Target
In accordance with the text of the standard, the main goal of persons who are engaged in accounting is to generate documented and systematized information about accounting objects, to draw up accounting (financial) statements on its basis, disclosing information about the financial position of an economic entity as of the reporting date, the financial result its activities and cash flows for the reporting period, necessary for users of these statements to make economic decisions.
Functional responsibilities
The main responsibility of an assistant accountant is to support the activities of the chief accountant (or accountant) of the organization.
This becomes possible thanks to the performance of the following functional responsibilities:
- Working with primary documentation that reflects cash flows.
- Working with company bank accounts.
- Submitting payment orders to the bank.
- Preparation of various financial reports.
- Control of the process of using and writing off finances.
- Making payments to state and local budgets.
- Calculation and control of payments under lease agreements.
- Storage of accounting documentation.
- Sending documents to the archive.
- Participation in the inventory process.
- Replacement of an absent accountant.
- Consulting employees (for example, payroll, sick leave calculation, etc.).
- Assisting other company specialists in matters related to finance.
- Compliance with labor discipline and all existing requirements at the enterprise (disciplinary, sanitary, security, etc.).
- Execution of orders directly from the head of the organization.
Labor functions
Despite the designated categories of specialists, the professional standard initially approved by the Government of the Russian Federation contained only two groups of labor functions:
- group A. Accounting (skill level 5);
- group B. Preparation and presentation of financial statements of an economic entity (skill level 6).
From April 6, the following will be added to the accountant’s professional standard 2021:
- group C. Preparation and presentation of financial statements of an economic entity that has separate divisions (skill level 7);
- group D. Preparation and provision of consolidated reporting (skill level 8);
- group E. Providing accounting services to economic entities, including preparation of financial statements (skill level 8).
For more information about descriptions of qualification levels, see Order of the Ministry of Labor of Russia dated April 12, 2013 No. 148n.
The descriptive part of possible job titles includes:
- accountant;
- accountant category I;
- accountant II category;
- Chief Accountant;
- head (manager, director) of the accounting department (management, service, department);
- head (manager, director) of the department (service, department) of consolidated financial statements;
- Director of Operations Management;
- Director of Accounting Outsourcing;
- Commercial Director;
- Director of Business Development.
The variety of names of professions in the accounting and financial sector proposed in the new standard fully reflects reality. And if the organization has introduced other job titles, they may remain unchanged.
Comments on the post
The above qualification characteristics of the position “Accountant” are intended to resolve issues related to the regulation of labor relations and ensuring an effective personnel management system in various organizations. Based on these characteristics, a job description for an accountant is developed, containing the rights and responsibilities of the employee, as well as a specific list of his job responsibilities, taking into account the peculiarities of the organization and management of the activities of the enterprise (institution).
When drawing up job descriptions for managers and specialists, it is necessary to take into account the general provisions for this issue of the directory and the introduction with general provisions for the first release of the directory of positions.
We draw your attention to the fact that the same and similar job titles may appear in different editions of the CEN. You can find similar titles through the job directory (alphabetically).
Group A, or accountants with categories
In the Order of the Ministry of Labor dated December 22, 2014 No. 1061n, in contrast to the EKS, which distinguished three categories of accountants (first, second categories and the accountant directly), the requirements for the level of education are minimized: it is enough for employees to have a secondary vocational education. The provisions for practical work experience remained the same - at least three years.
But the new professional standard has changed the requirements for practical work experience and education. From 04/06/2019, accounting can be entrusted to persons who have a diploma of secondary vocational education or additional vocational education in special programs for non-core secondary education. To occupy the position of an accountant with the category, you will need at least 1 year of experience in a lower position.
As for functional responsibilities, they remained unchanged.
DI of a leading accountant: qualification requirements
The job description of a leading accountant states that a specialist in the relevant profile must be competent:
- in terms of knowledge of legal acts, methodological materials regulating accounting and tax accounting;
- in terms of knowledge of legal acts in the field of labor and financial law;
- in the field of practical application of accounting forms and methods;
- in the field of the company’s accounting policy, labor regulations in it, provisions of key local regulations;
- in terms of working with documents used to reflect transactions on the turnover of fixed assets, inventory items, and cash;
- in the field of economic processes related to professional activities.
The listed qualification requirements correspond to the functional responsibilities of the leading accountant, which are also recorded in a separate section of his job description.
Group B, or chief accountants, heads of accounting departments
In the professional standard in force until 04/06/2019, it was stated that the chief accountant is not required to have a higher education, a secondary vocational education is sufficient. Higher education, of course, is welcome, but the requirements are revised to the mandatory completion of an appropriate advanced training program or professional retraining (specifics are not specified). Work experience requirements:
- in the absence of higher education - at least five of the last seven calendar years must be related to accounting, preparation of accounting (financial) statements or auditing activities;
- if you have a higher education - at least three of the last five calendar years.
Also, the professional standard for the chief accountant, approved by the Government of the Russian Federation in 2014, contained a provision under which in certain economic entities additional requirements may be established for the chief accountant or other official responsible for accounting (for example, in Chelyabinsk).
Other provisions are specified in Order of the Ministry of Labor dated February 21, 2019 No. 103n. The new professional standard for chief accountant 2021 requires that a person applying for the position of chief accountant or head of the accounting department have a diploma in one of the following levels of education:
- higher profile - bachelor's degree;
- higher non-core - bachelor's degree and additional professional education under the professional retraining program;
- secondary vocational - training programs for mid-level specialists;
- secondary vocational non-core - training programs for mid-level specialists and additional professional education - professional retraining programs.
To obtain a position, you will need at least five years of experience if you have a higher education, and if you have a secondary education, at least 7 years. Additionally, special requirements are introduced for persons who want to work in JSCs, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, extra-budgetary funds, insurance organizations, investment and non-state pension funds.
The job responsibilities of chief accountants and heads of accounting departments have increased not only quantitatively, but also qualitatively, but also the wording of the requirements has become succinct and specific.
Is it possible to hire a chief accountant who does not meet the standard?
But if we are talking about a candidate for the position of chief accountant, then his failure to meet the professional standard can lead to serious consequences. In a situation where an employer is obliged to apply a professional standard, he does not have the right to hire a person unless an independent assessment of qualifications confirms that the candidate meets the requirements of the professional standard. This conclusion can be drawn from the provisions of paragraph 6 of the information of the Ministry of Labor of Russia dated 04/05/16 (also see “Professional standards: when and how employers should apply them”).
If an employer applies a professional standard voluntarily, then it may (but is not obligated) to refuse to hire a candidate who has not passed an independent qualification assessment. Please note: employers are not prohibited from setting requirements for candidates that are higher than the requirements of the professional standard.
Let's consider what rules and criteria are prescribed in the new professional standard “Accountant”.
Group C, or chief accountants working in companies with branches
To prepare and provide financial statements of an economic entity that has separate divisions, specialists will need one of the following education:
- higher - master's degree or specialty;
- higher non-core - master's degree (specialty) and additional professional education - professional retraining programs.
To work as a chief accountant in a company with branches, you must have at least 5 years of experience in management positions. What the responsibilities of such an employee are is described in detail in the professional standard in several labor functions.
Results
The characteristics of an accountant from the place of work differ from the standard production characteristics of employees due to the specifics of the specialist’s work activity, because every employer is interested in a competent and honest accounting employee. The characteristics, like other similar documents, do not have a unified form. It is drawn up in a free format on the company’s letterhead.
Sources
- https://pred-pravo.ru/harakteristika-na-glavnogo-buhgaltera-dlya-nagrazhdeniya-primer/
- https://lico-ocenka.ru/harakteristika-na-buhgaltera-obrazets/
- https://iskiplus.ru/xarakteristika-na-buxgaltera/
- https://assistentus.ru/forma/harakteristika-na-glavnogo-buhgaltera/
- https://dogovor-obrazets.ru/%D0%BE%D0%B1%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%B7%D0%B5%D1%86/%D0%A5%D0%B0%D1% 80%D0%B0%D0%BA%D1%82%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B8%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%B0/%D0%A5 %D0%B0%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BA%D1%82%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B8%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0 %B0_%D0%B1%D1%83%D1%85%D0%B3%D0%B0%D0%BB%D1%82%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B0
- https://urist-parnas.ru/drugoe/harakteristika-na-glavnogo-buhgaltera-bjudzhetnogo-uchrezhdenija.html
- https://1atc.ru/harakteristika-na-buhgaltera/
- https://101million.com/dokumenty/harakteristika/s-mesta-raboty-na-buhgaltera.html
- https://zashitaservice.ru/biznes/9732-predstavlenie-na-glavnogo-bukhgaltera-byudzhetnogo-uchrezhdeniya.html
- https://nalog-nalog.ru/kadrovye_dokumenty_i_obrazcy/harakteristika_na_buhgaltera_s_mesta_raboty_obrazec/
Group D, or employees submitting consolidated statements
The educational requirements for such employees are similar. But to compile and provide consolidated reporting, the chief accountant will need work experience:
- at least five of the last 7 calendar years of work in management positions related to the preparation of accounting or auditing activities;
- at least three years out of the last 5 with a higher specialized education.
The skills, abilities and knowledge that will be needed to perform the work are described in section 3.4 of the professional standard. To maintain a professional level, specialists are recommended to annually take advanced training courses lasting at least 20 hours.
Rights Section
The provisions of this section of the DI fix the rights:
- to timely receive information (including that constituting a corporate secret or confidential information) that is necessary for the implementation of professional activities;
- familiarization with management decisions that are significant for the leading accountant regarding capital management and other aspects of business management;
- refusal to certify unreliable or incorrectly drawn up documents, as well as making recommendations for their improvement or correction;
- making proposals to optimize their work, as well as the labor functions of other employees related to solving problems within the competencies established for the leading accountant;
- improving your own qualifications and professional growth.
The DI must also include a section reflecting the criteria for a specialist’s responsibility for his actions at work. Let's see what it might look like.
Group E, or accounting consultants
As in the case of groups C and D, the level of education of persons who provide accounting services should be the highest. The length of service requirements are similar to those stated for chief accountants preparing and submitting consolidated statements. But at the same time, they are required to undergo full-fledged advanced training programs at least once every three years.
As for the responsibilities, consultants, company executives and commercial directors have many of them, and they are very diverse - from organizing and managing the main business processes of an enterprise to participating in advertising campaigns and studying judicial practice in the field of taxation.
Responsibility
During the work of this specialist, responsibility may include:
- disciplinary - for failure to perform or improper performance of official duties, determined by the provisions of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation;
- administrative or criminal - for offenses committed in the process of performing work, is determined by the provisions of the Code of Administrative Offenses and the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
Additional grounds for liability may arise if the leading accountant:
- refuses to use available advanced technical and information support to improve work;
- violates the deadlines for completing received tasks and instructions, distorts information about their implementation;
- refuses to carry out the orders of the director and the orders of the chief accountant;
- violates labor discipline, fire safety or information security rules at the enterprise.
Thus, a leading accountant is a specialist whose functions are limited to ensuring the stable and most efficient operation of the relevant department of the enterprise.
At the same time, this leading accounting employee performs a coordinating role, although he does not supervise the work of other specialists, as the chief accountant does.
In addition to professional duties, the leading accountant also performs work aimed at increasing the efficiency and stability of the department, monitors compliance with regulatory and other documentation requirements.
The role of such an employee is especially noticeable in a large enterprise with a complex structure that requires clear coordination and coherence.
Sample job description for a leading accountant.
A leading accountant is a position belonging to the category of specialists, and therefore the requirements for it are contained not in the ETKS directory, but in the special directory EKS (Unified Qualification Directory) for managers, leading specialists and ordinary specialists.
How to apply the professional standard
This regulatory document mentions two positions:
- Chief Accountant;
- accountant.
The said standard defines common features for both of them. At the same time, it is clearly indicated what exactly a specialist must be able to do in order to implement the tasks facing him.
Any interested accountant can easily find a sample of the professional standard in question, so there is no point in presenting it in this article. One has only to point out certain nuances that can easily escape attention.
Unified qualification directory of positions of managers, specialists and employees
In accordance with Article 143 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, the tariffing of work and the assignment of tariff categories to employees are carried out taking into account the unified tariff and qualification directory of works and professions of workers, the unified qualification directory of positions of managers, specialists and employees.
Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated October 31, 2002 N 787 established that the Unified Qualification Directory of Positions of Managers, Specialists and Employees (hereinafter referred to as the UQS) consists of the qualification characteristics of the positions of managers, specialists and employees, containing job responsibilities and requirements for the level of knowledge and qualifications of managers , specialists and employees.
The development of the CSN is carried out by the Ministry of Health and Social Development of the Russian Federation together with the federal executive authorities, which are entrusted with the management, regulation and coordination of activities in the relevant sector (sub-sector) of the economy (clause 2 of the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of October 31, 2002 N 787).
Resolution of the Ministry of Labor of the Russian Federation dated 02/09/2004 N 9 approved the Procedure for applying the Unified Qualification Directory of Positions of Managers, Specialists and Employees.
This Reference Information provides a list of CEN issues operating on the territory of the Russian Federation.
The main aspects of the accounting service
Carefully studying the professional standard of an accountant , one can come to the conclusion that the basic requirements for ordinary accountants and the chief accountant are not fundamentally different. These specialists can work with the “primary” data, enter information on processed documents into consolidated accounting registers, as well as check and close data for their areas. Employees of skill levels 5–7 are required to independently solve the current tasks assigned to them, find and apply in their daily activities information about the rules for conducting accounting for various business transactions, and about the application of various regulatory documents.
Fundamental differences appear only at the level of making financial and management decisions regarding the methodology for accounting for operations and optimizing accounting procedures. According to the professional standard of the chief accountant, since 2016, the main responsibility of this employee should be monitoring the current activities of accountants, timely correction of errors that arise, and the development of measures to prevent them in the future.
