must be included in the annual financial statements. Annual financial statements

Any firm that is required to keep accounting records must prepare financial statements.

The composition of reporting and reporting periods are established by Articles 14-15 of the Federal Law of December 6, 2011 No. 402-FZ “On Accounting”.

Starting from 2011, financial statements must be submitted in accordance with the forms approved by Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated July 2, 2010 No. 66n.

Financial statements can be interim and annual.

Interim financial statements are prepared for the period from January 1 to the reporting date of the period inclusive. That is, for a month, quarter, nine months, and possibly for any other period. The composition of interim financial statements is established by federal standards (clause 3, article 14 of the Law of 06.12.2011 No. 402-FZ). Currently, its composition has not been approved. However, according to clause 49 of PBU 4/99, the interim reporting includes the balance sheet and the income statement. (Information of the Ministry of Finance of Russia No. PZ-10/2012 “On the entry into force on 01.01.2013 of the Federal Law of 06.12.2011 No. 402-FZ “On Accounting”).

At the end of the year, firms prepare an annual report. In accordance with Article 14 of Law No. 402-FZ, the annual accounting (financial) statements include:

1. Balance sheet.

2. Report on financial results.

3. Applications to them.

The appendices to the financial statements include:

    statement of changes in equity;

    cash flow statement (Information of the Ministry of Finance

According to paragraph 4.b. Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia N 66n "the content of the explanations, drawn up in tabular form, is determined by organizations independently, taking into account Appendix N 3 to this Order." After reviewing and analyzing Appendix N3, we determined that as explanations there can be (based on the materiality of the information):

    the legal address of the organization (They are presented separately, in cases where these data are not available in the information accompanying the accounting report. Clause 28 PBU 4/99);

    main activities;

    information on the average annual number of employees for the reporting period or the number of employees on the reporting date;

    composition (surnames and positions) of members of the executive and control bodies of the organization (requirements PBU 11/2008);

    information on availability at the beginning and end of the reporting period and movement during the reporting period certain types intangible assets (clause 40.41 PBU 14/2007);

    as well as information disclosed in accordance with paragraph 27 of PBU 4/99.

The information is disclosed additionally (simultaneously) with that required in the relevant sections of the relevant RAS:

    on the availability at the beginning and end of the reporting period and the movement during the reporting period of certain types of fixed assets (section 6 PBU 6/01);

    on the availability at the beginning and end of the reporting period and the movement during the reporting period of leased fixed assets (section 6 PBU 6/01);

    on the availability at the beginning and end of the reporting period and the movement during the reporting period of certain types of financial investments (clause 41.42 PBU 19/02);

    on the presence at the beginning and end of the reporting period of certain types of receivables;

    on the number of shares issued by the joint-stock company and fully paid; the number of shares issued but not paid or paid in part; the nominal value of shares owned by the joint-stock company, its subsidiaries and affiliates;

    on the composition of reserves for future expenses and payments, estimated reserves, their availability at the beginning and end of the reporting period, the movement of funds of each reserve during the reporting period (section 5 PBU 8/2010, PBU 21/2008);

    on the presence at the beginning and end of the reporting period of certain types of accounts payable;

    on sales volumes of products, goods, works, services by types (branches) of activity and geographical sales markets;

    on the composition of production costs (distribution costs);

    on the composition of other income and expenses;

    about extraordinary facts of economic activity and their consequences;

    about any issued and received security for the obligations and payments of the organization;

    on events after the reporting date and conditional facts of economic activity (PBU 7/98, PBU 8/2010);

    on terminated operations (PBU 16/02);

    on affiliates (PBU 11/2008);

    on state aid (PBU 13/2000);

    on earnings per share;

In addition, other disclosures that organizations are required to make in various sections of accounting act as explanations for reporting. What exactly is subject to disclosure is indicated in the sections “Disclosure of information in financial statements” of the current RAS.

The term "Explanatory Note" in relation to the accounting (financial) statements is no longer used. A document with this name is not used in reporting. However, this does not mean that there will be no textual information in the reporting. Yes, both PBU 4/99 and Order 66n suggest that disclosures should be presented in tabular form whenever possible. But a lot of information to be disclosed does not fit into the table.

For example, in fulfilling the requirements of paragraph 20 of PBU 1/2008 “Accounting Policy of an Organization”, an enterprise must also disclose information about the presence of significant uncertainty regarding events and conditions that may give rise to significant doubts about the applicability of the going concern assumption, indicate such uncertainty and unambiguously describe what it is connected with (if there is such uncertainty). It is quite difficult to describe this information in the form of a table. From which it can be concluded that if someone makes a requirement for explanations to prepare them exclusively in the form of a table, this requirement is at least not reasonable. And it is not based on normative documents, since none of them obliges to present explanations exclusively in the form of tables.

As a rule, enterprises disclose much more information to users than is named in current PBUs. There are a number of other statutory disclosures that entities must make when preparing their annual report.

The term "annual report" is much broader than the term "accounting (financial) statements", and the annual report contains a wider range of disclosures. All this information in the accounting regulations is referred to as "Additional information accompanying the accounting (financial) statements".

Such information may be:

    dynamics of the most important economic and financial indicators of the organization's activities over a number of years;

    planned development of the organization;

    prospective capital and long-term financial investments;

    borrowing policy, risk management (Information of the Ministry of Finance dated 14.09.2012 No. ПЗ-9/2012);

    activities of the organization in the field of research and development work;

Additional information may be published together with the annual accounting (financial) statements, however, it is not included in these statements and is not subject to mandatory audit.

Not included in the financial statements and audit report.

Audit report - an official document intended for users of the accounting (financial) statements of audited entities, containing the opinion of an audit organization, an individual auditor expressed in the established form on the reliability of the accounting (financial) statements of an audited entity.

The exclusion of the audit report from the financial statements does not automatically entail permission to refuse to conduct a mandatory audit. According to paragraph 10 of Art. 13 of Law No. 402-FZ, in the case of publication of financial statements that are subject to mandatory audit, such financial statements must be published together with the auditor's report. And already in December 2013, another change was made to this law. Now paragraph 2 of Art. 18 reads as follows: “When submitting a mandatory copy of the prepared annual financial statements that are subject to mandatory audit, an audit report on it is submitted together with such statements or no later than 10 working days from the day following the date of the audit report, but no later than December 31 of the year, following the reporting year. ”Thus, having determined for organizations that during the year following the reporting year, enterprises whose reporting is subject to mandatory audit must conduct such an audit.

The annual financial statements consist of the Balance Sheet, the Statement of Financial Results and annexes thereto. Such a list is established by part 1 of article 14 of the Law of December 6, 2011 No. 402-FZ.

This conclusion follows from paragraphs 2 and 4 of the order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated July 2, 2010 No. 66n and is confirmed by the letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated May 23, 2013 No. 03-02-07/2/18285.

Thus, the financial statements include the following documents:

  • balance sheet (cf. );
  • Income statement;
  • Explanations to the Balance Sheet and Statement of Financial Results (in text and (or) tabular forms);
  • Statement of changes in equity;
  • Cash flow statement (see);
  • Report on the intended use of funds.

As part of the interim reporting, draw up the Balance Sheet and the Statement of Financial Results. The rest of the forms need to be drawn up only at the end of the year. This procedure follows from part 3 of article 14 of the Law of December 6, 2011 No. 402-FZ and paragraph 49 of PBU 4/99.

Accounting statements should give a reliable and complete picture of the financial position of the organization, the financial results of its activities and changes in its financial position. Therefore, the Notes to the Balance Sheet and the Statement of Financial Performance disclose information related to the accounting policy of the organization, as well as Additional Information , which is not included in the Balance Sheet and the Statement of Financial Results, but is necessary for users of financial statements to really assess the financial position of the organization (clause 6, 24 PBU 4/99, letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated January 9, 2013 No. 07-02-18 /01).

The organization determines the composition and content of the explanations independently, taking into account the content of paragraphs 24–27 of PBU 4/99 and other accounting provisions.

A report on the targeted use of funds is submitted by all organizations that received earmarked funds in the reporting year.

For more information on the composition of financial statements, see table.

Some organizations may keep accounting and prepare annual financial statements in a simplified version. These include:

  • organizations that have received the status of participants in the Skolkovo project;
  • non-profit organizations.

At the same time, the simplified accounting and reporting procedure cannot be applied, in particular, by microfinance, state and self-regulatory organizations, as well as non-profit organizations recognized as foreign agents.

Small business entities

Situation: what forms should be used to submit the Balance Sheet and the Financial Results Statement to a small business?

The balance sheet and the Statement of Financial Results for a small business can be submitted both in generally established and in special forms.

Participants of the Skolkovo project

Participants of the Skolkovo project have the right to apply special simplified accounting forms. They have the following forms:

  • of the Balance Sheet and the Statement of Financial Results, given in Appendix No. 5 to the Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated July 2, 2010 No. 66n (for commercial organizations);
  • of the Balance Sheet and the Report on the intended use of funds, given in Appendix No. 6 to the Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated July 2, 2010 No. 66n (for non-profit organizations).

Similar conclusions follow from paragraph 3 of part 4 of article 6 of the Law of December 6, 2011 No. 402-FZ and the letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia of December 27, 2013 No. 07-01-06 / 57795 March 2014 No. GD-4-3/4788).

However, the use of simplified forms is a right, not an obligation. Therefore, organizations participating in the Skolkovo project can also draw up reports in accordance with the generally established procedure. That is, to submit as part of the reporting the Balance Sheet and the Statement of Financial Results according to the main forms given in Appendix No. 1 to the order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated July 2, 2010 No. 66n.

Reporting indicators

Forms of financial statements, approved by order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated July 2, 2010 No. 66n, contain indicators reflecting the financial and property situation of the organization. A number of indicators included in different forms, matches. The relationship between the indicators of standard forms of financial statements is presented in tables. Use them to check the correctness of reporting.

Standard forms of the Balance Sheet, Statement of Financial Results, Statement of Capital Flow and Statement of Cash Flows are formed by groups of items (for example, “Financial investments”, “Other income”). The details of these articles are determined by organizations independently, based on the significance of a particular indicator (clause 3 of the order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated July 2, 2010 No. 66n). In this case, for each line, where necessary, enter substrings. They indicate the numerical values ​​that are part of the aggregated indicators provided for by the standard form. You need to enter substrings for significant indicators. Insignificant indicators in substrings can be omitted. An indicator is significant if, without information about it, it is impossible to correctly assess the financial position of the organization.

If reporting is submitted to authorities executive power(for example, to state statistics bodies, the tax office), then assign a code to each indicator in accordance with Appendix 4 to the order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated July 2, 2010 No. 66n. Enter the code in the appropriate box. At the same time, if the financial statements of certain categories of organizations (for example, small businesses) reflect consolidated indicators that include several indicators, the line code is indicated by the indicator that has the highest specific gravity as part of an enlarged

This procedure is established by paragraph 5 of the order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated July 2, 2010 No. 66n.

The organization determines the materiality criterion independently and prescribes it in the accounting policy for accounting purposes.

Accounting policy

Situation: is it necessary to submit a copy of the approval order to the tax office? accounting policy for accounting purposes?

No no need.

The legislation does not contain such requirements. In addition, the essential elements and principles of the accounting policy are disclosed in the Explanations to the Balance Sheet and the Statement of Financial Results, which the organization submits to the tax office (paragraphs 17, 18 PBU 1/2008, subparagraph 5, paragraph 1, article 23 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation) .

At the same time, the accounting policy for accounting purposes may contain information necessary for conducting audits (for example, the working chart of accounts of the organization, an approved list of primary documents used by the organization, etc.). Therefore, within field check the inspectorate has the right to require this document. The form of the requirement is given in Appendix 5 to the order of the Federal Tax Service of Russia dated May 31, 2007 No. MM-3-06 / 338.

Within 10 working days after a written request is received from the inspection, the organization must submit a copy of the order approving the accounting policy. Such rules are established by paragraph 12 of Article 89 and paragraph 3 of Article 93 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

If the organization does not comply with the received requirement, it may be fined. The amount of the fine will be:

  • for organizations 200 rubles. (Clause 1, Article 126 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation);
  • for officials (for example, the head of an organization) from 300 to 500 rubles. (part 1 of article 15.6 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation).

Information related to financial statements

The explanatory note from January 1, 2013 is not included in the financial statements. That is, starting from the reporting for 2012, it is not necessary to submit an explanatory note. This follows from the provisions of Part 1 of Article 14 of the Law of December 6, 2011 No. 402-FZ and is confirmed by the letters of the Ministry of Finance of Russia of May 23, 2013 No. 03-02-07 / 2/18285, of January 9, 2013 No. 07- 02-18/01, information of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated December 4, 2012 No. ПЗ-10/2012.

This document is information accompanying financial statements. As a rule, such information is not linked to the numbers in the Balance Sheet or Statement of Financial Performance (Statement of Purposeful Use of Funds). An organization may provide such information if it considers it useful to interested users in making economic decisions. As part of the information accompanying the financial statements, the following indicators are disclosed:

  • dynamics of the most important economic and financial indicators of the organization for a number of years;
  • planned development of the organization;
  • prospective capital and long-term financial investments;
  • activities in the field of research and development work;
  • environmental protection measures;
  • other information.

From the provision of information accompanying financial statements, it should be clear that it is not included in these statements. To do this, you must follow the following rules:

  • financial statements should not contain references to such information;
  • the title of the information provided should not imply that it is part of the financial statements;
  • such information should be separated from the financial statements.

Part annual financial statements include:

  1. Balance sheet (form No. 1);
  2. Profit and loss statement (Form No. 2);
  3. Statement of changes in equity (Form No. 3);
  4. Cash flow statement (Form No. 4);
  5. Appendix to the balance sheet (form No. 5);
  6. Report on the intended use of funds (form No. 6);
  7. Specialized forms for various enterprises;
  8. Explanatory note;
  9. Auditor's report, if the reporting is subject to mandatory audit.

Balance- the main form of financial statements. The balance sheet shows the state of the assets of the enterprise and the sources of their formation on a certain date. In financial analysis, it is customary to distinguish between an accounting (gross) balance sheet and an analytical (net) balance sheet. The differences in the net balance are in the correction of individual balance sheet items, taking into account differences in accounting estimates from market ones.

Profit and Loss Statement(form No. 2) contains information on the process of formation and use of profit for a certain period of time. Form data, No. 2 combine the balance sheet indicators at the beginning and end of the reporting period. Cash flow statement(form No. 4) reflects the balance of funds at the beginning of the year, receipts and expenditures during the year, the balance at the end of the year. Appendix to the balance sheet (form No. 5) includes nine sections reflecting the movement of own and borrowed capital, receivables and payables, etc.

In an explanatory note an assessment of the organization's business activity can be given, the criteria of which are, the breadth of product sales markets, including the availability of export supplies, the reputation of the organization, expressed, in particular, in the fame of customers using the services of the organization, etc.; the degree of implementation of the plan, ensuring the specified growth rates; the level of efficiency in the use of the organization's resources, etc. It is advisable to include in the explanatory note data on the dynamics of the most important economic and financial indicators of the organization's work over a number of years, descriptions of future investments, ongoing economic activities and other information of interest to potential users of annual financial statements.

Auditor's reports external auditors are prepared by independent, licensed organizations and internal auditors (audit commissions elected from among the employees of the enterprise or shareholders in accordance with the charter). Independent auditors give an opinion on the objectivity of financial statements, their compliance with the rules and regulations of accounting. If the auditor finds violations that distort the real financial results, then the audit report includes recommendations for their elimination.

The reporting period for annual financial statements is a calendar year, i.e. the period from January 1 to December 31 inclusive. Newly established organizations draw up annual accounting reports for the period from the date of state registration to December 31, inclusive, if state registration was completed before October 1. If the organization is registered after October 1, then the reporting period for the preparation of annual financial statements will be the period from the moment of state registration to December 31 next year inclusive.

At the end of 2016, all organizations must submit annual financial statements. We will tell you about its composition, deadlines and addresses of reporting in our consultation.

Composition of the annual financial statements 2016.

The annual financial statements consist of a balance sheet, a statement of financial results and appendices to them (Part 1, Article 14 of Federal Law No. 402-FZ of 06.12.2011).

  • Statement of changes in equity;
  • Cash flow statement;
  • Report on the intended use of funds (for non-profit organizations);
  • other applications (explanations).

We talked about the composition of the reporting of organizations that have the right to apply simplified accounting in.

Forms of annual financial statements for 2016 were approved by the Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated July 2, 2010 No. 66n.

Here are easy-to-download forms of annual financial statements for 2016 with the "Code" column:

The form of the explanatory note to the annual financial statements for 2016 has not been approved, therefore, the organization determines the format and procedure for submitting explanations on its own. Explanations can be made in tabular or textual form. When forming explanations in the tabular form of the organization, it is necessary to take into account the example given in Appendix No. 3 to the Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated 02.07.2010 No. 66n.

When and where to submit annual accounts

Organizations are required to submit annual financial statements at their location no later than March 31 at the following addresses:

  • to the tax office (clause 5 clause 1 article 23 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation);
  • territorial body of statistics (Article 18 of the Federal Law of December 6, 2011 No. 402-FZ).

If March 31 coincides with a day off, it will be possible to submit reports no later than the next business day (clause 7, article 6.1 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

For 2016, annual reports must be submitted to the IFTS and Rosstat.

The financial statements submitted to the IFTS on paper must be drawn up on machine-readable forms.

Machine-readable forms of financial statements in PDF can be downloaded from.

If the organization is subject to mandatory audit (Article 5 of the Federal Law of December 30, 2008 No. 307-FZ), as part of the annual financial statements, an audit report must also be submitted to Rosstat, which confirms the reliability of the financial statements submitted (clause 5 PBU 4/99). If at the time of submission of reports to the statistical authorities, the audit in the organization has not been completed, it will be possible to submit the conclusion later. This must be done no later than 10 business days from the day following the date of the audit report, but must be done by December 31 of the year following the reporting year inclusive (clause 2, article 18 of the Federal Law of December 6, 2011 No. 402-FZ).

Organizations are not required to submit an audit report to the tax office.

At the end of the calendar year, all organizations, with the exception of budget organizations, are required to submit to the founders, participants of the organization or owners of its property, as well as to the territorial bodies of state statistics at the place of their registration. State and municipal unitary enterprises submit annual financial statements bodies authorized to manage state property(Article 15 of the Federal Law of November 21, 1996 N 129-FZ "On Accounting"). Taxpayers are also required to submit financial statements and to the tax authorities(clause 4, clause 1, article 23 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

Note. Financial statements- this is a unified system of data on the property and financial position of the organization and on the results of its economic activity. Reporting is prepared on the basis of accounting data in accordance with established forms (Article 2 of Law N 129-FZ, clause 4 of the Accounting Regulation "Accounting statements of an organization" (PBU 4/99), approved by Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated 06.07.1999 N 43n ).

Annual financial statements must be prepared and submitted interested parties within 90 days after the end of the reporting year(Clause 2, Article 15 of Law N 129-FZ). Based on this, the last day of reporting for 2010 will be March 31 of the current year inclusive.

Improving accounting methodology

Last year, the Russian Ministry of Finance continued purposeful work to bring Russian accounting regulations closer to the relevant international standards. In terms of accounting methodology, financiers issued half a dozen Orders during 2010. So, two of them approved new Accounting Regulations:
- "Correction of errors in accounting and reporting"(PBU 22/2010) (approved by Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated 06/28/2010 N 63n);
- "Segment Information"(PBU 12/2010) (approved by Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated November 8, 2010 N 143n).
But if PBU 22/2010 comes into force with the financial statements for 2010 (clause 2 of Order N 63n), then PBU 12/2010 will need to be applied when compiling financial statements for 2011 (clause 2 of Order N 143n).
A detailed Commentary on PBU 22/2010 was published at "720 hours" N 9, 2010. You can also read about correcting errors in financial statements in PBU N 1, 2011.
Recall that the correction of a significant error of the previous reporting year, identified after the approval of the financial statements for this year, is carried out by entries in the relevant accounting accounts in the current reporting period. In this case, the corresponding account in the entries is account 84 "Retained earnings (uncovered loss)".
In addition, the comparative indicators of financial statements for the reporting periods reflected in the organization's financial statements for the current reporting year are recalculated. The recalculation of the comparative indicators of the financial statements is carried out by correcting the indicators of the financial statements, as if the error of the previous reporting period had never been made (retrospective recalculation).
Retrospective recalculation is made in relation to comparative indicators starting from the previous reporting period presented in the financial statements for the current reporting year in which the corresponding error was made.
When compiling financial statements for 2010, it is quite possible to do without a retrospective recalculation of indicators. Such a recalculation should be carried out if errors are identified that are material and relate to 2009 and earlier. But they will be discovered only in the first quarter of 2011. And as mentioned above, corrective entries in this case must be made in the current period of 2011. Therefore, a retrospective recalculation of indicators will be reflected in the financial statements for 2011.
Orders of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated 25.10.2010 N 132n and dated 08.11.2010 N 142n amended more than two dozen regulatory legal acts of accounting, including the Regulation on accounting and financial reporting in Russian Federation(approved by Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated 29.07.1998 N 34n), Instructions for the application of the Chart of Accounts for accounting of financial and economic activities of organizations (approved by Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated 31.10.2000 N 94n), one and a half dozen provisions on accounting, five guidelines . According to the amendments, accounting in state (municipal) institutions is simplified, since the requirements for its maintenance established by these documents do not apply to them from January 1, 2011.

Reporting Requirements

General requirements for financial statements are set out in Sec. III PBU 4/99. The main ones are reliability, completeness, materiality, neutrality, usefulness, consistency.
Financial statements should give a reliable and complete picture of the financial position of the organization, the financial results of its activities and changes in its financial position (clause 6 PBU 4/99). Information on the financial position, as you know, is formed mainly in the balance sheet, information on the financial performance of the organization - in the income statement, information on changes in the financial position of the organization - in the cash flow statement.
Reliable and complete is considered financial statements formed on the basis of the rules established by regulations on accounting.
To ensure the reliability of financial statements, organizations are required to conduct an inventory of property and liabilities. During the inventory, their presence, condition and assessment are checked and documented. Before compiling the annual financial statements, an inventory is mandatory (clause 2, article 12 of Law N 129-FZ, clause 27 of the Regulation 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).

Note. For small businesses (with the exception of credit institutions), in order to simplify the accounting system, the Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated November 8, 2010 N 144n amended seven provisions on accounting (for more details, see the commentary in "720 hours" N 2, 2011).

If during the preparation of financial statements it is revealed that there is insufficient data to form a complete picture of the financial position of the organization, the financial results of its activities and changes in its financial position, then it becomes necessary to include relevant additional indicators and explanations in the financial statements (clause 6 PBU 4/99).
Significant indicators must be included in the financial statements. An indicator is considered material if its non-disclosure may affect the economic decisions of interested users taken on the basis of reporting information. The decision by the organization of the question of whether this indicator is significant depends on the assessment of the indicator, its nature, and the specific circumstances of occurrence. The organization can decide when an amount is recognized as significant, the ratio of which to the total of the relevant data for the reporting year is at least five percent (clause 11 PBU 4/99, clause 1 of the Instructions on the procedure for compiling and submitting financial statements, approved by the aforementioned Order Ministry of Finance of Russia N 67n).
When preparing financial statements, the organization must ensure the neutrality of the information contained in it. This requirement means the exclusion of unilateral satisfaction of the interests of some user groups by it over others, that is, the information contained in the reporting must meet the interests of different user groups.

Note. When preparing reports, the organization must adhere to the content and forms of reporting adopted by it consistently from one reporting period to another. Changing the accepted content and form of the balance sheet, income statement and explanations to them is allowed in exceptional cases, for example, when changing the type of activity (clause 9 PBU 4/99).

Information is not neutral if, through selection or presentation, it influences the decisions and judgments of users in order to achieve predetermined results or consequences.
The neutrality of the financial statements is manifested in the absence of the intention of its compilers to persuade the user of the statements to make a certain decision.
The information presented in the financial statements should be useful. Information is considered useful if it is relevant, reliable, comparable and timely.
Information is relevant if the presence or absence of it has or is capable of influencing the decisions (including management decisions) of users of financial statements, helping them evaluate past, present or future events, confirming or changing previous estimates.
Information is reliable if it does not contain material errors. To be reliable, information must objectively reflect the facts of economic activity to which it actually or presumably relates.
Comparability of information means the ability for users of reporting to compare performance indicators for different periods time to determine trends in the financial position of the organization and the financial results of its activities. Users should also be able to collate information across entities to compare their financial position, financial performance and changes in financial position.
Information is timely if it can best meet the user's decision-making needs, that is, if a balance is struck between its relevance and reliability.

The composition of the annual financial statements

In general, the annual financial statements of commercial organizations include:
- balance sheet (form N 1);
- income statement (Form No. 2);
- statement of changes in equity (Form No. 3);
- cash flow statement (Form No. 4);
- appendix to the balance sheet (form N 5);
- explanatory note;
- an audit report confirming the reliability of the organization's financial statements if it is subject to a mandatory audit or if the organization has independently decided to audit the financial statements (clause 2, article 13 of Law N 129-FZ, clause 5 PBU 4/99, clause 2 Instructions on the volume of accounting reporting forms, approved by Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated July 22, 2003 N 67n).
is the main form in the accounting system, since it characterizes the property and financial position of the organization at the reporting date. It is one of the signs of a legal entity (Article 48 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).
According to the balance sheet:
- assesses the possibility of the organization fulfilling its obligations to third parties in the near future or overcoming the financial difficulties it has encountered;
- the financial results of work are determined in the form of increasing equity capital for the reporting period.

Note. The balance sheet is understood as a method of economic grouping of the composition and allocation of the resources of an economic entity included in the balance sheet asset, and the sources of their formation in the form of equity and borrowed capital, reflected in the liabilities side of the balance sheet as a liability. It serves as the main source of information for the circle of users about the property status of the organization.

Gains and losses report- the main reporting form that characterizes the procedure for the formation of the result of the financial and economic activities of the organization. This result is determined by calculating all profits and all losses (losses) for the reporting period, reflected in accounts 90 "Sales", 91 "Other income and expenses" and 99 "Profits and losses".
The Statement of Changes in Equity discloses additional data on changes in equity and provides explanations for balance sheet items in the Equity and Reserves section.
IN cash flow statement discloses information about the organization's funds held in bank accounts and on hand. The data of the report should characterize changes in the financial position of the organization in the context of current, investment and financial activities.
Under the current activity is understood the activity of the organization, pursuing the extraction of profit as the main goal or not having the extraction of profit as such a goal in accordance with the subject and objectives of the activity. That is, activities related to the production of industrial and agricultural products, the performance of construction work, the sale of goods, the provision of catering services, the procurement of agricultural products, the leasing of property, etc.
Investment activity is the activity of an organization related to the acquisition of land plots, buildings and other real estate, equipment, intangible assets and other non-current assets, as well as their sale; with the implementation of own construction, expenses for research, development and technological development; with the implementation of financial investments (purchase valuable papers other organizations, including debt, contributions to the authorized (share) capital of other organizations, granting loans to other organizations, etc.).
Financial activity is considered to be the activity of an organization, as a result of which the size and composition of the organization's equity capital, borrowed funds (proceeds from the issue of shares, bonds, loans from other organizations, repayment of borrowed funds, etc.) change (clause 15 of the Instructions on the procedure for compiling and presentation of financial statements).
The report indicators allow to identify the causes of changes in the volume and composition of cash flows for the reporting period.
Relevant Sections appendices to the balance sheet disclose the necessary information about depreciable property, financial investments, the status of receivables and payables, contain a breakdown of expenses for ordinary activities by cost elements, as well as other information.
Explanatory note is a structural element of the annual financial report. It contains data that is not reflected in the forms of annual financial statements.
The list of cases when an audit is mandatory is established by Art. 5 of the Federal Law of December 30, 2008 N 307-FZ "On Auditing". Mandatory audit is carried out in the following cases:
- if the organization has the organizational and legal form of an open joint stock company;
- if the organization's securities are admitted to trading on stock exchanges and (or) other organizers of trading on the securities market;
- if the organization submits and (or) publishes summary (consolidated) accounting (financial) statements;
- if the organization is a credit institution, a credit history bureau, an organization that is a professional participant in the securities market, an insurance organization, a clearing organization, a mutual insurance company, a commodity, currency or stock exchange, a non-state pension or other fund, a joint stock investment fund, a management company of a joint stock investment fund, mutual investment fund or non-state pension fund (with the exception of state extra-budgetary funds).

Note. If the organization independently decided to conduct an audit of financial statements, then it can optionally include the opinion issued by the auditor in the financial statements.

This year, the volume indicators that determine the conduct of a mandatory audit have increased. Now it should be carried out by organizations that:
- the volume of proceeds from the sale of products (sales of goods, performance of work, provision of services) of the organization for 2009 (preceding the reporting year) exceeded 400,000,000 rubles. or
- the amount of assets in the balance sheet as of the end of 2009 exceeded 60,000,000 rubles.
Non-profit organizations have the right, in the absence of relevant data, not to submit forms NN 3, 4 and 5 as part of their annual financial statements. The listed forms and an explanatory note may also not be submitted by public organizations that do not carry out entrepreneurial activities and do not have, apart from retired property, sales turnover goods (works, services).
Non-profit organizations are recommended to include in their annual financial statements a report on the intended use of the funds received (Form No. 6).
Small business entities that are not required to conduct an audit of the reliability of financial statements in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation may decide to present financial statements in the amount of indicators for groups of balance sheet items and income statement items without additional decoding in the specified forms. They have the right not to present in the financial statements a statement of changes in equity, a statement of cash flows, an appendix to the balance sheet and an explanatory note.
Recall that small businesses currently include organizations that meet the following conditions (clause 1, article 4 of the Federal Law of July 24, 2007 N 209-FZ "On the development of small and medium-sized businesses in the Russian Federation"):
- the total share of participation of the Russian Federation, constituent entities of the Russian Federation, municipalities, foreign legal entities, foreign citizens, public and religious organizations (associations), charitable and other funds in the authorized (share) capital (share fund) should not exceed 25% (excluding assets joint-stock investment funds and closed-end investment funds);
- the share of participation owned by one or more legal entities that are not small and medium-sized businesses should not exceed 25%;
- the average number of employees for the previous calendar year should not exceed 100 people inclusive;
- proceeds from the sale of goods (works, services) excluding VAT for the previous calendar year should not exceed 400,000,000 rubles. (clause 1 of the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of July 22, 2008).

Note. Organizations receiving budgetary funds are required to provide reporting information on the nature of their use in the form established by the Ministry of Finance of Russia as part of their financial statements.

If, in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation, these entities are required to conduct an audit of the reliability of financial statements, then to those submitted to without fail forms N N 1 and 2, as well as the auditor's report, an explanatory note is also added. Forms N N 3, 4 and 5 they have the right not to submit as part of the financial statements in the absence of relevant data (clause 3 of the Instructions on the scope of the accounting reporting forms). But the latter is almost impossible. Consequently, if a small enterprise falls under a mandatory audit (and this is now possible only in terms of the amount of assets in the balance sheet, the excess of revenue means for them the departure from the camp of small enterprises) leads to the obligation to register complete set accounting reporting. Regardless of the volume of the submitted forms, the reporting of the organization must meet the above requirements for completeness, reliability, etc.
The Appendix to Order N 67n contains samples of recommended forms of financial statements. Organizations have the right to decide on the presentation of financial statements in the recommended forms, if the indicators given in the forms allow them to comply with the requirements for financial statements set forth in PBU 4/99 and other accounting provisions. If the organization considers that such indicators are not enough, then it has the right to independently develop forms of financial statements, taking the recommended samples as a basis. At the same time, independently developed forms of financial statements allow the organization to:
- take into account its features and conditions of activity;
- increase the information content of reporting by choosing the most suitable form data presentation;
- facilitate the perception of financial statements by users by highlighting its most significant indicators.
When developing these forms, they do not include the indicators (lines, columns) provided for in the sample forms if the organization does not have data on assets, liabilities, income, expenses, business transactions that are to be reflected in these lines (columns) (paragraph 5 of the Instructions on the procedure for compiling and submitting financial statements, clause 11 PBU 4/99).
In the forms of financial statements used by the organization, for each numerical indicator, data are indicated for at least two years - the reporting and the previous reporting ones. An exception is the report compiled for the first reporting period. It provides data for the reporting period only. The organization has the right to decide to compare data for a longer period of time - three years, four, etc. To reflect these data, additional columns and lines are included in the used forms of financial statements. Comparative data should be provided not only in the balance sheet and income statement, but also in the annexes to them and the explanatory note (clause 10 PBU 4/99, clause 4 of the Instructions on the procedure for compiling and submitting financial statements).
If the data for the period preceding the reporting period are incomparable with the indicators of the reporting period, then they are subject to adjustment in accordance with the rules established by regulatory acts on accounting. Each significant adjustment is subject to disclosure in the explanations, indicating the reasons for this adjustment.
When developing and adopting forms of financial statements, the lines for which the relevant indicators are disclosed are coded by organizations independently. In this case, it is necessary to apply the line codes of sections, groups of articles, as well as the codes of the final lines of the recommended form N 1. Codes of indicators, data for which are subject to processing in state statistics bodies, are affixed in accordance with the joint Order of the State Statistics Committee of Russia and the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated 11/14/2003 N 475 / 102n (clause 8 of the Instructions on the procedure for compiling and submitting financial statements, clause 2 of the joint Order).

Note. The organization needs to adhere to the forms of financial statements adopted by it consistently from one reporting period to another. Changing the accepted forms of financial statements is possible in exceptional cases, for example, when changing the type of activity, the emergence of a new type of assets or liabilities. Significant changes in the forms of financial statements should be disclosed in the explanations indicating the reasons that caused these changes.

An organization can submit reports using sample forms recommended by the Ministry of Finance of Russia only if the above requirements for financial statements are observed (clause 5 of the Instructions on the procedure for compiling and submitting financial statements).
Note that the reporting forms recommended by financiers are used by organizations for the last time, since Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated 02.07.2010 N 66n approved the forms of the balance sheet and income statement and annexes to the balance sheet and income statement:
- statement of changes in equity;
- cash flow statement;
- a report on the intended use of the funds received, included in the financial statements of public organizations (associations) that do not carry out entrepreneurial activities and do not have sales of goods (works, services) except for the retired property.
Organizations are recommended to independently determine the detailing of indicators for the articles of the above forms.
Other appendices to the balance sheet and income statement are proposed to be drawn up in tabular and (or) textual form. The content of the explanations, drawn up in tabular form, is determined by the organizations independently, taking into account the example given in Appendix No. 3 to the Order.
The new forms of organization will have to be applied when compiling reports for the 1st quarter of 2011.
The balance sheet data at the beginning of the reporting period should be comparable with the balance sheet data for the period preceding the reporting period. But this does not happen if the methods of accounting policy have changed in the reporting period. The reason for such changes, in addition to the cases of recalculation mentioned above, may also be new accounting methods that the organization decided to apply in the reporting period (clause 10 PBU 1/2008).
The consequences of a change in accounting policies that have had or may have a significant impact on the financial position of the organization, the financial results of its activities and (or) cash flows are reflected in the financial statements retrospectively, unless the assessment in monetary terms of such consequences in relation to periods preceding reporting, cannot be made with sufficient reliability.
When reflecting retrospectively the consequences of a change in accounting policy, it is assumed that the changed method of accounting has been applied since the occurrence of facts of economic activity of this type. Retrospective reflection of the consequences of a change in accounting policy consists in adjusting the opening balance of the item "Retained earnings (uncovered loss)" for the earliest period presented in the financial statements, as well as the values ​​of related items of the financial statements disclosed for each period presented in the financial statements, as if the new accounting policy has been applied since the occurrence of the facts of economic activity of this type.
In cases where a monetary assessment of the consequences of a change in accounting policies in relation to periods preceding the reporting period cannot be made with sufficient reliability, the changed method of accounting is applied in relation to the relevant facts of economic activity that occurred after the introduction of the changed method (prospectively) (p 15 PBU 1/2008).
Changes in accounting policies that have had or may have a significant impact on the financial position of the organization, the financial results of its activities and (or) cash flows are subject to separate disclosure in the financial statements (clause 16 PBU 1/2008).
When preparing financial statements, the requirements of regulatory legal acts on accounting for the disclosure of information in the financial statements must be met:
- on changes in accounting policies;
- on the cash flow or financial results of the organization;
- about transactions in foreign currency;
- on inventories;
- on fixed assets;
- about the income and expenses of the organization;
- on the consequences of events after the reporting date;
- about the consequences of conditional facts of economic activity, -
as well as on the disclosure in the financial statements of one or another information about the assets, capital and reserves and liabilities of the organization. Such disclosure can be carried out by the organization by including the relevant indicators, tables, transcripts directly in the forms of financial statements or in an explanatory note.
The financial statements of the organization should include performance indicators for all branches, representative offices and other separate divisions, including those allocated to separate balance sheets (clause 8 PBU 4/99).
In the financial statements, a set-off between items of assets and liabilities, items of profit and loss is not allowed, except when such a set-off is provided for by the relevant accounting provisions (clause 34 PBU 4/99).

Note. When evaluating the items of financial statements, it is necessary to ensure compliance with the assumptions and requirements provided for in clauses 5, 6 and 7 of the Accounting Regulation "Accounting Policy of the Organization" (PBU 1/2008) (approved by the aforementioned Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia N 106n).

The balance sheet should include numerical indicators in a net assessment, that is, minus regulatory values, which should be disclosed in the explanatory notes to the balance sheet and income statement (clause 35 PBU 4/99).
There are also technical rules for filling out reports(clauses 7, 9, 12 and 16 of the Instructions on the procedure for compiling and submitting financial statements):
- there should be no blots and corrections in the forms;
- financial statements are prepared in the currency of the Russian Federation. If the organization has foreign currency and transactions carried out in foreign currency, all data are converted into rubles at the exchange rate of the Bank of Russia on the day of reporting, that is, on December 31, 2010;
- all data are given in thousands of rubles without decimal places (OKEI code 384). And only with very large turnovers can an organization provide data in millions of rubles without decimal places (OKEI code 385);
- Indicators with a negative value are shown in parentheses.
The requirements for information to be reflected in the explanatory note are defined in clause 19 of the Instructions on the procedure for compiling and submitting financial statements. At present, the form and sequence of presentation of information in the explanatory note are not strictly regulated. Each organization independently determines the need to display additional information that characterizes the results and conditions of doing business.
As a rule, an explanatory note contains the following sections:
- information about the activities of the organization;
- changes in accounting policies;
- information about financial activities;
- information on investment activities;
- information on subsidiaries and dependent companies;
- events after the reporting date;
- information about the reorganization of the organization, if any, in the reporting period.
At the same time, each organization independently determines the amount of information presented in the note, as well as the form of its submission: information can be presented both in the form of quantitative indicators and narratively.
If in the reporting period there were facts of non-application of accounting rules, since they did not allow to reliably reflect the property status and financial results of the organization's activities, then this information with appropriate justification should be reflected in the explanatory note (clause 37 PBU 4/99).
If the organization in 2011 intends to change some of the provisions of the accounting policy, then the innovations are given in the explanatory note (clause 4, article 13 of Law N 129-FZ, clause 25 PBU 1/2008). At the same time, the organization in the explanatory note to the annual reporting for the reporting year must disclose the following information:
- the reason for the change in accounting policy;
- the content of the change in accounting policy (clause 21 PBU 1/2008).
The submitted financial statements are attached to the cover letter of the organization, drawn up in the prescribed manner and containing information on the composition of the submitted financial statements. It can be presented to the user directly by the organization, transmitted through its representative, sent in the form of a postal item with a list of attachments, or transmitted via telecommunication channels.
The user of financial statements is not entitled to refuse to accept them. At the request of the organization, he is obliged to put a mark on the copy of the accounting statements on acceptance and the date of its submission. Upon receipt of financial statements via telecommunication channels, its user is obliged to transfer to the organization a receipt of acceptance in electronic form.
Same day performances the organization of financial statements is the date:
- its actual transfer by ownership, or
- a postal item with a description of the attachment, or
- sending it via telecommunication channels (clause 5, article 15 of Law No. 129-FZ).
Failure to submit to tax authority before March 31, 2011, forms of financial statements (including an audit report in cases where an audit is mandatory) entails a fine of 200 rubles on the organization. for each document not submitted (clause 5, clause 1, article 23, clause 1, article 126 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).
In this case, officials of the organization may be fined in the amount of 300 to 500 rubles. (Clause 1, Article 15.6 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation). Moreover, the payment of these fines does not exempt from the need to submit financial statements to the tax office (clause 4, article 4.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation).