How to check an accountant

Professional Standards for Accountants 2021

The Institute of Professional Accountants of the Russian Federation developed and the Ministry of Labor approved the current Professional Accountant Standard 309 (Order No. 1061n of December 22, 2014). The document contains the basic requirements for the qualifications, knowledge, education, experience of accounting employees, and also lists the labor functions of such employees. The requirements are specified separately for ordinary employees and managers, that is, chief accountants or deputies.

Initially, the Order was not mandatory and was advisory in nature. The provisions of this regulatory act were used in the process of coordinating the work of the accounting department of enterprises, in order to test the knowledge of personnel and determine the functionality of positions. However, in 2021, the Ministry of Labor began to develop additions to the professional standard for accountants; the project can be downloaded on the official website of the Ministry of Labor. What changes are being discussed?

First of all, qualification levels have been expanded. Levels 7 and 8 will appear. Labor functions have been expanded accordingly - conducting financial and tax analysis, generating reports on EP (separate divisions), organizing and planning various business processes, etc. But at the moment, the updated version of the Standard has not yet been approved, so refer it can only be accessed in the old edition (dated January 23, 2015).

Professional standard for chief accountant from 2021

Features of the professional standard of an accountant

An accountant is a key figure in every organization, regardless of the type of ownership and line of business. That is why we were among the first to develop a mandatory professional standard for this position. Compliance with the document will help improve operational efficiency through an improved approach to the qualification process.

The professional standard “Accountant” was developed by the IPB RF, approved by the Ministry of Finance and approved by the Ministry of Labor in 2014. The new edition of the document includes additional clarifications on those points that caused controversy, as well as some changes to the main points.

The standard has been developed in the form of a whole complex that combines the characteristics of a specialist and the requirements for his level of qualifications. If a document has controversial issues, you can contact the classifier of professions.

Professional standards for accountants from July 1, 2021

In 2021, the Professional Accountant Standard, approved by the Government of the Russian Federation in 2015, will most likely be updated. As before, the norms of this document are not binding for all organizations. Who must comply with these requirements? For the answer, let's turn to clause 4 of the statute. 7 of Law No. 402-FZ of December 6, 2011. It says that professional requirements are imposed on the chief accountants (or persons responsible for accounting) of the following institutions:

Open joint stock companies, except for credit structures.
NPF.
Insurance companies.
AIF and Management Mutual Fund.
Other entities that have securities admitted to organized trading, except for credit institutions.
Management bodies of extra-budgetary state and territorial extra-budgetary funds.

Both Law No. 402-FZ and the Professional Standard for Accountants 2018 establish the need for higher education and a certain work experience for chief accountants of designated types of enterprises. But if the Law approves general requirements for education and experience, the Professional Standard of an Accountant, you can download the document at the end of the article, which explains in detail the job functions, knowledge and skills. The requirements are given for two professions - an ordinary accountant and a chief accountant (or his deputy). What are they?

Mandatory nature of the standard

To assess the degree of mandatoryness of the standard, proclaimed in July 2021, it is worth understanding the qualification requirements established at the legislative level. A number of regulations establish requirements for an applicant applying for the position of chief accountant to have no criminal record, as well as a number of qualification restrictions.

That is, the professional standard in question is mandatory in the sense that, according to its recommendations, it is necessary to prescribe positions and not comply with qualification requirements.

For those specialists who were hired before the standard was approved, they cannot be fired, since experience and education are not reasons for this. As for the chief accountant, failure to comply with qualification requirements can threaten the organization with serious fines.

Professional standard of an accountant - regulatory requirements

Starting from 2021, the professional standard of an accountant is mandatory for ordinary accountants of those organizations whose job descriptions indicate the relevant conditions. In particular, according to the Standard, for an ordinary, not chief, accountant, it is enough to have a secondary education or completed courses. Employment experience is limited to 3 years. In this case, work experience as an assistant to the chief accountant, as well as a cashier or controller will be suitable. Regarding labor skills, their list is limited to three categories:

1 – work with primary data (formation, checking for compliance with regulatory requirements, accounting).
2 – registration of documents and transactions in accounting registers.
3 – determination of final results for accounts by closing turnover.

Categories of specialists

The professional standard for accountants 2021, approved by the government of the Russian Federation, divides accounting department specialists into 2 categories:

accountant specialist;
chief accountant

Representatives of each category have their own generalized labor function, which involves performing specific duties. The document indicates the level of qualifications (on a 9-point scale: 4 for an ordinary specialist, 5 for a chief accountant) that an employee must meet in order to be entrusted with performing specific tasks. Requirements for practical experience are also specified, which give the right to begin performing duties in certain types of organizations.

Accountant specialist

When selected, a specialist must meet the following requirements:

Professional education. To obtain a position, you must have an associate's degree in economics and management, or a certificate of completion of an accounting course. If an applicant receives a higher education, but does not yet have a diploma in hand, he cannot apply for a position, but may be allowed to improve his qualifications.
Experience. Having at least 3 years of experience in a related position (accountant assistant, cashier, financier, economist). This item is advisory in nature.
Professional knowledge. In addition to accounting, a specialist must be familiar with civil, labor, tax legislation, production principles and the peculiarities of work in the industry in which the organization operates.
Functional. Since 2021, the professional accountant standard divides specialists into 3 categories:

the first is working with primary documentation;
the second – carrying out documents according to accounting registers;
third – final calculations, balancing.

According to the professional standard for an accountant 2021, all 3 categories can be combined into one, subject to the condition that this is reflected in the job description.

Chief Accountant

The requirements for this category of applicants are more stringent. Only a candidate with a higher education has the right to occupy the position. In some cases, secondary education is also permitted, but subject to the availability of a certificate confirming the completion of additional advanced training courses.

As for work experience, five years of work experience (out of the last 7) must be directly related to accounting. If the applicant has a specialized education, then 3 years out of the last 5 are sufficient.

In addition to the principles of accounting, the chief accountant must have team management skills, practical skills in resolving disputes with tax services and other regulatory authorities, be able to apply the basics of mathematical analysis and financial planning in practice, and have skills in working with specialized computer programs.

Some organizations may have additional requirements, such as no criminal record for committing an economic crime.

Assistant Chief Accountant

Professional standard of the chief accountant - regulatory requirements

Starting from 2021, the current Professional Standards for accountants necessarily apply to executives - chief accountants, as well as their deputies. Such workers must have only higher or secondary vocational education. And work experience depends on whether you have a degree or not. If you have completed university, 3 years of employment in relevant positions is sufficient; if not, a minimum of 5 years of work experience is required.

At the same time, the employer’s management has the right to hire employees without specialized education if they consider such a decision appropriate. The list of enterprises for which the chief accountant is required to have only a higher education has been approved by Stat. 7 of Law No. 402-FZ. There are 5 levels of labor categories:

1 – generation of accounting reports, including balance sheet, income statement and other forms.
2 – organization and maintenance of tax accounting in the company, including the development of accounting policies, registers, selection of depreciation methods, etc.
3 – internal control over accounting.
4 – preparation of consolidated reporting forms.
5 – development of financial analysis methods and their application in practice.

Labor functions

The new professional standard provides for five main labor functions of an accountant (in the old version there were only two):

accounting, preparation of primary documentation;
preparation of tax reporting;
financial analysis of the organization’s activities and reporting with company divisions;
if there is no HR department, then also maintaining personnel records.

Job descriptions are developed based on the professional standard. Management has the right to change them, but provided that this does not contradict the norms of labor legislation.

As for the chief accountant, the standard also imposes more stringent requirements on the functions performed:

preparation of consolidated reporting;
management of all accounting employees, control of their activities.

If the company has only one accountant, he is automatically considered the main accountant.

Why are we talking about changes?

Information about the new professional standard for accountants from 2021 is not groundless. If only because the document valid at the end of 2021 does not say anything about highly qualified accountants - that is, with higher education at the master’s level.

They introduce increased requirements for education and work experience: to become an accountant, you must have a secondary education. No work experience is required. However, it is still necessary to upgrade the category.

Because they have so much responsibility, accountants will have to frequently upgrade their skills to meet the standards of their profession. So, in 3 consecutive calendar years you must study at least 120 hours and at least 20 hours in each year. And according to the previous rules, there is no need to relearn at all.

Also see “Bad news: according to the recommendation of the Federal Tax Service, accountants, not directors, will be fined.”

As a result, additional high qualifications are being introduced - 7th and 8th. Previously there were only two - 5th (ordinary accountant) and 6th (chief accountant). These levels implied the presence of only secondary vocational education and bachelor's degrees.

New positions in the new professional accountant standard for 2021, in addition to the position of “accountant,” are as follows:

“accountant category I” (5th level);
“accountant category II” (5th level);
head of the accounting department (7th level);
commercial director (8th level).

At the same time, the main function of the head of the accounting department is the preparation of consolidated statements of the company with its divisions, and the commercial director is the preparation of consolidated financial statements.

To become a chief accountant, an employee must have level 6, 7 or 8 qualifications. In this case, the chief accountant of the 7th and 8th levels is obliged to:

have higher education;
undergo advanced training programs.

As you can see, the order of the Ministry of Labor of Russia dated December 22, 2014 No. 1061n, approving the professional standard of an accountant for 2021, was decided to be brought to mind and brought closer to life. In particular, functionality that has long been characteristic of accountants will be added here:

tax analysis;
financial analysis;
individual reporting;
planning and organization of business processes, etc.

Also see “Job description for the chief accountant”.

How to choose an accountant

When hiring an accountant or choosing an outsourcing company, focus on an objective assessment of the applicant’s professional qualities, and not on recommendations from friends.

How to check the qualifications of an accountant when applying for a job

Written test

To weed out incompetent specialists, we recommend conducting a written test among candidates for the position of accountant.

Many accounting websites offer professional test options for accountants. Select a test that matches your company's activity, or use our test option with answers.

The questions in the tests can be complex, designed for a high level of theoretical training of a specialist. If the applicant correctly answered only 2/3 of the questions, then this is already a good result and should be admitted to the next test.

If during testing an accountant answered 60% of the questions correctly, this is a good result.

Knowledge of accounting news

When starting to search for a competent specialist, subscribe to the accounting newsletter, for example: “Glavbukh”, “Clerk.ru”, “Glavnaya Ledger” or ppt.ru.

When interviewing a candidate, select a news item from the newsletter and ask the candidate what he thinks about it. For example: “I heard that the State Duma has adopted a bill to exclude movable property from the list of objects of taxation starting next year. What do you know about this?

Competent accountant up to date with accounting news

Dates of dismissal from previous jobs

Be sure to pay attention to the dates the candidate left his previous jobs. If these dates fall at the end and beginning of the reporting period, this is an alarming signal. Perhaps the accountant started accounting and quit in order not to submit reports and avoid responsibility.

Critical dates for dismissal of an accountant: from March 20 to April 20, from June 20 to July 20, from September 20 to October 20, from December to the end of January. A responsible specialist will not allow you to leave behind “tails” that create problems for the manager. It is worthwhile to find out the reason for the accountant’s dismissal during such periods.

The responsible accountant will not resign at the beginning and end of the reporting period

A small trading organization was choosing an accountant who would keep records as a single person. Of the 57 people who came for the interview, only 8 were able to correctly answer 2/3 of the questions from the accounting test. During the subsequent conversation, only 2 of the 8 remaining were able to comment on the accounting news. The remaining 49 “professionals”, who could not even answer the test questions, are currently doing accounting somewhere.

Recommendations for choosing an outsourcing company

Some small business owners do not hire in-house accountants and use specialized accounting firms. This allows you not to depend on vacation or sick leave and reduces the organization’s expenses for social contributions.

Here are some tips on what to look for when choosing an outsourced accounting firm:

1. Read the company’s website - there should be accounting news there.

Every accounting firm that respects its clients has a website where it posts accounting news and useful information for entrepreneurs. Often, through a personal account on such a site, an entrepreneur has access to his accounting registers and documents.

2. Study the recommendations and reviews about the company on the outsourcer’s website - they must be real.

Please note the review dates. If they are all in the same time interval and there is no replenishment of the “collection”, perhaps they were collected on purpose. Check with the reviewers whose reviews are posted to see if they are currently employed by the accounting firm you are interested in.

3. Find out the scope of activity of most of the companies that the company serves - it’s good if yours is the same.

It’s great if among the outsourcer’s clients there are organizations conducting activities similar to yours. If there are no such organizations, it may turn out that the firm's accountants will not know the industry nuances of your type of activity.

4. Study the contract and the full list of services that will be provided as part of the fulfillment of the obligation to maintain accounting records.

This will help determine the boundaries of the outsourcing company’s responsibility and eliminate further disputes.

Deputy Chief Accountant - rights according to professional standards

The “Rights” section of the instructions indicates the powers that are vested in the employee to perform the duties assigned to him. It is indicated which issues the employee has the right to decide independently, what he has the right to demand from his subordinates.

The specialist must also be endowed with such rights as: make decisions in accordance with job responsibilities, participate in the development of targeted programs, make proposals for improving accounting activities and related processes in the company, and others.

What responsibilities does the Deputy Chief Accountant have?

Any employee who has entered into an employment contract is responsible for:

disciplinary - for failure to perform or improper performance of one’s job duties;
material - for causing material damage to the company;
administrative or criminal - for committed offenses.

Consequences of failure to fulfill official duties of a deputy chief accountant

The director of the company has the right to apply the following disciplinary sanctions to the guilty employee:

comment;
rebuke;
dismissal, but only in cases defined in the Labor Code.

For damage caused, the employee bears financial responsibility within the limits of his average monthly earnings. If an agreement on full financial liability has been concluded with an employee, then he is obliged to compensate the entire amount of damage caused to the organization.

Articles 15.3 – 15.6 and 15.11 of the Code of Administrative Offenses provide for penalties for offenses in the tax area. Article 199 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation establishes criminal penalties for tax evasion.

Next, you can see the instructions of the deputy chief accountant in the form of its main structural elements. It is as close as possible to the professional standard of this profession.

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Sep 10, 2019adminlawsexp

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Should state and municipal institutions apply the professional standard “Accountant”?

O.V. Vasilevskaya

: “The government took advantage of the right granted. On July 1, 2016, the corresponding resolution 9 came into force.

According to this decree, these companies must apply professional standards in stages based on plans approved by taking into account the views of representative bodies of workers. Among other things, these plans, calculated before January 1, 2020, must contain:

a list of professional standards to be applied and the stages of their application;
information on the need for vocational education, vocational training and (or) additional vocational education of employees, obtained on the basis of an analysis of the qualification requirements contained in professional standards and the personnel composition of organizations, as well as information on the implementation of relevant education and training activities;
a list of local regulations that are subject to change in connection with the provisions of professional standards that are subject to application.”

L.I. Khoruzhy

: “In other words, each organization listed in the resolution will independently decide when, in the period until 2020, it will begin to apply the professional standard “Accountant”.

What is the responsibility for non-application or incorrect application of the professional standard “Accountant”?

With regard to chief accountants, the requirements contained in the professional standard “Accountant” are mandatory for application both on the basis of Article 57 and on the basis of Article 195.3 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation. This means that if the specified mandatory legal requirements are not met, the employer may be issued an order to eliminate identified violations of labor legislation.”

E.I. Koposova

: “We should not forget about administrative liability for violation of labor legislation and other regulatory legal acts containing labor law norms. This responsibility is established by Article 5.27 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, namely:

for officials - a warning or the imposition of an administrative fine in the amount of 1,000 to 5,000 rubles;
for persons carrying out entrepreneurial activities without forming a legal entity - from 1000 to 5000 rubles;
for legal entities - from 30,000 to 50,000 rubles.

In other cases, the requirements of the inspection bodies regarding the mandatory application of professional standards are unlawful.”

General provisions of the job description of the deputy chief accountant

This document in most cases consists of the following sections:

General provisions;
Job responsibilities;
Rights;
Responsibility;
Consequences of failure to fulfill official duties.

The “General Provisions” section records the procedure for appointing and dismissing an employee, the employee’s subordination, who is subordinate to him, the procedure for replacing an employee during his absence, as well as the positions that he can fill. An important place in the section is given to the qualification requirements for the employee (education, work experience, knowledge and skills).

To develop qualification requirements, the wording of section 3.2 of the professional standard is used, which is devoted to describing the requirements for training and practical work experience. The employer has the right, at its discretion, to choose the parameters of education and work experience for the employee, based on the specifics of his company.

When forming a list of knowledge and skills for an employee, we use the lists of “Required skills” and “Required knowledge” specified for labor functions in the third section of the professional standard. Here it must be taken into account that the deputy must be able to replace his immediate supervisor, therefore it is important that he possesses almost all the skills and knowledge established for the chief accountant. The director of the company approves the job description by order.

Job responsibilities of the deputy chief accountant for professional standards

Job responsibilities are the main part of the document, which describes in detail the employee’s job functions and actions. When developing a list of responsibilities, we use the wording of labor functions and the labor actions attached to them, specified in sections 3.1.1.- 3.1.3. and 3.2.1.– 3.2.5. “Labor function” of the professional standard.

For example, the professional standard identifies 5 labor functions of the chief accountant. Each of the 5 functions has its own set of work actions. Since there are no regulatory requirements for the functional responsibilities of the deputy chief accountant, the instructions can include labor functions and actions based on the specifics of the company and avoiding duplication of functions.

To apply or not to apply?

O.V. Vasilevskaya

: “Let’s consider what the Labor Code says about the application of professional standards. Firstly, Part 2 of Article 57 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation calls a labor function mandatory for inclusion in an employment contract (work according to a position in accordance with the staffing table, profession, specialty indicating qualifications; the specific type of work assigned to the employee).

And here there is a clarification: if, in accordance with the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, other federal laws, the provision of compensation and benefits or the presence of restrictions is associated with the performance of work in certain positions, professions, specialties, or the presence of restrictions, then the names of these positions, professions or specialties and the qualification requirements for them should comply with the titles and requirements specified in qualification reference books or the relevant provisions of professional standards.

Secondly, part 1 of Article 195.3 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation establishes that if the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, other federal laws, other regulatory legal acts of the Russian Federation establish requirements for the qualifications necessary for an employee to perform a certain labor function, professional standards in terms of these requirements are mandatory for application employers."

ON THE. Alabushina

: “A restriction can be called a rule established by a number of laws - chief accountants should not have an unexpunged (unexpunged) conviction, as a rule, for crimes in the economic sphere. This reputational requirement is established, in particular:

Law on Accounting 3 - in relation to chief accountants of open joint-stock companies (except for credit organizations), insurance organizations and non-state pension funds, joint-stock investment funds, management companies of mutual investment funds, and other economic entities whose securities are admitted to trading in organized trading (except for credit organizations), governing bodies of state extra-budgetary funds, governing bodies of state territorial extra-budgetary funds;
Law on Banks and Banking Activities 4 - in relation to chief accountants of credit institutions and their deputies;
Law on Leasing 5 - in relation to chief accountants of leasing companies;
Law on the Contract System 6 - in relation to the chief accountants of procurement participants;
Law on CCP 7 - in relation to chief accountants of fiscal data operators;
Law on Entrepreneurship Development 8 - in relation to chief accountants of regional guarantee organizations."

E.I. Koposova

: “As for qualification requirements, they are also established for chief accountants of some organizations. For example, the Law on Accounting and the Law on Banks and Banking Activities.

It is also appropriate here that those mentioned in Article 195.3 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation mean regulatory decrees of the President of the Russian Federation, decrees of the Government of the Russian Federation, regulatory legal acts of federal executive bodies, regulatory legal acts of the Bank of Russia, other bodies and organizations with exclusive regulatory rights that establish requirements to employees performing certain job duties (for example, orders of the Ministry of Transport of Russia, Directives of the Central Bank of Russia, Rosatom, etc.). Accordingly, such acts may also contain requirements for the qualifications of accountants, including chief accountants.”

L.I. Khoruzhy

: “So, there are restrictions associated with performing work as a chief accountant of certain organizations. In addition, qualification requirements have been established for chief accountants. It can be concluded that when concluding an employment contract with such employees, the personnel service is obliged to be guided by the professional standard “Accountant” in terms of job title and qualification requirements.

I would like to draw your attention to the fact that in the listed cases, the professional standard “Accountant” is mandatory for employers only in that part of the qualification requirements that are established by laws (other acts). For example, the Accounting Law obliges chief accountants of socially significant organizations to have a higher education, work experience related to accounting, preparation of accounting (financial) statements or auditing activities for at least three years out of the last five calendar years, and if lack of higher education in the field of accounting and auditing - at least five years out of the last seven calendar years.