Data contained in primary accounting documents are subject to timely registration and accumulation in accounting registers.

In this article, Professor M.L. Pyatov continues to acquaint readers with the provisions of the new law “On Accounting” dated December 6, 2011 No. 402-FZ. The material is devoted to the procedure for compiling and presenting primary accounting documentation as the basis for accounting records and maintaining accounting registers, determined by the new Federal Law.

In the Federal Law of December 6, 2011 No. 402-FZ “On Accounting” (hereinafter referred to as the Law of 2011), as well as in the version of the Federal Law of November 21, 1996 No. 129-FZ (hereinafter referred to as the Law of 1996), issues related to the procedure compilation and presentation of primary accounting documents as the basis for entries in accounting accounts are determined by special article 9 “Primary accounting documents”. However, the provisions of the 2011 Law in this area contain significant innovations that should be noted.

Is it possible to have an account without a primary document?

Paragraph 1 of Article 9 of the 1996 Law established that “all business transactions carried out by an organization must be documented with supporting documents. These documents serve as primary accounting documents on the basis of which accounting is conducted.”

The provisions of the 2011 Law contain a slightly different wording: “every fact of economic life is subject to registration with a primary accounting document” (Clause 1, Article 9).

Does this mean that the primary document is no longer considered by the Law as the only “basis for accounting”? It is difficult to give a definite answer to this question. Formally, rather, yes, because the law states that “every fact of economic life” must be documented as a primary accounting document, and according to Article 5 of the 2011 Law, facts of economic life are not the only objects of accounting.

Unified forms of primary documents

Paragraph 2 of Article 9 of the 1996 Law established that “primary accounting documents are accepted for accounting if they are drawn up in the form contained in the albums of unified forms of primary accounting documentation.” As an exception to this general rule, there was a rule according to which “documents, the form of which is not provided for in these albums, must contain the following mandatory details: a) the name of the document; b) date of preparation of the document; c) the name of the organization on whose behalf the document was drawn up; d) content of the business transaction; e) measures of business transactions in physical and monetary terms; f) the names of the positions of the persons responsible for the execution of the business transaction and the correctness of its execution; g) personal signatures of these persons.” “In order to implement the provisions of the Federal Law “On Accounting” of 1996, the Government of the Russian Federation issued Resolution No. 835 dated 07/08/1997 “On Primary Accounting Documents” (hereinafter referred to as the Resolution), in which the State Committee of the Russian Federation on Statistics was assigned “the functions of development and approval of albums of unified forms of primary accounting documentation and their electronic versions” (clause 1 of the Resolution).

Also, the State Committee of the Russian Federation on Statistics was ordered to “ensure, through territorial statistical bodies, starting from January 1, 1998, the provision of albums of unified forms of primary accounting documentation and their electronic versions to users on a contractual basis, while observing the principle of competition” (clause 4 of the Resolution).

In pursuance of the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated 07/08/1997 No. 835, the State Committee of the Russian Federation on Statistics and the Ministry of Finance of Russia issued a joint Resolution (respectively, dated 05/29/1998 No. 57a and dated 06/18/1998 No. 27n), which approved the Procedure for the phased introduction in organizations independently on the form of ownership of those operating on the territory of the Russian Federation, unified forms of primary accounting documentation (hereinafter referred to as the Procedure).

According to this Procedure, from January 1, 1999, primary accounting documents had to be accepted for accounting “if they are compiled according to unified forms approved by the State Statistics Committee of Russia in 1997-1998. in agreement with the Ministry of Finance of Russia, the Ministry of Economy of Russia and other interested federal executive authorities for the following sections of accounting: accounting for agricultural products and raw materials; on accounting of labor and its payment; on accounting of fixed assets and intangible assets; on materials accounting; on accounting for low-value and wear-and-tear items; on accounting of work in capital construction; on accounting for the operation of construction machines and mechanisms; on accounting of work in road transport; on recording inventory results; on accounting of cash transactions; on accounting of trade transactions". According to paragraph 5 of this Procedure, the provision of unified forms of primary accounting documentation and their electronic versions to users of albums was to be carried out by territorial bodies of state statistics, starting from January 1, 1998, on a contractual basis.

The 2011 law repeals this provision. Paragraph 2 of Article 9 only defines the mandatory details of primary documents. According to the Law, “the mandatory details of the primary accounting document are:

1) name of the document;

2) date of preparation of the document;

3) the name of the economic entity that compiled the document;

4) the content of the fact of economic life;

5) the value of the natural and (or) monetary measurement of a fact of economic life, indicating the units of measurement;

6) the name of the position of the person (persons) who completed the transaction, operation and who is responsible (responsible) for the correctness of its execution, or the name of the position of the person (persons) responsible for the accuracy of the execution of the event;

7) signatures of the persons provided for in paragraph 6 of this part, indicating their surnames and initials or other details necessary to identify these persons.”

The composition of the mandatory details of the primary document has been preserved, but here you should pay attention to the wording of the 2011 Law regarding the details reflecting the meter of the fact of economic life.

If the 1996 Law spoke about “measurements of a business transaction in physical and monetary terms,” then the 2011 Law indicates “the value of the natural and (or) monetary measurement of a fact of economic life, indicating the units of measurement.” Thus, according to the new Law of 2011, the primary document may not contain the monetary measurement of the business fact reflected in the accounting.

According to paragraph 4 of the 2011 Law, “the forms of primary accounting documents are approved by the head of the economic entity upon the recommendation of the official charged with maintaining accounting records. The forms of primary accounting documents for public sector organizations are established in accordance with the budget legislation of the Russian Federation.”

3.7. Requirements for accounting registers

1. Data contained in primary accounting documents are subject to timely registration and accumulation in accounting registers.

2. Omissions or withdrawals are not allowed when registering accounting items in accounting registers.

3. Accounting is carried out through double entry in the accounting accounts, unless otherwise established by federal standards.

4. Mandatory details of the accounting register are:

1) name of the register;

2) the name of the economic entity that compiled the register;

3) the start and end dates of maintaining the register and (or) the period for which the register was compiled;

4) chronological and (or) systematic grouping of accounting objects;

5) the monetary measurement of accounting objects indicating the unit of measurement;

6) names of positions of persons responsible for maintaining the register;

7) signatures of the persons responsible for maintaining the register, indicating their surnames and initials or other details necessary to identify these persons.

5. The forms of accounting registers are approved by the head of an economic entity on the recommendation of the official responsible for maintaining accounting records. Forms of accounting registers for public sector organizations are established in accordance with budget legislation.

6. The accounting register is compiled on paper and (or) in the form of an electronic document signed with an electronic signature.

7. If legislation or an agreement provides for the presentation of the accounting register to another person or to a government body on paper, the economic entity is obliged, at the request of another person or government body, to make, at its own expense, on paper copies of the accounting register compiled in the form of an electronic document.

8. Corrections in the accounting register that are not authorized by the persons responsible for maintaining the specified register are not allowed. A correction in the accounting register must contain the date of the correction, as well as the signatures of the persons responsible for maintaining this register, indicating their surnames and initials or other details necessary to identify these persons.

9. If, in accordance with the law, accounting registers are seized, incl. in the form of an electronic document, copies of seized registers made in the manner prescribed by law are included in the accounting documents (Article 10 of Law No. 402-FZ).

Even at first glance at Art. Art. 9 and 10 of Law N 402-FZ, it becomes obvious: they are very similar. By and large, the requirements for accounting registers from January 1, 2013 are almost the same as for the “primary” register. These requirements are significantly expanded compared to Law N 129-FZ.

In all economic entities, except for public sector organizations, forms of accounting registers are developed independently. The fact that data from primary accounting documents must be transferred (registered) in a timely manner, accumulated and systematized in accounting registers, as well as the requirement to avoid omissions or withdrawals when registering accounting objects in registers, are “self-evident”. But they are officially recorded, as well as the general application of the principle of double entry when maintaining accounting records (except for cases provided for by federal standards, for example, when reflecting objects on off-balance sheet accounts, not double, but simple entry is used).

The innovation of Law N 402-FZ is that it finally clearly regulates the mandatory details of the accounting register, which include:

— name of the register;

— name of the economic entity that compiled the register;

— the start and end dates of maintaining the register and (or) the period for which it was compiled;

— chronological and (or) systematic grouping of accounting objects;

— the amount of monetary measurement of accounting objects indicating the unit of measurement;

— names of positions of persons responsible for maintaining the register;

— signatures of the persons responsible for maintaining the register, indicating their surnames and initials or other details necessary for their identification.

The new Law also allows you to compile details not only on paper, but also in the form of an electronic document signed with an electronic signature. Just like the “primary” register, electronic registers must be printed on paper if a copy of it must be presented by an economic entity to another person or to a government body in accordance with the requirements of the law or the terms of the contract.

Corrections can be made to registers, but they must be authorized, and specifically by the person responsible for maintaining the corresponding register. Therefore, the correction must contain not only the date of the correction, but also the signatures of the responsible persons, indicating their last names and initials or other details necessary for their identification.

In the case of seizure of registers, as in the case of seizure of the “primary”, their copies are included in the accounting documents. Mandatory “unified” forms of accounting registers are established only for public sector organizations in accordance with budget legislation. Other economic entities are given freedom with respect to the number, structure, appearance and other parameters of accounting registers. Forms of developed and approved register forms must become part of the organization's accounting policy. This is important not only from an accounting perspective, but also in the context of current tax legislation. Article 120 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation provides for liability for gross violation of the rules for accounting for income and expenses and objects of taxation. The elements of this offense imply not only the absence of invoices, tax accounting registers or primary documents, but also the absence of accounting registers, as well as untimely or incorrect recording of business transactions, cash, tangible assets, intangible assets and financial investments in the accounting accounts taxpayer. In fact, this means that after January 1, 2013, the tax authorities can fine the organization under Art. 120 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation (or at least refuse to recognize its expenses for tax purposes) and if it is discovered that in any of the organization’s accounting registers there is no at least one of the mandatory details provided for by Law N 402-FZ.

Another nuance that should be paid attention to is the following: Law No. 402-FZ does not contain provisions similar to the norms of paragraph 4 of Art. 10 of Law N 129-FZ on recognizing information contained in accounting registers and internal accounting reports as a trade secret. In other words, from January 1, 2013, register data is no longer recognized as a trade secret. But this, of course, does not mean that everyone automatically gets access to accounting registers. An economic entity is not obliged to admit any persons to the accounting registers or to transfer the registers to them upon request for review. Law No. 402-FZ only talks about cases when:

— legislation or a specific agreement with a counterparty provides for the submission of a copy or original of the register to the relevant government body or some person;

— the registers are confiscated, again in accordance with the law.

And finally, let us return once again to the changes that are planned to be made to Law N 402-FZ. Some of them have already been mentioned in the previous paragraph - legislators plan to prohibit the acceptance of documents documenting facts of economic life that did not take place, imaginary and feigned transactions, as well as the registration of imaginary and feigned accounting objects in accounting registers. By imaginary it is proposed to understand a non-existent object reflected in accounting only for appearance (including unrealized expenses, non-existent obligations, facts of economic life that did not take place). An object reflected in accounting instead of another object in order to cover it up (including sham transactions) is considered to be feigned.

In addition, in Part 3 of Art. 10 of Law N 402-FZ states that accounting is carried out through double entry in accounts (unless otherwise established by federal standards). It is intended to be included in Art. 10 additional rule, according to which it is not allowed to maintain accounting accounts outside the registers used by the economic entity. If this proposal does appear in the new version of Law N 402-FZ, increased attention to registers in the context of Art. 120 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation will become even more relevant. After all, this norm actually “equates” maintaining an accounting register to maintaining an accounting account. Accordingly, the organization may well be fined for the lack of a register. With the advent of the new norm, the connection between any violations of filling out registers and reflecting in them information recorded in primary accounting documents and incorrect reflection of information in accounting accounts will become clear.

Primary document carriers

Let us recall that paragraph 7 of Article 9 of the 1996 Law determined the provision according to which “primary and consolidated accounting documents can be compiled on paper and computer media. In the latter case, the organization is obliged to produce, at its own expense, copies of such documents on paper for other participants in business transactions, as well as at the request of the authorities exercising control in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation, the court and the prosecutor’s office.” This requirement of the Law has changed both in form and content, in particular with the introduction of the requirement for an electronic signature.

According to paragraph 5 of Article 9 of the 2011 Law: “The primary accounting document is drawn up on paper and (or) in the form of an electronic document signed with an electronic signature.” At the same time, paragraph 6 of Article 9 of the 2011 Law establishes that “if the legislation of the Russian Federation or an agreement provides for the submission of a primary accounting document to another person or to a government body on paper, the economic entity is obliged, at the request of another person or government body, at its own expense make hard copies of the primary accounting document compiled in the form of an electronic document.” Here the reader’s attention should be drawn to the existence of a special Federal Law dated 04/06/2011 No. 63-FZ “On Electronic Signatures”, Article 2 of which defines an electronic signature as “information in electronic form that is attached to other information in electronic form (signed information) or is otherwise associated with such information and which is used for the specific person signing the information.”

This Law “regulates relations in the field of the use of electronic signatures when making civil transactions... when performing other legally significant actions” (Article 1) and, in particular, defines:

• the procedure for legal regulation of relations in the field of using electronic signatures;
• principles of using an electronic signature;
• types of electronic signatures;
• conditions for recognizing electronic documents signed with an electronic signature as equivalent to paper documents, etc.

Corrections in primary documents

The 1996 Law, while defining the procedure for corrections in primary documents, actually contained provisions related to other areas of legislation (regulation of banking activities, etc.).

Let us recall that paragraph 5 of Article 9 of the 1996 Law established that “corrections to cash and banking documents are not allowed. Corrections can be made to other primary accounting documents only by agreement with the participants in business transactions, which must be confirmed by the signatures of the same persons who signed the documents, indicating the date of the corrections.” According to paragraph 7 of Article 9 of the 2011 Law, “corrections are allowed in the primary accounting document, unless otherwise established by federal laws or regulations of state accounting regulatory bodies. The correction... must contain the date of the correction, as well as the signatures of the persons who compiled the document... indicating their surnames and initials or other details necessary to identify these persons.”

Types of accounting registers

Documents are of the following types:

1. Chronological. Designed for systematic reflection of business activities and included in local reporting.
2. Systematic. They serve to summarize a large block of information for a certain period of the organization’s operation.
3. Synthetic. Provide an individual and detailed description of each operation separately for each department.
4. Analytical. Reflect the total volume of trade turnover: the document is displayed according to certain filter criteria.

An example of synthetic accounting is the balance sheet. It indicates not only the transactions performed, but also the balance at the beginning and end of the month. Debit and Credit are calculated taking into account the initial data at the beginning of each month.

Please note: the resulting balance is carried forward to the next reporting period and is reflected as profit/loss of production.

Seizure of primary documents

The provisions of the Law on the possible seizure of primary accounting documents have also become more consistent with the framework of accounting legislation, without repeating the norms of tax, administrative, criminal and other areas of law.

Paragraph 8 of Article 9 of the 1996 Law established that “primary accounting documents can be seized only by the bodies of inquiry, preliminary investigation and prosecutor’s office, courts, tax inspectorates and internal affairs bodies on the basis of their decisions in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation,” and the “chief accountant or another official of the organization has the right, with the permission and in the presence of representatives of the authorities conducting the seizure of documents, to make copies of them indicating the reason and date of seizure.”

The 2011 law on this matter states the following: “If, in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation, primary accounting documents, including in the form of an electronic document, are seized, copies of the seized documents, made in the manner established by the legislation of the Russian Federation, are included in the documents accounting".

Storage order

Accounting documents must be stored in a specially designated room on shelves or in cabinets. Storage periods are stated in two main legal acts:

1. Article 29 “On Accounting” - storage for periods established in accordance with the rules for organizing state archival affairs, but not less than 5 years after the reporting year.
2. In paragraphs 8 clause 1 of Article 23 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation - taxpayers are required to ensure the safety of accounting and tax accounting data and other data necessary for the calculation and payment of taxes, including accounting registers confirming the receipt of income, expenses, and payment (withholding) taxes, unless otherwise provided by the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

In this case, the period of 4 years established by the Tax Code of the Russian Federation begins after the reporting (tax) period in which the documentation was last used to prepare tax reports, calculate and pay taxes, confirm income received and expenses incurred. In addition, a longer retention period may be established for certain types of registers. For example, payroll records must be kept for 75 years.

Therefore, the organization is obliged to ensure the safety of some registers throughout the entire period of activity, and then transfer them to the archive for storage.

Sample forms of accounting registers - 2021 can be downloaded below.

Turnover balance sheet

Procedure for maintaining accounting registers

The 2011 Law, in terms of the rules relating to the preparation and presentation of primary documents, contains, like the 1996 Law, a special article 10 “Accounting registers”. Clauses 1 and 2 of Article 10 of the 2011 Law reproduce the classic rules for organizing the system of accounting registers, according to which “data contained in primary accounting documents are subject to timely registration and accumulation in accounting registers” (clause 1), and “omissions or withdrawals when registering accounting items in accounting registers” (clause 2). The further provisions of section 10 of the 2011 Law contain significant changes that should be noted.

Storing accounting registers in electronic form

After signing and saving, the accounting register is placed in electronic form in the Archive of Accounting Registers (Fig. 3).

To view the archive and save the register to a file with an electronic signature, do the following:

• click the Accounting Register button -> Open archive (see Fig. 2);
• in the Accounting Register list, select the document that needs to be saved as a file (see Fig. 3);
• select the command All actions -> Save digital signature file.

The selected document has been successfully saved to the appropriate directory.

You can open an electronic document in printed form by viewing it from a .pdf file and check the contents of the generated electronic document.

Double entry accounting

First of all, it is the provisions of the new law on the procedure for organizing the system of accounting registers that now contain an indication that organizations must maintain accounting records using the double entry method.

In the 1996 Law, this instruction contained paragraph 4 of Article 8, which established that “the organization maintains accounting records of property, liabilities and business transactions by double entry on interrelated accounting accounts included in the working chart of accounts.”

Paragraph 3 of Article 10 of the 2011 Law determines that “accounting is carried out through double entry in the accounting accounts, unless otherwise established by federal standards.” This is not only a change in the place of this rule in the text of the Law, but also the introduction into it of the possibility of defining exceptions for this rule by federal accounting standards.

However, the change in the position of this norm in the structure of the Law is also important, since its placement in Article 10 emphasizes the role of accounting accounts as a grouping feature that organizes the system of accounting registers.

Mandatory details of accounting registers

Paragraph 2 of Article 10 of the 1996 Law established that “business transactions must be reflected in the accounting registers in chronological order and grouped into the appropriate accounting accounts.” The 2011 Law abolishes the chronological sequence as the only possible option for organizing records in accounts, as indicated by one of the mandatory details of accounting registers defined by the Law - a norm that appeared in the Law for the first time.

According to paragraph 4 of Article 10 of the 2011 Law, “the mandatory details of the accounting register are:

1) name of the register;

2) the name of the economic entity that compiled the register;

3) the start and end date of maintaining the register and (or) the period for which the register was compiled;

4) chronological and (or) systematic grouping of accounting objects;

5) the monetary measurement of accounting objects indicating the unit of measurement;

6) names of positions of persons responsible for maintaining the register;

7) signatures of the persons responsible for maintaining the register, indicating their surnames and initials or other details necessary to identify these persons.”

By analogy with the definitions regarding primary documents, paragraph 5 of Article 10 of the Law establishes that “the forms of accounting registers are approved by the head of an economic entity upon the recommendation of the official charged with maintaining accounting records. Forms of accounting registers for public sector organizations are established in accordance with the budget legislation of the Russian Federation.”

Are unified forms established for accounting registers?

Official forms to fill out are located in licensed accounting programs, which are installed only after the conclusion of the contract.

Firms providing consulting services administer installed packages for a subscription fee.

A power of attorney for employees can be issued using a template.

The main thing is to maintain the general appearance of the document and describe in detail who, when, how much money was issued, or what powers were granted to this or that official.

In order to competently maintain paper accounting, you need to have on hand the entire list of unified state forms: go to the tax website in the “Registers” section https://ofd.nalog.ru and reporting.

Accounting reporting forms can be downloaded here https://www.consultant.ru/law/ref/forms/.

It is worth noting: the only official document that is drawn up in any form is the Reconciliation Report between counterparties: with its help, debts are identified.

Watch the video in which a specialist explains, using his own example, the system of accounting registers:

Accounting registers and trade secrets

The 1996 Law contained a special rule indicating the following: “The contents of accounting registers and internal accounting reports are a trade secret” (clause 4 of article 10).

The 2011 law does not contain this provision, which naturally raises the question of maintaining the status of a trade secret of an economic entity for the contents of accounting registers.

Here, as in the cases of correction of legal provisions discussed above regarding the removal of irrational repetitions from normative legal acts of other areas of current law, we should use the general provisions of the Federal Law of July 29, 2004 No. 98-FZ “On Trade Secrets” (hereinafter referred to as the Law “ About trade secrets").

Article 3 of this Law defines a trade secret as “a regime of confidentiality of information that allows its owner, under existing or possible circumstances, to increase income, avoid unjustified expenses, maintain a position in the market for goods, works, services, or obtain other commercial benefits.”

At the same time, the Law establishes that information constituting a trade secret (trade secret) is “information of any nature (production, technical, economic, organizational and others), including the results of intellectual activity in the scientific and technical field, as well as information about methods of carrying out professional activities that have actual or potential commercial value due to their unknownness to third parties, to which third parties do not have free access legally and in respect of which the owner of such information has introduced a trade secret regime.”

The Law also specifically defines the concepts of the owner of information constituting a trade secret, access to such information, its transfer and provision, and disclosure of information of this type.

According to Article 3 of the Law “On Trade Secrets”:

“the owner of information constituting a trade secret is a person who legally possesses information constituting a trade secret, has limited access to this information and has established a trade secret regime in relation to it;

access to information constituting a trade secret - familiarization of certain persons with information constituting a trade secret, with the consent of its owner or on another legal basis, subject to maintaining the confidentiality of this information;

transfer of information constituting a trade secret - transfer of information constituting a trade secret and recorded on a tangible medium, by its owner to the counterparty on the basis of an agreement to the extent and on the terms provided for by the agreement, including the condition that the counterparty takes measures established by the agreement to protect its confidentiality;

provision of information constituting a trade secret - the transfer of information constituting a trade secret and recorded on a tangible medium by its owner to government bodies, other government bodies, local government bodies in order to perform their functions;

disclosure of information constituting a trade secret - an action or inaction as a result of which information constituting a trade secret, in any possible form (oral, written, other form, including using technical means), becomes known to third parties without the consent of the owner of such information or contrary to an employment or civil law contract.”

According to Article 5 of the Law “On Trade Secrets”, “a trade secret regime cannot be established by persons engaged in business activities in relation to... information... the mandatory disclosure of which or the inadmissibility of restricting access to which is established by other federal laws.”

Paragraph 11 of Article 13 of the 2011 Law determines that “a trade secret regime cannot be established in relation to accounting (financial) statements.” In this case, the composition of the accounting (financial) statements is established by Article 14 of the 2011 Law, according to which “the annual accounting (financial) statements, except for the cases established by this Federal Law, consist of a balance sheet, a statement of financial results and appendices thereto” (p. . 1). “The annual accounting (financial) statements of a non-profit organization, with the exception of cases established by this Federal Law and other federal laws, consist of a balance sheet, a report on the intended use of funds and appendices thereto” (clause 2). “The composition of interim accounting (financial) statements, with the exception of cases established by this Federal Law, is established by federal standards” (clause 3). “The composition of the accounting (financial) statements of public sector organizations is established in accordance with the budget legislation of the Russian Federation” (clause 4). “The composition of the accounting (financial) statements of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation is established by Federal Law of July 10, 2002 No. 86-FZ “On the Central Bank of the Russian Federation (Bank of Russia)” (clause 5).

Thus, in accordance with the Law “On Trade Secrets”, an organization can establish a trade secret regime in relation to the contents of its accounting registers.

What are accounting registers and why are they needed?

The activities of enterprises, especially large ones, directly depend on competent control of financial flows, as well as on monitoring the final balance of the enterprise. This is exactly what accounting does: without its work, it would be extremely difficult for enterprises of all sizes to develop.

In addition, even if the head of an enterprise would like to do without such financial self-control, according to Federal Law No. 402 of December 6, 2011, legal entities are required to send data on balance sheets, debts, etc. to the Federal Tax Service. Taken together, this means that it is simply impossible to circumvent the accounting requirement, but this is also not unnecessary bureaucratization, because self-control contributes to the growth of the enterprise.

The answer to the main question - what are accounting registers in simple words - sounds like this: it is a means of systematizing accounting data. They look like counting tables, constructed in such a way that the existing balance sheet and sources of assets and liabilities are clear.

With the help of registers, the alienation of rights to any property in the company, the movement of financial resources and other processes are taken into account. Next, all these papers are sent to the Federal Tax Service (FTS). So all data about the company, its balance sheet, open deposits and loans is registered with government agencies.

Note: accounting registers are protected by trade secrets. This is easy to understand if you consider that the accounting registers used during registration are the code for the entire official income of the enterprise, its debts, recipients of deductions, employee salaries, etc. Anyone who had acquired such data before the amendment to Russian legislation could have used it as a means to undermine competitive businesses.

Accounting registers reflect all expenses and income of the enterprise, but this can be done in different ways depending on the convenience and goals pursued by the accountant. Therefore, there is a classification of registers that allows every entrepreneur to adapt to the current business situation.

Carriers of accounting registers

The provisions of the Law regarding the media of accounting registers have also undergone certain changes.

Let us recall that the 1996 Law established that “accounting registers are maintained in special books (magazines), on separate sheets and cards, in the form of machine diagrams obtained using computer technology, as well as on magnetic tapes, disks, floppy disks and other computer media "(Clause 1, Article 10).

In accordance with Article 10 of the 2011 Law, “the accounting register is compiled on paper and (or) in the form of an electronic document signed with an electronic signature” (clause 6). “If the legislation of the Russian Federation or an agreement provides for the presentation of the accounting register to another person or to a state body on paper, an economic entity is obliged, at the request of another person or government body, to make at its own expense on paper copies of the accounting register compiled in the form electronic document" (clause 7).

It is obvious that this change in the text of the Law only brought the latter into greater compliance with the realities of our time.

Classification of accounting registers

There are three main classifications of accounting registers. The first classification reflects the purpose of certain accounting registers. There are:

1. Chronological. Events that took place in business activities are displayed in chronological order over time (registration books).
2. Systematic . Filling occurs in accordance with certain accounting accounts. This results in some kind of systematization of economic activities (balance sheet).
3. Combined accounting registers are registers that combine the two previous types. Using different ways of recording business transactions makes the presentation more clear. Thus, recording systematic and chronological lists is called combined and offers a more visual representation of information.

Classification of accounting registers
Registers may differ in the generalization of information:

• A synthetic register in accounting is a register in which only the date and amount are indicated when registering a transaction.
• Analytical. In addition to information that relates to the transaction details, a certain description of this business transaction is displayed.

For more complete information, as in the case of combined registers, synthetic registers can be combined with analytical ones. As a result of this display, the totals for each of the registers coincide, which will free you from additional verification of the correctness of the calculations.

The latest classification of registers is by appearance:

• Book presentation. The register has the form of a book, the pages of which are filed in a special way and also numbered. At the end, the appropriate seal and signatures of the persons who are responsible for this register are affixed.
• In the form of a card. This register is a typewritten table.
• On a free sheet. The table, which, just like the book, is subsequently filed. A special register is maintained for registers on free sheets to avoid substitutions and other illegal actions from any side.
• On machine media. An electronic document, which is confirmed by a special electronic signature and stored on a magnetic medium. The main purpose is the timely printing of electronic information on paper.