Adjustment of Russian financial statements for financial analysis: an algorithm of actions. Updated balance sheet of the company Updated balance sheet

Often, primary documents relating to business operations of the reporting year are received belatedly. What to do in this case with ready-made reports? Do I need to correct inaccuracies in accounting reports?

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The preparation of financial statements must be treated with the utmost care. But this does not guarantee a 100% absence of errors.

Sometimes inaccuracies arise due to the late receipt of primary documents related to the reporting operation of the reporting year.

Is it necessary to correct the financial statements in such a situation? Can I submit an amended balance sheet?

Important Aspects

In the issue of correcting errors in accounting documentation, it is appropriate to follow PBU 22/2010 “Correction of errors in accounting and reporting”.

This standard has been ratified. in accordance with it, interim accounting reports are not subject to adjustment.

But when compiling reports for the year, it is necessary to recalculate.

However, other regulations speak of the possibility of making changes to the annual financial statements if an error is discovered in the period between the date of signing the statement and the date of its approval.

Only significant errors are subject to correction, provided that users of the reporting are informed. The form of informing the addressee about the clarification of accounting is chosen by the organization independently.

You can submit updated reports to the inspection bodies and attach a written explanation of the reasons for the correction to it.

What it is

Accounting reporting is a set of information about the financial and property condition of the organization and the final consequences of its management.

Reporting is formed on the basis of accounting information using established forms.

The purpose of accounting is to summarize all accounting data for a certain period of time and submit them to interested parties in a visual format.

The preparation of financial statements is the final stage of the accounting process. Reporting reflects the growing result in the property and financial condition of the company for a certain time.

The need for financial statements is due to the fact that it can be used to solve a number of significant tasks. In particular:

But, despite the numerous options for the use of financial statements, first of all, it is prepared for controlling structures.

In particular, mandatory reporting to the Federal Tax Service and Rosstat is required. Based on the data obtained, the activities of the economic entity are checked.

The tax authority checks the compliance of accounting and tax reporting data. Refined financial statements, as the name implies, are statements with amendments or changes.

It practically does not differ from ordinary financial statements. The content and form remain the same.

The only difference is in some corrections in the document and the appendix of an explanation explaining the reason for the corrections.

It is allowed not to correct the reporting, but to submit a new one. It is compiled in the usual manner, but a note is made that the reporting is clarified and an explanatory note is attached.

What is the purpose of serving

Is there an obligation to submit revised financial statements? Not a single legislative document or normative act provides for the submission of revised accounting reports to the tax service.

But you need to pay attention to PBU 7/98, which was supplemented by paragraph 12.

This paragraph defines the conditions for informing users about changes in reporting. The tax office can also be counted among the users.

According to the specified provision, if in the period from the date of signing the reporting to the date of its approval, there were events that could significantly affect the results of the company's activities and its financial position, then it is necessary to notify the direct users to whom the reporting was provided about these facts.

One of the facts that is recognized as distorting the reporting is the presence of a significant error in the content of accounting. But it does not disclose the definition of "materiality".

That is, it is up to the reporter to decide on the significance of the error. To do this, the degree of influence of the error on the final indicators is determined.

At the same time, it is necessary to proceed from the fact that not disclosing a certain indicator can lead to incorrect decisions.

Thus, the purpose of filing revised financial statements is to avoid misinterpretation of the statements by users.

If the error is not significant, then it is not necessary to refine the reporting.

The legislative framework

Design rules

According to section 2 of PBU 22/2010, if errors are found in the financial statements, the following correction options are possible:

Therefore, it is necessary to submit financial statements with clarifications only before they have been approved by the meeting of founders. After this point, the statement cannot be changed.

The procedure for filing with the tax

In the established forms for accounting reports, there are no fields for adjustment. So you need to draw up a new report, but on paper.

The fact of the error should be recorded in . A cover letter must be submitted along with the corrected statement.

It should explain in detail the reason for the correction and its implications for the perception of reporting.

It is required to submit corrected financial statements both to the tax authorities and to the statistics service. Provided that the reporting has not yet been approved.

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It should indicate the presence of an error and ask to correct such and such a line with the correct data. According to experts, this will help avoid sanctions for misrepresenting reporting data.

Do I need to pass the simplified

According to these norms, all organizations using the simplified regime for taxation were exempted from mandatory bookkeeping, and, consequently, from the provision of financial statements.

And since there is no reporting, then there is nothing to clarify. In 2013, the revised .

From that moment on, the obligation to maintain accounting became applicable to any organizations, including those applying the simplified tax system.

Accounting has become the reason for the formation of financial statements as the final stage of the process.

But organizations do not provide annual financial statements only to statistical authorities. In this case, when an error is discovered, it is not required to notify the tax authorities.

As for Rosstat, the organization itself has the right to notify this body of an error and provide updated reporting.

Or you can not submit a “clarification” at all, if the statistics authorities have not received a request to provide explanations for the identified error.

Deadlines

Article 34 of Federal Law No. 14 establishes that the meeting of the founders, at which the annual financial statements must be approved, must be held no earlier than two months after the end of the reporting period, but no later than four months.

That is, the time of the meeting is not earlier than the first of March and not later than the thirtieth of April.

At the same time, it determines the need to submit annual accounting reports to the tax service within ninety days after the end of the reporting year, that is, no later than March 30.

It follows from this that the day of approval of the accounting records may happen later than the date of its signing.

The organization has the right to make amendments to the annual financial statements before its final approval by means of records in December of the reporting year.

If initially organizations submitted unapproved reports to the tax authority, then up to the date of approval, corrections can be made to the reports.

Errors in already submitted reports are not uncommon. In the article we will tell you whether it is possible to file an adjustment to the financial statements for the previous period, we will determine the situations when it is necessary and when it is not necessary.

Accounting statements: adjustment after the balance sheet date

The procedure for making changes to an already submitted annual financial report is regulated at the legislative level, in principle, as well as the rules for compiling accounting reports. Thus, the Order of the Ministry of Finance dated June 28, 2010 No. 63n, or PBU 22/2010, establishes the key rules for amending the financial statements of an economic entity.

The algorithm of action depends on the date of detection of the error, on the degree of its materiality, significance, and also on whether the financial statements were approved by the owners of the company or not. Note that the adjustment of the simplified financial statements is carried out by analogy.

Thus, for one situation, the adjustment of financial statements is not provided, and for the other, it is mandatory. Let's figure out what actions to take an accountant in each case.

Rules and terms for approval of financial statements

In accordance with law No. 402-FZ, accounting must be signed by the chief accountant and the head of the company. Also, the head of the economic service must put his signature if the reports contain similar information. In addition to the mandatory signing procedure, the reports must be approved by the owners (owners, founders, shareholders) of the company.

Recall that the deadline for submitting financial reports to the Federal Tax Service is until March 31 of the year following the reporting one. A similar period has been set for other controlling state bodies, for example, Rosstat and the Ministry of Justice. At the same time, other dates have been set for the approval of financial reports. So, for example, the founders of an LLC must be approved in March or April of the year following the reporting year. But the owners of joint-stock companies have the right to carry out this procedure even later - from March to June inclusive.

Consequently, in most cases, the Federal Tax Service provides information that has not yet passed the approval procedure regulated in Law No. 402-FZ. Thus, the question becomes logical: is the adjustment of the financial statements submitted after approval? The answer is categorical - no. After the accounting is approved by the owners of the company, no corrections need to be made.

The accountant makes corrective entries already in the current period, without changing the data of the reporting year. The entry is made using account 84 "Retained earnings or uncovered loss" in correspondence with the account for which a significant inaccuracy was discovered.

Date of detection of errors and adjustment of accounting records

So, we decided that it is not necessary to send the amended report to the Federal Tax Service after its approval. Now consider the situation “before approval”, is it possible to submit an adjustment to the financial statements?

If the reporting form has not yet been approved, then adjustments must be made. However, changes should be made taking into account the date the error was discovered. So, legislators in PBU 22/2010 provided for several situations. Let's consider each of them.

Situation No. 1. Found an error before or during the preparation of financial statements.

In this case, the accountant makes corrective entries in the reporting period. In other words, if an error is found at the time of preparation of financial statements, then the incorrect entry (operation, posting) is corrected. Therefore, the report will already be compiled correctly, and there is no need to provide a corrected version anywhere.

Situation No. 2. The inaccuracy was revealed before the financial statements were submitted to the Federal Tax Service.

The annual report has been drawn up, but has not yet been sent for verification to government agencies, and has not yet been submitted for approval to the owners. If an error is detected during this period, then an adjustment is necessary to normalize the financial statements. The accountant must correct the inaccuracy and reorganize the balance sheet. Moreover, corrective entries are made in the last month of the reporting period (December). An incorrect version of the report must be replaced with a valid copy.

Situation No. 3. Adjustment of financial statements after submission to the tax office.

For example, a financial report is generated and sent to the Federal Tax Service. At the meeting of the founders of the company, a significant inaccuracy was revealed, and the report was returned to the accounting department for revision. Then the accountant corrects the error found, and also registers corrections in accounting in December. Then he generates the financial report again, but with changes and submits it to the founders for consideration.

At the same time, a new, corrected report is submitted to the Federal Tax Service. Forms of reporting documents are used the same, only the corresponding adjustment number is affixed to the financial statements. For example, to submit the first corrective report, “001” or “--1” is put down.

The degree of materiality of errors

Note that all the situations discussed above refer only to significant errors. If the accountant has found a minor blot or inaccuracy, then, regardless of the time of detection, corrective entries are made in the current period. That is, the reporting period is not affected, and new corrective financial reports are not compiled.

Therefore, is it possible to file an adjustment to the annual financial statements with a slight blot? No. Corrections are made only for significant errors.

An error is recognized as significant if, alone or in combination with other accounting indicators, it can lead to a distortion of the general idea of ​​the financial and economic situation of the enterprise, as well as lead to the adoption of incorrect management decisions by users of financial statements.

How is the significance of errors determined? The company sets its own procedure for determining materiality. This decision must be fixed in the accounting policy. For example, write: "an error is recognized as significant if its value distorts the indicator of any line of the report by more than 10%."

How to fix? To correct significant inaccuracies in accounting, a retrospective recalculation method is used. In other words, all indicators of financial reports are subject to recalculation with the condition that the identified error would never have been committed. Note that entities conducting simplified accounting have the right not to apply the retrospective method of recalculation.

How to submit an adjustment to the financial statements for 2019

The procedure for providing corrective financial statements depends on the final recipient, that is, on the one to whom the corrected copy of the report is addressed.

If we report to the Federal Tax Service, then act in accordance with the established algorithms for filling out reporting forms. In other words, when preparing a corrective financial report, use the same form and the same filling rules as when sending information to the Federal Tax Service for the first time. Remember to include the adjustment number in the (simplified) accounting financial statements.

About what forms of accounting reports must be drawn up without fail, as well as the key rules for their preparation, we examined in detail in a separate article “Forms of Accounting Statements”.

How to submit an accounting adjustment to the founders?

In addition to the corrected version of the reporting forms, prepare an explanatory note. In the document, disclose the following information:

• the nature of the detected error;
• the amount of deviations in monetary terms, and, if necessary, in quantitative terms;
• way to fix.

Disclose information for each accounting item in which significant inaccuracies have been identified. Such an explanatory note can be sent to the Federal Tax Service along with adjustments.

Monetary assets and monetary liabilities that, in accordance with an agreement between the enterprise and the other party, are subject to indexation (deposits, bonds, etc.), are reflected in the balance sheet in the amount stipulated by the agreement. Other monetary items are not adjusted.

Non-monetary items measured at fair value as at the balance sheet date (year-end) are not adjusted. Non-monetary items measured at fair value other than at the balance sheet date (year-end) are adjusted using the inflation index at the revaluation date.

Non-monetary items measured at cost or residual value are adjusted using the inflation index at the date the asset, liability and equity are recognized.

The adjusted value of non-monetary assets is reduced to the amount of the expected recovery from the future use of the relevant assets (net realizable value of inventories, market value of investments, etc.), if it exceeds such amount.

If an entity has acquired assets on a deferred payment basis without paying interest, so that the amount of interest cannot be determined, the cost of such assets is adjusted by applying an inflation index from the date of payment.

At the beginning of the first reporting year in which Regulation (Standard) 22 applies, revaluation amounts of assets included in equity are not included in the adjusted balance sheet, and the indicator of retained earnings (uncovered loss) is the difference between the sum of the adjusted indicators of the asset and the sum of the adjusted indicators balance liabilities.

Balance indicators at the beginning of the year are adjusted in the manner set out in paragraphs 5-10 of Regulation (standard) 22.

Adjustment of indicators of the statement of financial results

All indicators of the statement of financial results (except for the cost of goods sold (works, services) and goods) are adjusted using an adjustment factor, which is determined as the ratio of the inflation index as of the balance sheet date and the inflation index as of the date of recognition of income and expenses included in the relevant items.

If income and expenses during the reporting year (or interim periods) were recognized almost evenly, an entity may apply the average inflation index during that period to the total amount of income and expenses instead of the inflation index at the date of recognition of individual income and expenses. The average inflation index does not apply to expenses and incomes related to non-monetary items, recognized assets or liabilities in previous reporting periods (depreciation of fixed assets and intangible assets, deferred income and expenses, etc.).

13. The adjusted cost of sold products (works, services) and goods is determined after adjusting the stocks of finished products (works, services) and goods at the beginning and end of the reporting period and the cost of products (works, services) manufactured during the reporting period and the cost of purchased goods.

The adjusted cost of manufactured products (works, services) is determined by adding the adjusted value of the balance of work in progress at the beginning of the year to the adjusted amount of production costs for the year and subtracting the adjusted value of the balance of work in progress at the end of the year.

Profit (loss) from the effect of inflation on monetary items is reflected in the adjusted income statement in line 165 "Profit (loss) from the effect of inflation on monetary items".

A deferred tax liability and/or a deferred tax asset arising from the adjustment of the financial statements are presented in the adjusted financial statements in accordance with Accounting Regulation (standard) 17 "Income Tax".

Net income and adjusted net income per ordinary share for the adjusted income statement are calculated based on the net income data determined using Regulation (standard) 22.

The indicators of the statement of financial results for the previous year are adjusted in the manner set out in paragraphs 12-16 of Regulation (standard) 22.

It always seems that the last months before the new year remain the calmest for every accountant, because one report has already been submitted, and the second has not yet begun. But in reality, everything is different, at the end of the year, all accountants prepare for the final closing of the year, look for errors in the documentation and submit updated reports and declarations. With the latter, problems and misunderstandings most often arise.

How can I submit a balance sheet for 2018 so as not to break the law: news

There are quite a few reasons why an accountant may have to make an adjusted balance sheet. Specialists working with accounting programs say that chief accountants very often ask to put a ban on adjusting the database by company employees. So, the situation: an ordinary accountant working in an organization receives documents in November that date back, for example, to the 1st quarter of the current year. They should be entered during the closed period. After that, the balance begins to change, and the chief accountant cannot control the figures for which reporting was made both for the 1st quarter of the year and for the remaining nine months. Another reason for the inconsistency of data in accounting is the inventory and its results.

When all reporting was done manually, the regulatory documents clearly indicated how to make adjustments correctly. Today, step-by-step instructions are provided only for credit and budget organizations. In commercial offices, accountants make an updated balance sheet without any criteria. For example, most chief accountants of Russia make adjustments in a very original way: they submit an updated balance sheet (namely, accounting, not tax). In fact, it is forbidden to change financial statements after they have been approved, but few people think about it.

In the professional environment, there is such an expression as "replaced balance". After verification, the client is advised to replace the incorrect balance in the tax reporting with the correct one. All this is happening, despite the fact that from the order of the Ministry of Finance on July 29, 1998, in paragraph 34, this is prohibited. It can be concluded that most accountants simply forget about the existence of such a norm and do as their soul tells them. Therefore, it is not surprising that the majority of inspections today refuse to accept the adjusted balance sheet.

If your documentation is still accepted by your inspection, then it’s too early to start rejoicing at this, this does not mean at all that there are no errors in your revised accounting reports. In such situations, you should wait a bit. If you did not say in the cover letter that the revised balance sheet is being handed over due to a technical error when entering information into the form, then there is a possibility of receiving an administrative fine for such a violation of accounting rules.

The whole problem is that in the Code of Administrative Offenses, in Article 15.11, it is considered an inadmissible violation to fill in one line with a distortion of numbers by more than ten percent. As we have already learned, it is forbidden to correct the balance, therefore such clarifications will be calculated as carelessness and an accountant's mistake.

How can you solve the situation in 2018

Fans of refined balances not only make mistakes themselves, but also provoke the mistakes of others. All the forums that are at least somehow related to accounting give a lot of wrong advice. When a forum user starts complaining that the tax inspectorate refuses to accept the corrected balance sheet for past periods, other users immediately begin to resent the incompetence and tyranny of the tax authorities and demand to go to the head of the inspectorate or demand a document confirming the refusal to accept the balance sheet. Other users will laugh no less, they declare that in the Tax Code of our country the obligation to submit updated accounting is not spelled out at all, and it is only about declarations.

Only a few understanding accountants state that all corrections will be made in the current period and be marked as for the selected period. Of course, you should issue an accounting statement that describes all the transactions, and also indicates that all operations were carried out in accordance with the audit report and such and such adjustments were made. After checking, it is only necessary to present this certificate to the tax office, and in the event that the tax authorities begin to be interested in the discrepancy between the numbers in the accounting registers and the primary.

For some reason, correct and useful advice is often ignored and criticized by other users. The fact is that, of course, it is much easier to immediately make adjustments to the database and redo the balance than to fill out a certificate and display all accounting registers on paper. Modern supporters of accounting with their views do not understand that a violation in the maintenance of accounting documents can be punished by law and an administrative fine is issued for this.

Rules of conduct with the tax authorities

For 9 months, accountants submit the same reporting form as for six months. Some accountants in offices prefer to send all documents by mail, so they still receive “refunds” for the 1st quarter of this year on declarations that were filled out incorrectly or last year's forms were used.

Today, not every tax office decides to report an error to accountants, but still continues to wait for changes. Some immediately notify that the reporting has not been submitted. In this case, there is every likelihood of receiving an administrative fine, as well as being liable under Articles 119 and 126 of the Tax Code of Russia. Another “surprise” that you may encounter when filing papers incorrectly is the freezing of bank accounts. Therefore, Russian “one-day” firms prefer to submit declarations on forms that correspond to the established model.

It was interesting to find out what answers tax inspectors give to questions about outdated declarations, what is their fate (we are talking about those documents that were sent in a postal envelope). They say that the "undelivered" declaration is ubiquitous today. There are piles of such documents in the offices of the tax authorities, so if some other declaration is among them, this will not change things.

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If your tax office is unfriendly and has already written you a round sum as a fine, then you can try to go to court. If you sent the declaration in a timely manner, but it is placed on the old form, then this will be a circumstance that will mitigate your responsibility before the law. Moscow judges argue that the outdated form of the declaration does not become an obstacle even at the time of tax reimbursement from the budget.

Before the approval of the annual report, but after its submission to the tax authority, the organization discovered an error in the composition of revenue. The organization is ready to pay fines and penalties, to submit revised declarations. How can I change the annual balance sheet, what are the options for submitting an updated balance sheet and obtaining an IMTS mark?

After considering the issue, we came to the following conclusion:

If a significant error is discovered between the date of signing the financial statements and the date of its approval, the organization has the right to make changes to the annual financial statements, informing the users of the financial statements about this. The form of informing can be chosen by the organization independently. In our opinion, the organization has the right to submit written explanations to the tax authority on the reason for making corrections to the annual statements with the application of the adjusted forms of financial statements.

Rationale for the conclusion:

The procedure for correcting errors in accounting and reporting is regulated by:

Instructions on the procedure for compiling and submitting financial statements, approved by order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated July 22, 2003 N 67n (hereinafter referred to as the Instructions);

Regulations on accounting and financial reporting in the Russian Federation, approved by order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated July 29, 1998 N 34n (hereinafter referred to as the Regulation).

According to clause 11 of the Instructions, the procedure for correcting an error of past years depends on the fact that the reporting for this period was approved.
In particular, this paragraph determines that if an incorrect reflection of business transactions in the reporting year after its completion is detected, but for which the annual financial statements are not approved in the prescribed manner, corrections are made by entries in December of the year for which the annual report is being prepared for approval and submission to the appropriate addresses. financial statements.

Corrections to and financial statements for the last reporting year (after approval in the prescribed manner of annual financial statements) are not made.

In accordance with paragraph 39 of the Regulations, changes in the financial statements relating to previous reporting periods, made after its approval, are made in the statements drawn up for, in which distortions of its data were found.

We note that in accordance with paragraphs. 6 p. 2 art. 33 of the Federal Law of February 8, 1998 N 14-FZ "On Limited Liability Companies" (hereinafter - Law N 14-FZ), the approval of annual reports and annual balance sheets falls within the exclusive competence of the general meeting of participants in the company. According to Art. 34 of Law N 14-FZ, the general meeting of the company's participants, at which the annual results of the company's activities are approved, must be held no earlier than two months and no later than four months after the end of the financial year, that is, no earlier than March 1 and no later than April 30 . However, by virtue of the norm of paragraph 2 of Art. 15 of the Federal Law of November 21, 1996 N 129-FZ "On Accounting" (hereinafter - Law N 129-FZ), annual financial statements must be submitted to the tax authority within 90 days after the end of the year, i.e. no later than 30 March.

Therefore, the date of approval of the financial statements may come later than the date of its signing.

Thus, the organization has the right to make corrections to the annual financial statements with a record in December of the reporting year until its approval. In other words, if the organization initially submitted unapproved reports to the tax authority before March 30, then before the date of the meeting, the company has the right to amend the reports already submitted by recording December of the reporting year.

However, no legislative or regulatory document provides for the submission of adjusted financial statements to the tax authority. At the same time, by order of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation of December 20, 2007 N 143n, PBU 7/98 "Events after the reporting date" (hereinafter - PBU 7/98) was supplemented by clause 12, which established the conditions under which it is necessary to inform users (one of which is and (see Letter No. 03-02-07/1-468 of the Russian Ministry of Finance dated 04.12.2007)) on changes in reporting.

In accordance with paragraph 12 of PBU 7/98, if in the period between the date of signing the financial statements and the date of its approval, any events occurred that could have a significant impact on the financial condition, cash flow or performance of the organization, the company must be informed about these facts to the users to whom the reports were presented. One of such facts, which can be recognized as an event after the reporting date, is a significant accounting error discovered, which leads to a distortion of the financial statements for the reporting period.
However, PBU 7/98 does not disclose the concept of "materiality". Consequently, the organization can independently recognize the indicator as material, based on the fact that the non-disclosure of any indicator may affect the decisions made by the owner by setting and fixing in the accounting policy of the organization the "threshold" of materiality, that is, the share in the total amount of relevant data (for example , 5%).

We also note that PBU 7/98 also does not disclose the form in which the company should inform its users about the amendments. In this regard, in our opinion, the organization has the right to submit to the tax authority, as well as to other users of its financial statements, the adjusted annual financial statements and an explanatory note explaining the reason for the corrections.

Note:

The Ministry of Finance of Russia has developed a draft of a new Accounting Regulation "Correction of Errors in Accounting and Reporting" (PBU 22/2009), which can be found on the website of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation. This PBU establishes the rules for correcting errors and the procedure for disclosing information about material errors of the previous reporting period in the financial statements.

In particular, p.p. 8 and 9 of Draft PBU 22/2009 provides for re-submission of statements in corrected form to users if significant errors were found in it before the date of its approval with explanations of the reasons for the revision of previously submitted statements.

Prepared answer:
Legal Consulting Service Expert GARANT
Member of the Chamber of Tax Advisers Titova Elena

Checked answer:
Reviewer of the Legal Consulting Service GARANT
professional accountant Myagkova Svetlana
Company "Garant", Moscow