“Trust, but verify” is a key principle when dealing with debtors and creditors. Credibility accounting achieved by periodically updating the accounts.
The most common technique for this in the domestic accounting practice What remains is the exchange of acts of reconciliation of mutual settlements.
What is it for?
The act of reconciliation of mutual settlements is a document accounting registration, which reflects:
- movement of products (works, services) and funds between two counterparties for a certain period;
- the presence or absence of debt of one party to the other on a certain date.
Act - this is not a primary document, because it does not confirm the fact of payment of funds to another person, and its use does not in any way change the financial situation of the parties. Essentially, this is a technical document, the use of which in most cases is a voluntary initiative of the accountant.
- long-term cooperation with regular supplies of goods or services;
- concluding several contracts with one partner or drawing up additional agreements to existing contracts;
- provision by the supplier of deferred payment;
- transfer by the buyer of a large amount of prepayment (advance payment) in conditions of regular deliveries;
- very high cost of goods;
- The subject of the contract is a wide range of products.
It is also compiled during the annual or situational inventory of calculations. In this situation, it is important to understand that debts to debtors and creditors are reflected in the accounting of debts in the amount that is recognized by the enterprise itself as correct on the basis of contracts, orders of managers and primary documents confirming the movement of goods and money.
There is no need to send reconciliation statements to all your debtors and creditors to ensure that the amounts match. Moreover, on their basis it will be impossible to make any accounting records, including adjusting the amount of debt.
An exception is made only for settlements with the budget and banks, which need to be confirmed (clause 74 of the Accounting Regulations).
If for management purposes it is extremely important to oblige your partner to exchange such acts, this procedure, its frequency and penalties for non-compliance must be spelled out in the contract.
The role of the document in the legal process
It is important to remember that in case legal proceedings regarding the fulfillment of contract terms or debt collection, a reconciliation act can be beneficial. But domestic arbitrage practice contains different attitude to its presence in the injured party:
- The signed act only reports the status of settlements, but does not confirm the fact that one of the participants in the process recognizes the debt. Also, it is not a basis for interrupting deadlines. limitation period(Resolution on case No. A65-7955/2009 FAS Volga District dated December 25, 2009 and Resolution on case No. A29-2498/2012 FAS Volga-Vyatka District dated December 14, 2012).
- It can serve as indirect evidence that one party acknowledges the debt to the other (signed act) or evidence of refusal to acknowledge the debt (unsigned act) (Resolution in case No. A57-1313/2013 FAS Volga District dated 12/02/2013).
As you can see, each economic dispute will always have its own individual solution. Still, it’s better to try to sign a reconciliation report with your partner in case your business relationship with him suddenly goes south. And it never hurts to remind the debtor of his debt.
The procedure for drawing up the document, who signs it
Act of reconciliation drawn up in two copies by any party to the agreement. The document must be signed by an authorized person, who can be:
- individual entrepreneur;
- manager (company president, CEO or director) acting on the basis of the Charter;
- another employee acting on the basis of a power of attorney.
Most often, the signature of the chief accountant is also required, since he is vested with the right of second signature on financial documents.
The signature of only the chief accountant is acceptable for internal control of the completeness of calculations, but in the event of controversial situations, such a document will not have legal force.
The signatures of authorized persons must be sealed with the seal of the enterprise.
The document reflects the actual state of settlements, based on accounting data, and displays the amount of debt as of the end date of the specified period. After this, both copies are sent by mail or accompanied by an authorized representative to the counterparty.
The other party must verify the information provided with its accounting data. If the calculations are recognized as correct, the second copy with the signature of the manager, chief accountant and seal is returned to the person who drew up the act.
If, as a result of the reconciliation, discrepancies are discovered, they are indicated in the same document or in a separate register of settlements, which is attached to the act. Refusal to sign a document is a partner's legal right (unless it is required condition agreement). But sometimes this may mean that the debtor refuses to acknowledge his debt.
Optimal timing of reconciliation
The period for clarifying mutual settlements is determined by the need for accounting or management. Although the statement is drawn up for a certain period, the debt in favor of one of the parties is indicated on a certain date (often the first and last day of the reconciliation period).
The easiest way to perform reconciliation is:
- for the reporting year (from 01.01 to 31.12);
- for a certain calendar period, at the end of which the accountant reports to the owners of the enterprise (usually a quarter);
- during the period of validity of a specific contract.
You can watch the video to generate a document in the 1C:Enterprise program:
Filling process
The legislation of the Russian Federation does not provide for a single mandatory (unified) form of the act. Therefore, an enterprise can draw up this document in any form (letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated February 18, 2005 No. 07-05-04/2).
Traditionally, the following details are filled in:
- Title of the document;
- full names of the parties;
- date of drawing up and signing of the act;
- calendar period for updating calculations;
- details of the agreement under which the reconciliation is carried out;
- dates and numbers of primary documents that confirm calculations;
- amounts of business transactions;
- the amount of total turnover for the period;
- the final amount of debt in favor of one of the parties;
- signatures and information about representatives of counterparties (position, full name);
- seal impressions.
An act of reconciliation of mutual settlements is a document that reflects the state of settlements between two parties (companies, counterparties) for a certain period of time. In our article we will teach you how to fill it out correctly and give an example for downloading.
Samples of filling out the reconciliation report forms and an approximate form of the form are presented below:
Why do you need a reconciliation report?
- If you plan to renew large contracts;
- If you need to organize mutual settlements;
- During the inventory period;
- When one of the parties trades in installments;
- To prepare reports on debts for management, regulatory authorities, etc.;
- if mutual settlements involve goods of very high value;
- To clarify settlements between the parties.
The legislation does not oblige organizations to draw up acts of reconciliation of mutual settlements at any specific time; this is decided by the organization itself.
The reconciliation report consists of two parts - for two enterprises. The left column is filled in by the initiator of the act, the right column is filled in by his counterparty. Typically, a reconciliation act looks like a list of documents ordered by creation date. Or, instead of documents, the transactions performed are listed: sale, purchase, payment, etc.
Form of reconciliation report
- act number;
- the period for which the reconciliation is carried out;
- names of the parties (organization and person acting on its behalf);
- details of the agreement between the parties;
- Information about transactions (with invoice numbers and dates, payment orders or other papers confirming the delivery and payment of services or goods), the amount of transactions;
- Closing balance in monetary terms;
- Handwritten signatures of the accountant and director, stamp;
- Dates of signing the Act.
The document is drawn up in two copies and signed by the chief accountant and director of the organization. If there are no property disputes between organizations, and the drawing up of the act is purely nominal, it can only be signed by chief accountants. But such an act will not be valid in court.
Then, to check your own register of transactions and enter the results in the right column, both copies are sent to the counterparty’s accounting department. If the counterparty agrees with the data specified in the act, then a second seal and signatures are affixed. One act is returned to the initiator, the second remains with the counterparty.
Do you want to speed up the issuance of documents and eliminate possible errors when filling out? The Business.Ru store automation program will help you. It will allow you to automate tax and financial statements, and also control cash flows in company.
If any discrepancies are found, a note about this is made at the bottom of the document. If, due to detected discrepancies, the counterparty refuses to sign the act, and the initiator’s claims are confirmed by other documents, the initiator can sue. To speed up the resolution of such disputes, the contract must stipulate in advance the terms within which the counterparty is obliged to make its own calculations and return the signed deed or pay off debts.
IN government bodies– all these transactions are related to money.
To avoid errors and discrepancies in the amounts paid by one party and received by the other, reconciliation statements are drawn up. a document that is not related to accounting and is not mandatory for preparation. It is formed at the request of one of the participants in the transaction and declares all amounts, payments and receipts that occur between organizations in a certain period of time.
Basic information about the reconciliation report with suppliers and customers
The act of reconciliation with suppliers and buyers is a declarative document reflecting all payments made between counterparties for a designated period of time: month, quarter, year or the entire period of cooperation. Law Russian Federation does not oblige you to draw up such a document. However, in business practice, reconciliation acts are found quite often and are secretly mandatory for registration.
- Carrying out periodic or ongoing reconciliations and recording their results on paper helps business partners avoid errors in calculations and payments, detect and repay debts in a timely manner, and eliminate other financial discrepancies.
- Moreover, if one of the parties owes the other and does not recognize the current situation, the reconciliation act can serve as one of the indirect evidence when filing a claim in court about the existence of a debt, and can also become one of the refutation factors.
When drawing up a paper, it must be certified by the signatures of the managers and chief accountants of both organizations, as well as wet seals. Formed in two copies.
When the culprit party usually refuses. If during the judicial investigation the counterparty nevertheless certified the protocol, thereby admitting the underpayment, the claim period is reset to zero and begins again.
As already indicated, the law does not provide for the execution of such a document, but such acts are mentioned in Letter of the Ministry of Finance No. 07-05-04/2 dated February 18, 2005 and in Federal Law No. 402. The document belongs to the secondary category, since it does not have a direct impact on financial condition any of the partners.
How to draw up a reconciliation report if the supplier and buyer are one person? The video below will tell you about this:
Design features
Rules and requirements
There are no clear requirements for the form of the protocol. Each organization can establish the form of the document independently, approving it with its own. But, there are several aspects, knowledge of which will help you use reconciliation more effectively. If the document is signed only Chief Accountant, but the manager’s signature will not be affixed - the paper is only of a technical nature, the nature of reference information.
In order for the protocol to have legal force, it must be certified by 4 signatures (two from each partner) and official seals of the organizations, and also contain some aspects. The act must contain information about:
- Document title;
- The period covered by the reconciliation;
- The date when it was carried out;
- Operations that are checked;
- Indicators of all calculations;
- Directions to primary documentation;
- Persons responsible for compilation and accuracy.
The presence of such items is advisory in nature, but they will not be superfluous when using papers in court or other authorities. As a rule, the act takes the form of a table in which data such as debits and credits, numbers and dates of primary documents that confirm payment, dispatch and delivery of goods are entered. At the end of the document it is written, as well as total amount debits and credits for the period under review. The balance is the amount of the difference between receipts and expenses.
A sample reconciliation report with a supplier is discussed in this video:
Discrepancies and verification
If, after verification by the second party, discrepancies are found, they are also recorded after all the data. When conducting reconciliations between buyers and sellers, they often use the recommendations established Methodical instructions on property inventory and financial obligations. The main task when creating a document is to check and confirm the validity of all amounts entered into the table of the act.
IN mandatory“Settlements with suppliers and contractors” are checked for compliance with corresponding accounts. The following points are recorded:
- Fulfillment of obligations for paid goods in transit;
- Fulfillment of supply obligations;
- Fidelity and support of debit and credit with primary documents.
The drawing up of a corresponding act may be required by both the buyer and the supplier.
- The formation and verification of acts is usually carried out in special accounting programs. If the compiler uses one, then automatically according to the entered form, based on the data already available in the application’s memory of documents. The same check is carried out.
- In case of manual verification, all data from the table in the act is checked against the data primary documentation and data available in the documents and reconciliations of the verifying party.
The reconciliation report is a standard protocol of convergences and discrepancies in financial transactions carried out between two organizations. The document does not have a set form or specific requirements; it can be drawn up for use within a partner organization, between partners, or as indirect evidence when considering legal claims for debts. Properly drawn up will help control and regulate all financial relations that arise between them.
The act of reconciliation with the buyer, its features and examples - the topic of the video below:
Financial relations between enterprises are continuously recorded by accounting staff.
Accounting requires that companies periodically reconcile their accounts with each other. In this article we will understand what a reconciliation act is in accounting.
Payment procedure
How to reconcile the status of accounts between organizations is not strictly regulated. This procedure is usually approved by internal documents.
The procedure and frequency of settlements can be included in job description an accountant in charge of accounting documents for this area.
If disagreements arise in the reflection of information on accounts, any of the organizations can send a reconciliation report to the counterparty.
The meeting party must verify the correctness of the information reflected in their accounts. All missing, or unnecessary, erroneously reflected information is subject to approval and correction.
Contents of the reconciliation report
There is no strictly established form of the reconciliation report. At the same time, there is a certain set of information required to be reflected in the act. First of all, reconciliation is carried out as of a certain date.
The document records all transactions carried out up to this date, as well as the debt balance at the starting date and the same at the end date. The main purpose of the reconciliation act is to ensure that the final balance in the accounting of both enterprises is the same.
Information about the organizations participating in the reconciliation is indicated. The document is signed by an authorized person on behalf of each party. Usually this is the chief accountant of the enterprise or the accountant responsible for the area of settlements with counterparties.
The most essential part of the act is to reflect the transactions. They are indicated in a table containing four columns. The first two are filled out by one participant in the act, the rest - by another participant.
All transactions reflected in the accounting are entered into the document sequentially in chronological order. These are invoices issued/received, as well as paid/received cash based on payment orders or bank statements.
If several different agreements have been concluded between organizations, then a separate reconciliation of calculations is carried out for each one. If there are no special requirements, you can include all transactions in the act and display a single balance.
In the event of a discrepancy between the balances between companies, the accountant must find out which document and for what reason was not reflected or identify excessively reflected information. Missing documents are requested from the counterparty.
Typically, the reconciliation report is generated automatically using accounting software products.
A successful business involves cooperation with a large number of companies, with whom regular transactions are carried out. cash settlements. A significant share is also occupied by settlements with the state - for taxes and insurance premiums. All these monetary relations require careful monitoring, and the easiest way to do this is through regular monitoring.
How to read the reconciliation report correctly
Purposes of signing
Sample act of disagreement
The act of disagreement is signed by the same person who signs the main acts of reconciliation. Copies of documents confirming the disagreement must be attached to it.
Varieties of such a document
Most common
The most common types of reconciliation acts include:
- Reconciliation report with the supplier. Contains transactions accounted for in account 60. The debit reflects all payments made to the supplier, and the credit reflects the amount of product deliveries.
- Reconciliation report with the buyer. IN in this case accounting is kept on account 62. The amounts of shipments are recorded on the debit side, and the payments transferred by customers on the credit side.
- Reconciliation report of completed work. Issued according to general rules, only instead of the amounts of product deliveries, it reflects the amounts according to the acts of work performed.
- Group reconciliation act. It is a set of reconciliation acts for all existing counterparties of the company. Formed by installing accounting program special extension. This method of generating acts is especially convenient at the end of the reporting period, when it is necessary to take inventory of the entire volume of settlements.
- Zero reconciliation report. A distinctive feature is the balance equal to zero at the end of the period considered in the document.
- . It is drawn up in the same way as acts for any other services. When the lessor generates the document, the rental amounts will be entered on the debit side according to the invoices issued, and on the credit side the payments transferred by the tenant will be entered.
Reconciliation acts are also classified depending on the status of the counterparty - or individual. Moreover, not only ordinary citizens with whom the company has any settlements can act as an individual. Such an act is formed according to the general rules, as in the case of reconciliation with organizations. The company has no right to refuse to an individual in providing a reconciliation report, if requested by him.
