Employers had until the end of 2021 to complete drawing up action plans for the implementation of professional standards. In particular, they should have established for which positions professional standards have been adopted, which employees meet their requirements, and who needs to be sent for training. Of particular interest is the position of chief accountant, which exists in almost every organization.
But, as practice shows, many of the chief accountants, although they have extensive work experience, work without higher education. Is it necessary to fire such an employee because of this? Let's figure it out.
Who applies professional standards?
A professional standard is a characteristic of the qualifications that an employee needs to perform a certain type of professional activity, including to perform a certain labor function ( Part 2 of Article 195.1 of
the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).
But currently professional standards apply:
- for certain types of companies;
- for those who introduced them by local acts at the enterprise.
Features of the use of professional standards are provided
, for example, for state unitary enterprises and municipal unitary enterprises, state corporations, as well as business companies in the authorized capital of which more than 50% of shares or shares belong to the state.
In the future, it is planned to replace the ETKS and EKS with professional standards, as well as individual industry requirements for the qualifications of workers, approved by legislative and other regulatory legal acts that already exist (for example, in the field of transport, etc.). But such a replacement, in the opinion of the Russian Ministry of Labor, will take place over a fairly long period (<Letter> of the Russian Ministry of Labor dated 04.04.2016 N 14-0/10/B-2253 <Answers to standard questions on the application of professional standards>).
The Labor Code of the Russian Federation establishes the mandatory application of the requirements contained in professional standards, including when hiring workers, in the following cases:
- According to part two of Article 57 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, the names of positions, professions, specialties and qualification requirements for them must correspond to the names and requirements specified in qualification reference books or professional standards, if in accordance with the Labor Code of the Russian Federation or other federal laws with the performance of work for these positions, professions , specialties are associated with the provision of compensation and benefits or the presence of restrictions;
- According to Article 195.3 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, the requirements for the qualifications of employees contained in professional standards are mandatory for the employer in cases where they are established by the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, other federal laws, and other regulatory legal acts of the Russian Federation.
In other cases, these requirements are advisory in nature.
At the same time, as recommendations, it is advisable to familiarize yourself with the professional standard, understand whether your accountant has enough knowledge, and whether you need to improve your qualifications. For public sector accountants, advanced training is mandatory, but for commercial organizations, unfortunately, the employer is not obliged to pay for advanced training.
To fire or not to fire?
Let us say right away that even if the employer is obliged to apply the professional standard for the chief accountant, but his qualifications do not meet the requirements of the standard, it is impossible to fire the chief accountant for this, since there is no such basis for dismissal as, for example, “inadequacy of qualifications.”
If before the employer began applying (either independently or by force of law) the professional standard, the chief accountant was already working, and during the implementation of the standards it was determined that his qualifications do not meet the requirements of the standard, he can be fired only based on the results of certification. And this can only be done after the employer offers the employee to undergo advanced training, including it in the employee professional training plan.
At the same time, even if the employee refused to improve his qualifications, but has sufficient experience and knowledge in his position, then, on the recommendation of the certification commission, he can continue to remain in his position.
If, based on the results of the certification, it is established that the employee is not suitable for the position held due to insufficient qualifications, then he can be dismissed on the basis of clause 3 of part 1 of Art. 81 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation (inconsistency of the employee with the position held or the work performed due to insufficient qualifications confirmed by certification results). Before dismissal, the employee should be offered a transfer to another job that matches his qualifications.
An employee’s compliance with the requirements of the professional standard can be established as a result of him passing, and with his consent, at the direction of the employer, an independent assessment of qualifications, which is carried out in independent assessment centers.
Do not forget that dismissal under clause 3, part 1, art. 81 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation may not apply to all workers. For example, a pregnant woman, a single mother raising a child under the age of 14 (a disabled child under the age of 18), and a woman with a child under the age of three are not subject to dismissal.
What does an ordinary accountant need to know?
An ordinary accountant must have the fifth sublevel of qualification.
What should he do?
- draw up primary accounting documents;
- receive primary accounting documents;
- identify cases of violation by responsible persons of the document flow schedule;
- check the primary;
- systematize primary accounting documents of the current reporting period;
- draw up primary documents;
- provide data for inventory.
Also, the actions of an ordinary accountant may include:
- monetary measurement;
- data registration;
- reflection in accounting of the results of revaluation of accounting objects;
- preparation of calculations;
- comparison of inventory with data from accounting registers.
What does a chief accountant need to know?
There are additional qualification requirements for a chief accountant.
That is, if an accountant received a specialty as a teacher or economist, then he needs to undergo advanced training. So, a person can work as a chief accountant:
- having higher education - bachelor's degree;
- higher education - bachelor's degree and additional professional education;
- secondary vocational education - training programs for mid-level specialists;
- secondary vocational education and additional vocational education.
In fact, problems arise in terms of inconsistency of educational programs, because bachelor's degree programs in accounting appeared quite recently, and most of the country's specialists received their education a long time ago and do not have this specific qualification, that is, they will have to improve their knowledge.
For the sixth, seventh and eighth levels, advanced training of at least 120 hours over 3 years is required, but not less than 20 hours per year .
There are also work experience requirements.
If an employee wants to take the position of chief accountant, then if he has a higher education, he must work in his specialty for at least 5 years; if he has a secondary education, he must work for at least 7 years.
And here the tasks are more serious and are mainly related to reporting:
- organization and planning of the process of generating information in the accounting system;
- coordination and control of the process of generating information in the accounting system;
- formation of numerical indicators of reports included in the accounting (financial) statements;
- counting and logical verification of the correctness of the formation of numerical indicators of reports included in the financial statements;
- preparation of explanations for the balance sheet and financial statements;
- provision of necessary accounting documents for the implementation of internal control processes;
- ensuring the safety of financial statements;
- organizing the transfer of financial statements to the archive in a timely manner.
In the field of taxation, the chief accountant must:
- identify objects of taxation;
- check the quality of compilation of tax accounting registers;
- correct tax accounting errors;
- develop tax register forms;
- assess changes in tax liabilities;
- monitor legislation on taxes and fees;
- analyze tax legislation.
Financial analysis tasks can also be assigned to the chief accountant:
- planning work to analyze the financial condition of an economic entity;
- coordination and control of work on analyzing the financial condition of an economic entity;
- development of financial policy of an economic entity;
- drawing up financial plans, budgets and estimates of an economic entity;
- management of financial management work based on the structure.
Most often from this list, chief accountants do not pay attention to internal control measures. However, Article 19 of the Federal Law of December 6, 2011 N 402-FZ “On Accounting” is devoted to internal control measures. An economic entity is obliged to organize and carry out internal control
of the facts of economic life.
Internal control is a process aimed at obtaining sufficient confidence that an economic entity provides:
a) efficiency and effectiveness of its activities, including the achievement of financial and operational indicators, safety of assets;
b) reliability and timeliness of accounting (financial) and other reporting;
c) compliance with applicable laws, including when carrying out business activities and maintaining accounting records.
An economic entity may apply the following internal control procedures:
a) documentation (for example, making entries in accounting registers on the basis of primary accounting documents, including accounting certificates; inclusion in the accounting (financial) statements of significant estimated values solely on the basis of calculations);
b) confirmation of correspondence between objects (documents) or their compliance with established requirements (for example, checking the execution of primary accounting documents for compliance with established requirements when accepting them for accounting). These internal control procedures also include procedures for monitoring interrelated facts of economic life (for example, correlating the transfer of funds in payment for material assets with the receipt and posting of these assets);
c) sanctioning (authorization) of transactions and operations, providing confirmation of the competence to carry them out; typically performed by personnel at a higher level than the person carrying out the transaction or transaction (for example, approval of an employee's expense report by his supervisor);
d) data reconciliation (for example, reconciliation of settlements of an economic entity with suppliers and customers to confirm the amounts of receivables and payables; reconciliation of cash accounting account balances with cash balances according to cash book data);
e) delimitation of powers and rotation of responsibilities (for example, assigning powers to draw up primary accounting documents, sanction (authorize) transactions and operations and reflect their results in accounting to different persons for a limited period in order to reduce the risks of errors and abuses);
f) procedures for monitoring the actual presence and condition of objects, including physical security, access restrictions, inventory;
g) supervision, ensuring the assessment of the achievement of set goals or indicators (for example, the correctness of transactions and operations, the execution of accounting operations, the accuracy of drawing up budgets (estimates, plans), compliance with established deadlines for the preparation of accounting (financial) statements;
h) procedures related to computer processing of information and information systems, among which, as a rule, there are general computer control procedures and control procedures carried out in relation to individual functional elements of the system (modules, applications). General computer control procedures include rules and procedures governing access to information systems, data and directories, rules for the implementation and support of information systems, data recovery procedures and other procedures that ensure the uninterrupted use of information systems. Control procedures carried out in relation to individual functional elements of the system include, in particular, logical and arithmetic verification of data during the processing of information about the facts of economic life (checking the correctness of document details, control of entered amounts, automatic data reconciliation, reports on operations and errors, etc.).
Thus, since internal control measures are the responsibility of an economic entity, their implementation is mandatory.
HARD SKILLS
This section contains a list of skills that are required to successfully perform a job as an accountant. Select the skills you have from the list.
• Automation of accounting in 1C • Automation of accounting • Automation of tax accounting • Automation of management accounting • Automation of management reporting • Analysis of management reporting • Analysis of financial statements • Audits • Accounting reporting • Accounting • Budgeting • Currency control • Conducting banking operations • Conducting accounting archive • Accounting • Maintaining import transactions • Maintaining tax records • Interaction with regulatory authorities • Restoration of accounting records • Foreign trade activities • Annual balance sheet • Office work • UTII • Import operations • Individual entrepreneurs • Personnel records management • Personnel records • Cash operations • Cash discipline control • Local taxation • Methodology of all types of accounting • IFRS • Tax reporting • Tax audits • Tax accounting • Cost optimization • Tax optimization • OSN • Reporting to the Social Insurance Fund • Preparation of advance reports • Primary accounting documentation • Working with bank statements • Working with primary documentation • Work with management reporting • Development and implementation of policies and procedures • Payroll • Cost calculation • Settlements with customers and suppliers • RAS • Team management • Submitting reports to the Pension Fund and the Social Insurance Fund • Preparation of tax reporting • ATP • Accounting management • Cost management • Management reporting • Management accounting • Simplified tax system • Cash accounting • Personnel accounting • Leasing operations accounting • Financial reporting • Financial control • Export operations
technical skills
• SBiS • SBIS++ • 1C: ZUP • 1C: Accounting • 1C: Salaries and HR • 1C: Retail • 1C: UPP • 1C: Salaries and personnel management • 1C: Enterprise (versions 7.7, 8.2, 8.3) • 1C: Trade Management • AXAPTA • ERP • MS Excel • MS PowerPoint • MS Outlook • MS Word • OpenOffice • Oracle • Oracle Hyperion • SAP • ConsultantPlus • Kontur-Extern or Kontur.Extern • Garant • Bank-Client • 1C: Enterprise 8.3 (interface TAXI)
What's new in the professional standard?
Firstly, ordinary accountants now have the following types of job titles:
- accountant;
- accountant 1st category;
- accountant 2nd category.
Secondly, if previously the sixth level of qualification was used for chief accountants, now this level is used both for chief accountants and for heads of accounting departments.
That is, department heads are also subject to the requirement for advanced training. Thirdly, new qualification levels have appeared:
- seventh, which also applies to chief accountants;
- the eighth, which additionally applies to the head of the consolidated financial reporting department.
The seventh level is needed for organizations that have separate divisions, including those that are allocated to a separate balance sheet. In this case, the accountant’s labor activities include:
- collection and analysis of information about the activities of an economic entity;
- organization of accounting construction;
- organization of accounting.
You also need:
- develop and apply your own accounting standards;
- provide counseling to employees.
That is, the accountant must devote time to explanatory work, since work in separate structural divisions is more complex and requires the preparation of a unified system for preparing and submitting reports.
The eighth level of qualification is required for those who provide consolidated reporting. This applies to both accounting and tax accounting. For example, starting from 2021 it will be possible to submit consolidated property tax reports. To do this, you must submit a corresponding notification to the tax authority.
What tasks does an accountant at qualification level 8 face?
- organizing activities for collecting and analyzing information about the accounting policies of dependent and subsidiary companies for the purpose of developing the accounting policies of the main company;
- organization of methodological support for the preparation of consolidated statements of the subject of consolidated statements;
- planning, coordination and control of the development of accounting policies of the main company;
- organizing consulting for affiliates and subsidiaries (reporting entities);
- monitoring compliance with deadlines and quality of work in the field of methodological support for the preparation of consolidated financial statements.
Thus, reporting places more emphasis on consolidation.
Who needs consolidated reporting:
- for organizations with separate divisions and subsidiaries;
- for those who submit reports under IFRS.
In accordance with Article 8
of Federal Law No. 208-FZ dated July 27, 2010 “On Consolidated Financial Statements,” organizations prepare, present and publish consolidated financial statements, starting with reporting for the year following the year in which IFRS are recognized for use in the Russian Federation
It is also important to remember that the accountant is responsible for disclosure. Disclosure of consolidated financial statements is carried out by the organization no later than 30 days from the date of expiration of the deadline for its presentation. The consolidated financial statements of an organization containing information constituting a state secret are disclosed in the part that does not contain information constituting a state secret. If in the consolidated financial statements a part of the information containing information constituting a state secret cannot be highlighted, such statements are not subject to disclosure.
According to international standards, consolidated financial statements must be prepared by the parent company.
But the parent organization is not required to present consolidated financial statements if it satisfies all of the following conditions:
(i) the parent entity is itself a wholly or partly owned subsidiary of another entity and all of its other owners, including those not otherwise entitled to vote, have been informed that the parent entity will not represent the consolidated financial reporting, and do not object to it;
(ii) the parent's debt and equity instruments are not publicly traded (either a domestic or foreign stock exchange or the over-the-counter market, including local and regional markets);
(iii) the parent has not filed and is not in the process of filing its financial statements with a securities commission or other regulatory authority for the purpose of issuing any class of instruments in the public market; And
(iv) the ultimate parent or any intermediate parent of that parent prepares financial statements in accordance with IFRSs that are available for public use and in which the subsidiaries are consolidated or measured at fair value through profit or loss in accordance with this IFRS
Consolidated group reporting involves combining the financial indicators of a controlled business, rather than one that is under (albeit significant) influence. Therefore, the basic data in the consolidated financial statements are the data of the parent and subsidiary company(s).
To identify a group member as a subsidiary, it is recommended to analyze the legal relations existing between him and the proposed parent organization of the group in order to determine:
- Powers in relation to this legal entity.
- Exposure to risks associated with participation in the authorized capital of a dependent legal entity. For example, the parent organization is exposed to the risks of not receiving income from its subsidiary if the income of such an organization is affected by the results of the activities of a dependent legal entity (in particular, receiving dividends, receiving (distributing) economic benefits from its activities, remuneration for servicing its assets or liabilities).
SOFT SKILLS
This section contains a list of professional qualities that are required to successfully perform work as an accountant. Select from the list of qualities that you possess.
• Activity • Analytical mindset • Attentiveness • Conscientiousness • Initiative • Efficiency • Sociability • Easy to learn • Multitasking • Organizational skills • Responsibility • Decency • Punctuality • Intelligence • Concentration • Ability to analyze and summarize received information • Ability to work in a team • Stress resistance • Ability prove the correctness of your decisions • Ability to work under minimal supervision • Ability to work with large amounts of data • Ability to structure tasks • Ability to work under tight deadlines with a large amount of information • Systematic approach to problem solving • Perseverance • Determination • Honesty
Where can I find answers to questions?
It is clear that something new always raises questions; the employer needs to decide what level of qualifications specialists should have, whether it needs to be improved and at whose expense.
If you have any questions, we can recommend that you refer to the letter of the Ministry of Labor of Russia dated July 6, 2016 N 14-2/OOG-6465.
Answers to the most frequently asked questions regarding the application of professional standards are posted on the official website of the Russian Ministry of Labor at: https://www.rosmintrud.ru/docs/mintrud/payment/128.
For organizations, the Ministry of Labor of Russia, since 2013, on the basis of the Federal State Budgetary Institution “Research Institute of Labor and Social Insurance” has organized and regularly conducts information and consultation seminars on the application of professional standards. Information about free seminars of the Research Institute of TCC, including on the application of professional standards, is posted at the email address: https://vet-bc.ru/. Methodological assistance on the application of professional standards is provided by the Research Institute of Labor and Social Insurance by email
