 2006 No. 02-3 -08/31, resolution of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the East Siberian District dated April 19, 2006 No. A78-4606/05-S2-20/317-F02-1135/06-S1).

It should be borne in mind that the unified forms of primary accounting documents are not mandatory for use, since since 2013 (after the adoption of Law No. 402-FZ), forms of such forms can be developed independently. But in most cases they continue to be used. Therefore, in 2018-2019, the list of unified forms of primary accounting documents contained in the resolutions of the State Statistics Committee continues to remain relevant.

What information should the forms of primary documents contain?

Despite the fact that there are currently no mandatory primary documents for all forms, the legislator has established requirements for the content of such documents. The list of mandatory details that must be contained in each primary document is given in paragraph 2 of Art. 9 of Law No. 402-FZ. These are, in particular:

• title of the document;
• the date on which such document was drawn up;
• information about the person who compiled the document (name of the company or individual entrepreneur);
• the essence of the fact of economic life that was formalized by this document;
• monetary, numerical characteristics, measures of the event that occurred (for example, in what volume, in what units and for what amount were the products sold to customers);
• information about the responsible specialists who documented the event, as well as the signatures of such specialists.

Primary documents and accounting registers

How can primary accounting documents be classified?

If the primary document was issued by the company itself, then it can belong either to the group of internal or to the group of external. A document that is drawn up within the company and extends its effect to the compiler company is an internal primary document. If the document was received from the outside (or compiled by the company and issued to the outside), then it will be an external primary document.

The company's internal documents are divided into the following categories:

• Primary administrative documents are those with which a company gives orders to any of its structural units or employees. This category includes company orders, instructions, etc.
• Executive primary documents. In them, the company reflects the fact that a certain economic event has occurred.
• Accounting documents. With their help, the company systematizes and summarizes information contained in other administrative and supporting documents.

After a business event has been documented as a primary document, it is then necessary to reflect the event in the accounting registers. They, in essence, are carriers of ordered information; they accumulate and distribute the characteristics and indicators of business transactions.

By appearance The following registers are distinguished:

• books;
• cards;
• free sheets.

Based on the method of maintaining the register, the following groups are distinguished:

• Chronological registers. They record the events that happened sequentially - from the first in time to the last.
• Systematic registers. In them, the company classifies completed transactions by economic content(example - cash book).
• Combined registers.

According to the criterion of the content of information reflected in the registers, the following are distinguished:

• synthetic registers (for example, a journal order);
• analytical registers (payroll);
• combined registers, in the context of which the company carries out both synthetic and analytical accounting.

Read more about accounting registers see article “Accounting registers (forms, samples)” .

Results

At present, there are no mandatory forms and lists of primary accounting documents: any business entity has the right to independently determine for itself the forms of primary documents that it will use in its activities.

At the same time, the most common primary accounting documents are those that have analogues among the unified forms approved by the State Statistics Committee.

After the primary document is drawn up, it is necessary to transfer information from it to the accounting register.