Regulations on settlements with accountable persons - sample

Accountability statement: why and by whom it is published

An internal document on the procedure for settlements with accountable persons for funds issued for business needs is developed in the organization to ensure full control of the movement of accountable amounts, their intended use and correct reflection in accounting.
When developing the Regulations, it is necessary to use regulatory documents regulating the relations of participants and their actions:

• Directive of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation “On the procedure for conducting cash transactions” dated March 11, 2014 No. 3210-U;
• Law “On Accounting” dated December 6, 2011 No. 402-FZ;
• by order of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation “On approval of the Chart of Accounts” dated October 31, 2000 No. 94n;
• Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

The regulation may be an annex to the accounting policy, or it may be an independent local document.

Consequences of unjustified issuance of amounts on account

For none of the reasons listed in the previous section, a company (or individual entrepreneur) cannot be held liable. And although the Code of Administrative Offenses contains Art. 15.1 entitled “Violation of the procedure for handling cash and the procedure for conducting cash transactions, as well as violation of the requirements for the use of special bank accounts”, liability for it can only arise in the following situations:

• cash settlements with legal entities in excess of the established limit;
• non-receipt of cash to the cash desk;
• violation of the procedure for storing cash;
• violations committed by payment agents.

The established amount of penalties for these violations is 4,000–5,000 rubles. for officials and 40,000–50,000 rubles. - for legal entities. There are no sanctions for other situations.

However, irresponsible issuance of funds to the account can be even more expensive - for example, if tax authorities reclassify a large amount issued to the director for a long period as an interest-free loan and charge personal income tax on the material benefit.

It is also not a difficult task for controllers to establish that the endless issuance and return of funds from the subaccount is used to disguise exceeding the cash register limit.

IMPORTANT! Even if the auditors understand the true meaning of the operations carried out by the business entity with the funds issued for accountability, they will have to defend their point of view in court. Arbitration practice in this area is very heterogeneous (for example, the decisions of the 7th Arbitration Court of Appeal dated March 26, 2014 in case No. A67-5875/2013 and the FAS of the Volga District dated March 13, 2014 No. A65-15313/2013 were adopted in favor of the company, and decision of the Moscow City Court dated 08/14/2013 in case No. 7–1920/2013 and resolution of the Federal Arbitration Court of the North Caucasus District dated 07/05/2012 No. F08-3500/12 in case No. A53-8405/2011 - in favor of the Federal Tax Service).

For more information about liability for violations committed when handling cash, read the article “Cash discipline and liability for its violation .

Reflection of goals, deadlines and limits on accountable amounts

Accountable money is given to employees of the enterprise for expenses related to the direct activities of the organization. According to paragraph 5 of Directive No. 3210-U, an employee is a person with whom an employment contract or a civil law contract has been concluded. This means that both a full-time employee and an outside contractor can receive money.

In this paragraph of the Regulations, you can give a general description of what expenses the money will be given to employees:

• administrative and economic,
• representative,
• travel allowances

Or it is possible, at the discretion of management, to issue a separate order approving the list of business expenses and the amounts within which funds will be issued. Accountable amounts exceeding those specified in the order must be additionally approved by the manager.

The terms for which the accountable person can receive money are also determined by management and can be simultaneously specified in an order with a list of the purposes for issuing the advance and its limit. The Regulations themselves should indicate that specific deadlines for certain accountable amounts are indicated in a separate order. For cases not specified in the order, a clause should be fixed in the Regulations that defines the general maximum reporting period, for example, no more than a month.

A list of employees entitled to receive money for business expenses will make the accountant’s work easier. It can be presented in this Regulation in the form of a list of positions. It is better to collect specific names in a special list of accountable persons and issue them by a separate order, so as not to re-issue the entire Regulation due to the addition of an additional accountable person to the list.

Find out how to write an order correctly from this article .

What to do with the transfer fee?

If a transfer fee was charged for a refund transaction, whether to reimburse it or not and accept it as expenses or not will depend on the wording in the organization’s local act on the procedure for reimbursement of travel expenses and in the local act on non-cash payments.

If the local regulations of the enterprise do not provide for a way to return an unspent advance through an online bank, as well as reimbursement of the bank’s commission for such a transaction, then the employer is not obliged to return to the employee the amount paid to the bank for the transaction.

Thus, a collective agreement or a local act of an organization may establish the types and amounts of reimbursable travel expenses, the procedure for their reimbursement, the procedure and method (cash and/or non-cash, including through online banking) of returning an unused advance, a list of documents accepted in confirmation of expenses (including in the form of a bank commission charged when returning an unspent advance through online banking).

An example of including in a local act a provision on the method of returning unused amounts to the organization’s current account:

The employer's local act may contain a provision on reimbursement to the employee for any expenses incurred with the permission or knowledge of the employer. In this case, the decision to reimburse the bank’s commission for returning money through online banking can also be made.

Material on the topic The Ministry of Finance has authorized the transfer of accountable amounts for fuel and lubricants to bank cards

If reimbursement of the commission is provided for by local regulations, then the employer can take it into account in income tax expenses, like other expenses associated with production and (or) sales (clause 49, paragraph 1, article 264 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, Letters No. 03-03 -06/1/18005, No. 16-15/105572).

Mandatory conditions for issuing accountable amounts

When developing the Regulations, it is necessary to reflect under what conditions the issuance of accountable amounts should occur. These rules are described in clause 6.3 of the procedure for conducting cash transactions:

• The issuance of money to the account is carried out on the basis of an application from the employee (from November 30, 2020, it is not necessary to indicate the amount and period for which the advance is issued) or an administrative document from the manager (from November 30, 2020, it is allowed to be issued for several cash advances to one or more accountable persons , in this case, the document must indicate the full name of the recipients, the amounts to be reported and the terms for which they are issued).

NOTE! The presence of debt on accountable amounts is not a limitation for receiving a new advance (clause 1.3 of instruction No. 4416-U).

• It is advisable to note the period during which the director reviews and signs the application, and how long after this the employee must be given the money to account. If the money is issued by order of the director, then similarly indicate the period during which the employee receives the money against the cash register.
• The Regulations should also fix the following point. Provided that an employee cannot, for any reason (lack of cash in the company's cash register or being at the workplace), receive an advance, but has the right, with the verbal consent of the manager, to make expenses in the interests of the company from his own funds, their subsequent compensation is made based on the application employee.

For more details, see: “What to do if the accountable person has spent his money?”

• If an employee receives an advance payment for settlement under the organization’s power of attorney, then it is necessary to note in the Regulations in what cases this should happen. You should also write that cash payments on behalf of a company with legal entities and individual entrepreneurs under one agreement should not exceed the limit established by law (for 2022 it is 100,000 rubles).

What document and how are cash payments regulated? Read here: “What is the limit for cash payments between legal entities?” .

Accounting and the amount of settlement with the supplier are not the same thing

When there is a conversation about limiting the amounts involved in accountable business operations, confusion often arises and the amount of 100,000 rubles is mentioned. Where did she come from?

It should be understood that the process of receiving and spending funds by an accountable employee includes 2 main business operations:

1. Receiving money from the employer as an account for purchases necessary for the implementation of its activities.
2. Purchasing goods and services from a supplier and making payments to him.

And if the first operation, as we found out, does not imply legislative restrictions on amounts, then the second in terms of cash payments (i.e., money issued on account) is strictly regulated by the Bank of Russia directive “On making cash payments” dated October 7, 2013 No. 3073 -U, setting a limit amount for them. According to clause 6 of this document, the limit is in the amount of 100,000 rubles. applies to cash payments under one agreement made between legal entities, entrepreneurs, as well as between a legal entity and an individual entrepreneur.

IMPORTANT! The above restriction does not apply to ordinary individuals (citizens who are not entrepreneurs) participating in settlements with companies and individual entrepreneurs. At the same time, an individual employee who acts in a transaction not independently, but on behalf of his employer (for example, by proxy), is also obliged to comply with cash payments (Article 182 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).

NOTE! Regarding the establishment of the maximum possible amount of 100,000 rubles. The legislation does not provide for any time limits (for example, the common misconception “100,000 rubles in one day”). Thus, this limit cannot be circumvented by dividing the payment amount under the agreement into several payment transactions made on different days.

Important! ConsultantPlus warns There is a fine for exceeding the cash payment limit. It can be imposed by the tax authorities if they identify cash payments exceeding the limit within two months from the date of their implementation (part 1 of article 4.5, part 1 of article 23.5 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation). The fine amounts are... For more details, see K+. Trial access is available for free.

Deadlines and procedure for submitting advance reports

An advance report is a document on the basis of which control of cash flows and the establishment of the fact of a business transaction take place, because with it primary documents confirming this fact are submitted to the accounting department.

The Regulations must specify within what time the report in Form AO-1 must be submitted to the accounting department. From November 30, 2020, the organization can independently set the deadline for the accountable person to submit the advance report. The requirement that it must be submitted no later than 3 working days after the expiration date for which the reports were issued, or from the date of return to work, has been cancelled. If the report form is developed independently at the enterprise, taking into account its specifics, it is necessary to approve it by order of the manager, and write a clause about this in the Regulations.

It is recommended that a detailed description be made of what source documents must be submitted and how they must be completed in order for them to be accepted as evidence of expenditure incurred. It is often not enough to have one payment document - a cashier's check or a counterfoil for a cash receipt order. You may also need the following documents for purchased goods or services:

• in retail trade - sales receipt;
• in wholesale - delivery note and invoice;
• when paying for services - an agreement, an invoice, an acceptance certificate or a universal transfer document.

Important! Recommendation from ConsultantPlus To avoid the problem of confirming expenses in situations where cash receipts are lost or cash receipts have faded, we recommend doing the following. See K+ for three options. Trial access to K+ is free .

Return of accountable amounts to the cash desk of a budgetary institution

An employee who has received funds on the basis of an order from the manager is required to provide an advance report no later than three working days from the end of the period for which the report was issued. Such standards are established in paragraph 6.3 of Bank of Russia Instructions No. 3210-U. Moreover, the employee submits not only the advance report, but also all supporting documents (receipts, tickets, checks, invoices, etc.). The entire package is checked by the accounting department, then the report is approved by the manager. We talked in detail in the article about how to organize settlements with accountable persons.

The money received is received at the institution's cash desk using a special document - a cash receipt order. We also wrote about the rules for maintaining cash discipline. At the end of the day, the cashier calculates the balance of funds in the cash register: if it exceeds the maximum permissible limit for the cash balance, then the difference should be deposited into the current account of the government organization.

Procedure for checking and approving advance reports

In this part of the Regulations, it is necessary to reflect the main points related to the advance report, after the preparation of which the employee, together with the primary documents attached to the report, submits it to the accounting department. In particular, these:

• The accountant fills out a receipt for the advance report and gives it to the employee.
• It is advisable to describe how the report itself and the documents attached to it are verified. Primary documents must contain the necessary details, correspond to the purpose and match the amount. Documents filled out incorrectly will not be accepted for accounting and will be reimbursed to the accountant.
• After checking and filling out his part of the report, the accountant sends the document for signature to the chief accountant, and then to the manager for approval.
• The period during which the report must be checked and approved, as well as the amounts for this analytical account must be closed, must be indicated in the Appendix. For example, a week is given to check and approve a report, and 2 business days are given to issue overruns or deposit the balance into the cash register after approval by the manager. If the balance of the account is not returned within the specified period, the enterprise has the right to withhold this debt from the salary of the accountable person in accordance with the law (Article 137.138 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).

Important! Recommendation from “ConsultantPlus” To withhold an unreturned amount from an employee’s salary, you need to: 1) draw up an order from the manager about withholding in any form. This must be done no later than... (for more details, see K+). Get trial access to K+ for free .

How to correctly reflect the return in accounting, read the article “Return by an accountable person of the amount of an unspent advance .

• If during the period for which accountable funds were issued, the employee did not purchase anything, then within the period specified in the Regulations the money in full must be returned to the organization.
• If an enterprise is active, as a result of which accountable amounts are regularly issued to a large number of employees, then for control and accounting it is recommended to carry out an inventory of settlements with accountable persons several times a year. This issue should also be covered in the Regulations.

For settlements with accountable persons regarding travel expenses, it is recommended to issue a separate Regulation on business trips, which should consider all the nuances of travel expenses and possible disagreements with accountable persons and tax authorities.

A sample of such Regulations can be found at the link.

Reimbursing employees correctly

If the sequence of the above actions is violated and the employee has spent his own DS in full confidence that the employer will reimburse him for all expenses, then such an operation, in its economic essence, has nothing to do with reporting. After all, in it the employee acted on his own behalf (Clause 1 of Article 183 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation), and it is still unknown whether the manager will approve this purchase. This happens when an employee does not coordinate his actions with his manager. For example, if a manager negotiated with a client, paying for dinner at an expensive restaurant, or the supply manager purchased materials on the market at several times more expensive than the company would have bought them from a wholesale supplier.

Having spent his own money in such a situation, the employee must first coordinate his expenses with the director, drawing up an application for reimbursement of expenses incurred and attaching all primary documents. If the manager approves them, then it is necessary to draw up an order or order on the payment of compensation to the employee.

See also: “Transferring a sub-report to an employee’s card from a current account.”

To ensure that controllers do not have grounds for complaints, many companies draw up a general order or other local act of the enterprise, reflecting the procedure for reimbursement of such costs. The document indicates the possible purposes for spending the funds, the maximum amount that the employee can spend, the timing of payment of compensation; it is certified by the signature of the director and, against signature, is submitted for review to all interested employees.

After the primary documents are received by the accounting department, they must be checked. If they are drawn up in accordance with the requirements of Art. 9 of the Law “On Accounting” dated December 6, 2011 No. 402-FZ, and the name of the company is indicated in the “Buyer” column, which means there is documentary evidence that the employee in this situation is purchasing valuables for the needs of the employer.

Since the employee does not receive economic benefits, these amounts are not recognized as income, therefore, there is no need to withhold personal income tax. Officials came to this opinion in a letter from the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation dated 04/08/2010 No. 03-04-06/3-65.

This payment is formalized with an expense cash order and the entry Dt 73 “Settlements with personnel for other operations” Kt 50. And the posting Dt 10 (07, 08, 11, 41) Kt 73 records that the acquired assets have been accepted for accounting.

Example 2

Commercial Director of Fregat LLC Alekseev A.V., while at the presentation of the supplier’s goods, decided to purchase a small trial batch, having agreed on this issue with the general director by phone. He spent 35,477 rubles on the purchase. from own funds.

The primary documents were drawn up for Fregat LLC, and based on the manager’s order and the application for reimbursement of the amounts spent, the cashier paid the amounts spent by the employee.

The accountant recorded the following entries in the accounts:

Dt 41 Kt 73 - 30,065.25 rub. — goods are accepted for accounting;

Dt 19 Kt 73 - 5411, 75 rub. — reflected incoming VAT;

Dt 73 Kt 50 - 35,477 rub. - reimbursement of expenses to the employee.

However, in practice, some accountants still require the preparation of an advance report, since it is an additional document that confirms that the employee who spent his own money made purchases for the purposes of the enterprise, and not for his own personal ones. Current legislation does not contain information that directly permits or prohibits the preparation of advance reports when an employee spends his own funds. Thus, both the execution and the absence of an advance report in this case are acceptable and will not be considered an error.

Regulations on accountable persons: sample 2020-2021

When developing the Regulations on settlements with accountable persons in 2020-2021, it is possible to establish the right of an employee to receive sums of money for business needs not only in cash, but also by non-cash means, using:

• company corporate card;
• employee's personal bank cards.

This can be done on the basis of an application from the employee or an order from the manager (letter of the Ministry of Finance dated July 21, 2017 No. 09-01-07/46781). If money is issued upon application, then the employee indicates his card details in it.

A sample Regulation on settlements with accountable persons can be downloaded here, using the link below:

You can add or shorten the sample to suit the specifics of your business.

How is the amount of return of funds taken into account reflected in accounting?

The company, having received accountable amounts from the employee, reflects the following entries in accounting:

• Dt 50 Kt 71 - return of cash to the cash desk;
• Dt 51 Kt 71 - return of accountable amounts to the ruble bank account of the enterprise;
• Dt 52 Kt 71 - return of the sub-report to the company’s foreign currency account;
• Dt 94 Kt 71 - reflection of the debt of the accountable in case of non-repayment of the amounts issued by him.

For information on what to do if an employee does not have enough accountable funds, read the article “ What to do if an accountable person has spent his money? "

Results

An internal document developed for settlements with accountable persons serves as an assistant for maintaining order when processing the issuance of funds and their intended use. Those points and subtleties that are not regulated by law must be specified in the Regulations. In this case, the accountant will have a legal basis for recording the fact of economic activity.

Sources:

• Labor Code of the Russian Federation
• Federal Law of December 6, 2011 N 402-FZ “On Accounting”
• Order of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation dated October 31, 2000 N 94n
• Directive of the Bank of Russia dated March 11, 2014 N 3210-U

You can find more complete information on the topic in ConsultantPlus. Free trial access to the system for 2 days.

Payments made by notaries through accountants

Let's consider the situation. The employer-notary plans to issue cash on account to the employee for the purchase of a computer worth more than 110,000 rubles. Does he have the right to do this and can the seller refuse to accept the full amount in cash to the notary office employee?

In this case, there will be no restrictions on the amount of amounts - neither on the amount reported (since there are no such restrictions in principle), nor on the amount paid. The fact is that notarial activity is recognized as a legal activity performed on behalf of the state and is not recognized as entrepreneurial, since it is not accompanied by the extraction of profit (Resolution of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation dated May 19, 1998 No. 15-P).

At the same time, privately practicing notaries are equated to entrepreneurs only in tax legal relations (Article 11 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). In other cases (including those related to cash payments), notaries are not subject to the rules established for individual entrepreneurs (letter of the Federal Tax Service for Moscow dated 04/08/2011 No. 17-26/034104). Therefore, an employee of a notary office who has received cash on account from his employer can pay in full with it, even if the purchase price is more than 100,000 rubles.

Funds issued for reporting always attract increased attention from tax authorities. That is why it is very important to correctly prepare all documents and mutual settlements with accountable persons. ConsultantPlus experts explained in detail how to do this. Get trial access to the K+ system and go to the Guide for free.

How to correctly formulate an employee

The appeal is drawn up in a single copy addressed to the head of the organization or to another responsible person with the appropriate authority. There is no unified form. A correct application on behalf of an employee contains information:

1. Information about the applicant: full name of the employee, position and structural unit.
2. The required amount for expenses.
3. Justification for receiving money.
4. The period within which it is planned to make the necessary expenses, events, trips.
5. Date and signature with transcript.

The application must be submitted both in written (by hand) and electronic form. If you have prepared an electronic request, print it out, sign it and submit it to the director for approval.

This is what a sample application for reporting from an employee looks like: