What is a settlement period in the financial system?

The reporting period is one of the basic concepts in accounting, well known to accountants. However, it often causes difficulties that are associated with discrepancies in the legislative framework and the management of the company in practice.

Simplified: the reporting period is the period within which the company must submit its financial statements.

At first glance, everything is clear, but difficulties arise in determining this period. The fact is that in accounting it is a calendar month, and Federal Law No. 402-FZ of December 6, 2011 (as amended on July 26, 2019), with amendments and additions that entered into force on January 1, 2020, defines the period as a year. So how to record reports correctly?

Selecting a period for calculating the average salary

The Labor Code of the Russian Federation establishes a period of 12 months for determining average earnings. This is the most objective calculation method, taking into account the fact that unworked time, for example, business trips, is subtracted from the period. For some workers, wages fluctuate greatly throughout the year. This is especially true for the piecework form of payment and additional bonus payments to the salary.

In cases where an employee receives wages every month in equal parts, to simplify the calculation, the company has the right to establish a shorter billing period: 3, 6 months, or any other. The main condition is the absence of a negative impact of changes on employees.

Rules for determining the billing period for calculating the average salary

According to labor legislation, the recommended and maximum pay period is a year (for the purpose of determining the average salary). But this does not mean that all 365–366 days will be included in the calculation. During calculations, only days actually worked are taken into account. It is recommended to exclude from the calculation:

1. The periods during which the employee received average wages. Hence, breaks to feed the baby should be excluded.
2. Time of incapacity for work on sick leave.
3. Maternity leave.
4. Duration of unpaid leave.
5. Paid days off provided additionally to care for disabled children.
6. Periods of downtime due to the fault of the employer.
7. The time of a strike in which the employee did not take part, but could not work because of it.
8. Other periods provided for by the legislation of the Russian Federation.

Having excluded such periods from the total duration of the period of time under consideration, the accountant can begin to calculate the average salary.

What are the advantages of the new law on the reporting period?

If everyone is still doing business as usual, when does the updated law apply and who might benefit from it? It still makes accounting easier.

As we found out, a superficial glance shows that getting rid of monthly reporting makes the work of accountants easier. In fact, when you close accounts 90 and 91 times a year, it's easy to lose control of your finances. So what are the benefits of a legally enforceable annual report?

Thus, you can significantly reduce the time spent on preparing reports on accounts 25, “General production expenses”, 26, “General operating expenses”, 44, “Sales expenses”, as well as PBU 2/2008 “Accounting for construction contracts”. This will allow you to get rid of unnecessary headaches in the form of monthly calculations.

Most organizations use 1C:Reporting for accounting: it easily connects to 1C:Enterprise, automatically reminds you of the deadlines for submitting documents and allows you to send them to supervisory authorities directly from the program. After monitoring organizations receive reports, a notification is sent to the system. Expand the functionality to adapt the program to your business, simply with the help of modifications made by 1C support specialists.

An example of determining the period for calculating the average salary

Consider a situation in which it is necessary to calculate the average salary for the past 12-month period:

The employee went on a business trip on February 14, 2021. For this period, the company paid him an average salary. To calculate the value, it is necessary to consider the period from 1.01. until 31.12. last year, 2015. The employee was not at the workplace all the time:

• from April 12 to April 23, 2015 – on a business trip;
• from July 5 to July 25, 2015 – was on unpaid leave;
• from November 20 to November 28, 2015 – was incapacitated for work on sick leave.

Based on these data, the accountant determined the billing period:

• from January 1 to April 11;
• from April 24 to July 4;
• from July 26 to November 19;
• from November 29 to December 31.

According to the working time schedule, weekends will be excluded from the total number of days.

Calculation period for vacation: rules for determining

The length of the period for which the number of days of paid leave is calculated depends on the duration of the employee’s work at the enterprise. But in general, it cannot last more than 12 months. Regardless of which half of the year the employee goes on vacation, the period will consist of one year. In this case, it begins from the first day of the calendar month of the start of the holiday until the last date of the 12th month. For example, an employee was on legal vacation from 12/28/15 to 01/15/16. The billing period for vacation will be determined in the interval from 12/1/14 to 30/11. 15.

In cases where the employee actually worked less than a year, the calculated period is considered to be from the first working day until the last day of the month preceding the vacation. For example, an employee was hired on August 1, 2015, and his vacation falls on December 27–14.01. In this case, the billing period is the time from 1.08. until November 30, 2015.

The Labor Code of the Russian Federation provides the opportunity to set the terms on the basis of which vacation payments are calculated independently. A prerequisite is to indicate the period in the personal or collective employment contract.

Do you need interim reporting?

In accordance with Federal Law No. 251-FZ dated July 23, 2013, firms are not required to prepare interim monthly reports. They must legally consider the calendar year as the reporting period. But at the same time, companies are in no hurry to abandon it, although it would seem that at the legislative level it is allowed to report once a year and simplify accounting. Why is this happening?

The reality is that the official methodology, based on the “Accounting Regulations” and “Instructions for the Application of the Chart of Accounts,” is focused on monthly reporting and is at odds with the law. Let's take synthetic accounts 90, “Sales”, and 91, “Other income and expenses”: according to paragraph 79 of the PVBU, the reporting period for them was increased monthly and the financial result was required to be provided once a month.

Accounting profit (loss) represents the final financial result (profit or loss) identified for the reporting period based on the accounting of all business transactions of the company.

The Federal Law has relieved the accounting department of this obligation - now it is possible to report annually. But practically this is not feasible, since all accounting for many years was adjusted to monthly periods. Therefore, most organizations define the last day of the calendar month in their own reporting documentation, formally maintaining the same order.

• This is also compatible with tax accounting - in it the reporting periods are quarterly or monthly, which is advisable to reflect in accounting.
• Interim reports are also needed in business companies - when recording large transactions, calculating payments to departing parties of an LLC, quarterly and semi-annual dividends. These deductions take into account the current net profit under paragraph 1 of Article 28 of Law 14-FZ and paragraphs 1 and 2 of Article 42 of Law 208-FZ. Without reporting on intermediate dates set out in the charter, a verdict of the general meeting of shareholders will be required.

Accrual of vacation payments in days

After determining total earnings, to calculate vacation pay, you should calculate the average daily wage. If the employee has worked in full for the last 12 months, without deductions for the days of the pay period, then the calculation is made using the formula: SD.z. = Salary : 12 : 29.3.

Where:

• Salary – the total amount of earnings for the entire period;
• 29.3 – average number of days in one month;
• 12 – value of the billing period in months (in this case the year is set).

Let's consider an example of calculating average daily earnings for calculating vacation payments: from March 14 to April 27, 2021, accountant X will be granted annual paid leave. For the calculation, the period from 03/01/15 to 02/29/16 is used, which is fully worked out, without deductions. X receives a monthly fixed salary of 18 thousand rubles. Calculate average daily earnings.

Let's do the calculations:

1. The total salary for the year will be: 18,000 × 12 = 216,000 rubles.
2. The average daily wage will be determined at: 216,000: 12: 29.3 = 614.33 rubles.
3. In total, for 14 days of vacation, the company must pay the amount: 614.33 × 14 = 8600.62 rubles.

Accrual of vacation pay for periods not fully worked

When determining the period of work for which an employee is granted paid rest, the following time is not taken into account:

• receiving average earnings;
• illness, maternity leave;
• unpaid leave;
• additional days off to care for a disabled child;
• downtime due to the fault of the enterprise;
• other cases provided for by law.

When subtracting the listed periods, it turns out that the employee did not work the entire period calculated for vacation, but only part of it. This results in an incomplete rest time that needs to be determined.

To find how many calendar days of the pay period the employee is due for vacation, you need to perform several mathematical operations:

1. Calculate the number of days worked in a part-time working month: Td. = 29.3 : Td.m. × Tot.d., where:

• Td.m. – number of calendar days of the month;
• That.d. – number of days actually worked.

2. Determine the amount of average daily earnings using the formula: SD. = Z: (29.3 × Tm. + Td.), where:

• Z – total amount of earnings accrued for the period;
• Tm. – number of fully worked months;
• etc. – the number of days worked in a part-time working month (see clause 1).

If there are several incomplete months in one period, the calculation should be made separately for each of them, and then the results should be summed up.

Vacation: number of days according to law and local regulations

Weekends falling within the vacation period are taken into account when calculating its duration and are subject to payment. Let's explain with an example. Manager Ivanov A.K. wrote an application for leave for the period from June 17 to June 23, 2021. June 22 and 23 are days off. Accordingly, the employee must be given leave for 7 days and all 7 days must be paid.

Unlike regular weekends, holidays and non-working days are not included in the duration of vacation and are not paid (Article 120 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). Let's go back to the example above. If Ivanov A.K. writes an application for June 6-13 - 8 calendar days, only 7 calendar days will be counted and paid for vacation. Because June 12 is a holiday (Article 112 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).

The specified duration of vacation - 28 calendar days - is the minimum according to the Labor Code of the Russian Federation. And the employer, on his own initiative, can establish paid leave of longer duration for his employees. The number of additionally provided paid vacation days (in addition to 28) must be specified in the collective agreement, local regulations of the organization (for example, internal labor regulations) or directly in employment contracts with employees.

It is important that the costs of paying for such additional vacation days cannot be taken into account for profit tax purposes (clause 24 of article 270 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). Also, personal income tax will need to be withheld from the amount of their payment and insurance premiums will be charged (clause 2 of Article 226 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, clause 1 of Article 420 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

At the same time, certain categories of employees are required by law to be granted longer vacations. Read below about how many days of vacation they are entitled to per year.

Who has the right to apply for extended basic leave and how many days of leave should be provided to these persons is indicated in the table.

How many days does a northerner's vacation last? Usually more than for non-northern workers. After all, “northerners”, firstly, are provided with basic annual paid leave - of standard duration or extended in the above cases. And secondly, they are granted additional leave (Article 321 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). For workers who work:

• in the Far North - 24 calendar days;
• in areas equated to the regions of the Far North - 16 calendar days;
• in other regions of the North, where the regional coefficient and percentage increase in wages are established - 8 calendar days (Article 14 of the Law of the Russian Federation of February 19, 1993 No. 4520-1).

By the way, both regular annual paid vacations and extended, as well as additional “northern” vacations can be provided to employees in advance (Article 122 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).

The calculation also takes a period of a full 12 months.

Situations also arise when an employee, before or after the weekend, took a vacation at his own expense or was sick. But even in this case, there is no need to exclude weekends from the calculation.

The vacation days calculator will easily allow you to find out how many days of vacation the employee has accumulated at one time or another.

The calculation of vacation time is made in accordance with Art. 121 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

The time spent working for one employer, which gives the right to take annual leave, which will be paid, may be needed not only to directly calculate this period, but also to know how many days are subject to compensation upon dismissal.

An employee who works continuously for the same employer will be entitled to annual leave, taking into account the following periods:

• the time when he actually performed his duties;
• periods when the employee was absent from work, but his place was retained (vacation, sick leave, maternity leave, military service, etc.);
• weekends and other non-working days;
• forced absence from work due to illegal dismissal;
• suspension due to untimely completion of a medical examination (if this is not the employee’s fault);
• additional administrative leaves (no more than two weeks per calendar year).

We suggest that you familiarize yourself with: Statutory Limitations for Debt Payments

IMPORTANT! Changes were made to the legislation regarding the accrual of length of service during administrative leave:

• from 12/30/2001 to 10/05. 2006, no more than 7 days of vacation at your own expense per year were taken into account;
• from 10/06/2006 this limit increased to 14 days.

Some periods of time will not be taken into account when calculating the length of service required for leave, namely:

• employee absenteeism;
• suspension due to alcohol, drug or toxic intoxication;
• denial of permission to work due to ignorance or failure to pass safety regulations;
• the employee did not undergo a mandatory medical examination due to his own fault;
• inability to perform work according to a medical report;
• termination of a license required for work (for example, a driver’s license, a weapons permit, etc.);
• leave to care for a child over 1.5 years old.

The basis is the duration of annual leave of 28 days, unless otherwise established for special categories of employees.

In the first year of work, the minimum length of service to be able to go on vacation must be at least six months. This is not included in the calculator, just keep it in mind.

In case of dismissal, employees who have worked for at least 11 months will be able to receive 100% compensation for unused vacation days.

If an employee went on vacation before 11 months of continuous work and was then dismissed, then part of the vacation pay received in advance upon dismissal will have to be returned to him.

It is prohibited not to take annual leave for more than 2 years in a row.

It is allowed to break the vacation into parts, but one of the parts should not be shorter than 2 weeks.

An employee is required to rest 28 days per year.

You can roughly calculate it like this: for every month you work, you get the right to rest for 2.33 days.

A month is taken into account if more than 15 days are worked in it.

If the first and last month of work are not whole, the days for these months are added up (i.e., in 2 months you need to work more than 30 days).

The vacation law states that vacation pay must be paid 3 days before the start of the vacation. Since it is not indicated that the days are working days, they should be considered calendar (Article 14 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).

If the third day falls on a weekend or holiday, vacation pay is paid on the previous working day.

An example of calculating average daily earnings for an incomplete period

Consider the situation: an employee will be granted paid leave from June 15, 2021. The monthly billing period for payments is from 06/1/15 to 05/31/16, this time was not fully worked: from February 18 to 25, the employee was sick. In addition to sick leave payments, the employee is due a salary totaling 240 thousand rubles.

Let's make the calculation:

1. Number of days for fully worked months: 11 × 29.3 = 322, for February: 29.3: 29 × 21 = 21.
2. In total, the following will be used to calculate vacation pay: 322 + 21 = 343 days.
3. Average daily earnings will be: 240,000: 343 = 699.7 rubles.

Calculation period of sick leave benefits

An officially employed employee has the right to receive financial compensation for a period of illness if the fact is confirmed by a doctor and sick leave is provided. The period for calculating the amount of payment is considered to be 2 years. The amount is calculated based on total earnings for the period by multiplying it by the compensation coefficient and the number of days of disability. The resulting number is divided into 730–732 days.

When making payments to employees, it is extremely important to correctly determine the period for which payments are due to an individual. The established time limits directly affect the average salary and many other social benefits and compensations.

How many days should you rest?

What to do if management requires an employee to come to work during his vacation? How to calculate vacation in this case?

The legislation provides for this possibility, however, it also establishes a number of conditions that must be complied with. For example, the following:

• absolute consent of the employee who is called;
• the part of the vacation that was not interrupted must be at least fourteen days;
• that part of the vacation time that was not used must be provided at any other time of the year or immediately after all the reasons for his presence at work during the vacation have been eliminated; this must be agreed upon with the employee and completely satisfy him.

So, for what reasons can an employee be called upon to continue performing his duties at the enterprise during vacation? Among them are the following:

• in order to prevent equipment downtime, accidents, damage to enterprise property or loss of life;
• in order to prevent the onset of the consequences of a natural disaster, as well as to prevent or eliminate the consequences of any industrial accident.