22 is supplemented by a substantial guarantee. Correction of errors in accounting and reporting. I. General provisions

Order of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation dated June 28, 2010 No. 63n approved the Accounting Regulations “Correcting Errors in Accounting and Financial Reporting” (PBU 22/2010).

Before the adoption of PBU 22/2010, brief instructions on the procedure for correcting errors were contained in two documents:

The lack of clarity on the issue of correcting errors, firstly, forced accountants to waste time thinking about drawing up correct corrective entries, and secondly, led to different understandings of the results of corrections, which could also cause disputes with inspection structures.

The adopted PBU 22/2010 basically regulated the procedure for correcting errors. You should read the document very carefully. During a quick reading, important points may slip through the cracks and go unnoticed, especially if you do not focus on the terms - “reporting”, “current”, “previous”, “signing of financial statements”, “approval of financial statements”, “admitted”, “ identified."

So, what points should you pay attention to?

Paragraph 2 Orders establishes that PBU 22/2010 is applied from the annual financial statements for 2010. Thus, errors affecting the annual financial statements for 2010 must be corrected according to the rules of PBU 22/2010.

Paragraph 1 Position I states that PBU 22/2010 is applied by all organizations, with the exception of credit organizations and budgetary institutions. There are no other exceptions.

Point 2 contains a definition of error, a list of six standard causes of error, and circumstances when inaccuracies and omissions in accounting do not constitute errors.

You should pay attention to an important point - the time of receiving the information (document, any information) on the basis of which the error was detected. If the information was available at the date of signing the financial statements and was used incorrectly, then this is the cause of the error. If the new information received about the facts of economic activity was not available to the organization at the time of omission or inaccurate reflection of such facts in the accounting records, then these omissions and inaccuracies are not an error. The procedure for correcting non-erroneous inaccuracies and omissions is not specified in PBU 22/2010. The Regulations do not reflect how to characterize the incorrect use of information received during the period from the date of signing the financial statements until their approval, or after the approval of the statements. The question is important, since most of the rules of the Regulation regulate the correction of errors identified after the signing of the financial statements.

INparagraph 3 the concept of the materiality of an error is defined. Each organization must independently determine the materiality of an error based on both the size and nature of the relevant item(s) of the financial statements. In practice, when drawing up accounting policies, organizations take a rather formal approach to determining materiality. Now this will have to be done more seriously, since significant and insignificant errors are corrected differently.

Point 4 obliges to correct all identified errors and their consequences.

Point 5 determines the rule for correcting an error before December 31 of the reporting year: an error in the reporting year identified before its end is corrected by entries in the relevant accounting accounts in the month of the reporting year in which the error was identified. That is, if, for example, in November it was discovered that a mistake was made in April, corrective entries are made in the November registers.

Point 6 determines the rule for correcting errors after December 31 of the reporting year: an error in the reporting year identified after its end, but before the date of signing the financial statements for this year, is corrected by entries in the corresponding accounting accounts for December of the reporting year. That is, if in January 2011 it is discovered that an error was made in April 2010, but the financial statements for 2010 have not yet been signed (or not drawn up), then corrective entries are made in the registers of December 2010.

Major bug fixes

Points 7 and 8 contain innovation. These are “restated financial statements.” It should be remembered that the financial statements can only be revised until they are approved. The right to approve financial statements belongs, for example, to the owner, a meeting of shareholders, or a meeting of company participants.

These paragraphs establish that if a significant error is identified after the signing of the financial statements, but before their approval, corrections are made to the entries in the relevant accounting accounts for December of the year for which the financial statements were prepared. Thus, the financial statements must be drawn up and signed anew. And it will be called “restated financial statements.” Those. If in May 2011 a significant error made in April 2010 is discovered, then corrective entries are made in the registers of December 2010, and the financial statements are drawn up and signed again.

The revised financial statements are submitted to all addresses to which the original financial statements were submitted. Moreover, if the financial statements have already been submitted to shareholders, participants, government bodies, a body authorized to exercise the rights of the owner, etc., then the organization must disclose in the revised financial statements information about the replacement of the initially submitted statements and the grounds for its preparation. The list of recipients of financial statements to whom additional information should be sent is not closed, but since it corresponds to clause 11 of Article 15 of the Federal Law “On Accounting”, the information is presented to those users of financial statements who, in accordance with the law or charter The organization is required to submit financial statements.

Points 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 are devoted to significant errors identified after the approval of the annual financial statements.

Clause 10 states “...approved financial statements for previous reporting periods are not subject to revision, replacement and re-presentation to users of financial statements.”

All corrections are made to the accounting records or financial statements of the current year in two ways ( paragraph 9, 11, 12):

• entries on the relevant accounting accounts in the current reporting period in correspondence with the accounting account of retained earnings (uncovered loss) (i.e. account 84 “Retained earnings (uncovered loss));
• by retrospective recalculation of comparative indicators for the reporting periods reflected in the financial statements for the current reporting year. In this case, we are talking only about the recalculation of financial statements. There is no provision for making any corrective entries in the accounting accounts of previous periods. Thus, the retrospective restatement will be a separate calculation for the period or periods in which the error occurred and was affected by it. As a result of the calculations, new correct results should be obtained for the items in the financial statements for this period (periods). When preparing financial statements for the current reporting year, the organization will indicate in it as comparative indicators the calculated data, and not those that would have been taken, for example, from the balance sheet of the previous reporting period. Obviously, the use of the retrospective recalculation method inevitably necessitates bringing account balances into conformity with the financial statements. But PBU 22/2010 does not provide any recommendations on this issue.

Retrospective restatement of approved financial statements is not applied if it is impossible to determine the specific period affected by the error, or it is impossible to determine the impact of this error on a cumulative basis in relation to all previous reporting periods.

In paragraph 13 It is stated that it is impossible to determine the impact of a significant error on the previous one and, therefore, apply a retrospective restatement if:

• determining the impact of a material error on the previous reporting period requires complex and numerous calculations, as a result of which it is impossible to identify information indicating the circumstances that existed at the date of the error;
• it is necessary to use information received after the date of approval of the financial statements for such a previous period.

Thus, a retrospective recalculation of the financial statements of the current year due to detected errors of previous years should be rational and effective, based on information received before the date of approval of the financial statements.

In final paragraphs 15 and 16 indicates the information that the organization is required to disclose in the explanatory note to the annual financial statements regarding significant errors of previous reporting periods corrected in the reporting period. The volume and nature of the information will depend on the method of correcting errors (through account 84 “Retained earnings (uncovered loss)” or by retrospective recalculation of comparative financial statements).

Fixing minor errors

Clause 14 dedicated to immaterial errors: an insignificant error of the previous reporting year, identified after the signing of the financial statements for this year, is corrected by entries in the relevant accounting accounts in the month of the reporting year in which the error was identified. Perhaps there is an inaccuracy in the wording here and it is meant that corrections are made in the current reporting year. IN paragraph 14 the procedure for accounting for profit or loss resulting from the correction of a minor error has been determined. For this purpose, the account for other income and expenses of the current reporting period is used. Those. If in May 2011 an insignificant error made in April 2010 is discovered, then corrective entries are made in the registers of the second quarter of 2011, and the corresponding accounting account for changes in the financial result will be the account.

"Russian Tax Courier", 2011, N 1-2

In 2010, Russian accounting standards were supplemented with a new Accounting Regulation - PBU 22/2010. What requirements are contained in this document? How does the new procedure for correcting errors in accounting differ from the previous rules? This is discussed in the article.

Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated June 28, 2010 N 63n (hereinafter referred to as Order N 63n) approved PBU 22/2010 “Correcting errors in accounting and reporting”<1>. In paragraph 2 of this Order it is determined that this document comes into force with the annual financial statements for 2010. PBU 22/2010 is required to be applied by all organizations, with the exception of budgetary institutions and credit organizations. The purpose of the new accounting standard is to establish rules for correcting errors identified in accounting and determine the procedure for reflecting adjustments in financial statements.

<1>Order No. 63n was registered with the Ministry of Justice of Russia on July 30, 2010 and published in Rossiyskaya Gazeta on August 6, 2010.

From when does PBU 22/2010 apply?

Since August 2010, after the publication of PBU 22/2010, disputes began among accountants, auditors and other accounting specialists about what rules should be applied when correcting errors in accounting in 2010. The fact is that, along with the previous rules corrections of errors of previous years set out in paragraph 11 of the Instructions on the procedure for drawing up and presenting financial statements (hereinafter referred to as the Instructions), approved by Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated July 22, 2003 N 67n (hereinafter referred to as Order N 67n), new requirements have appeared recorded in PBU 22 /2010 (Order No. 63n). Moreover, both of these Orders apply to the annual financial statements for 2010.

Note. According to paragraph 12 of Decree of the President of Russia dated May 23, 1996 N 763, regulatory legal acts of federal executive authorities come into force simultaneously throughout the entire territory of the Russian Federation after 10 days after the day of their official publication, unless the acts themselves establish a different procedure for their entry into force.

Let's figure out from what point the rules set out in PBU 22/2010 should be applied. Do they only apply to the final financial statements that will be prepared for 2010, or should the new rules be applied to accounting to correct all errors discovered during 2010?

Since paragraph 2 of Order No. 63n contains a separate instruction on its entry into force with the financial statements for 2010, many experts believe that it is necessary to comply with the requirements of PBU 22/2010 only from January 1, 2011. This is the date from which the hot it's time for accountants - the time to prepare the final financial statements for 2010. According to supporters of this position, errors discovered in accounting during 2010 must be corrected according to the previous rules, and if an error was identified after January 1, 2011, - with taking into account the requirements of PBU 22/2010.

In our opinion, this approach is wrong. In practice, we are, indeed, accustomed to calling annual financial statements the final statements that are prepared at the end of the reporting year. But in this case, it seems that in Order No. 63n the Ministry of Finance of Russia uses the expression “annual financial statements” in a broader sense - as the totality of all accounting indicators reflected in the financial statements for 2010.

In our opinion, PBU 22/2010 should be applied in accounting in relation to errors of the current year and previous years identified after January 1, 2010. It does not matter when exactly in 2010 the error was discovered - before the official publication of PBU 22/ 2010 or later. It must be corrected according to the rules of the new accounting standard.

Note. You can apply the rules of PBU 22/2010 starting from the financial statements for the nine months of 2010. And when preparing annual financial statements for 2010, all organizations must correct errors discovered during 2010 or identified during the formation of financial statements for this year , according to the requirements of PBU 22/2010.

Let's consider a specific situation. Let's say an organization discovered several significant errors for 2009 at different times: the first in May 2010, and the second in September of the same year. If you follow the recommendations of those experts who claim that PBU 22/2010 applies only to errors discovered after January 1, 2011, you will get the following picture. Errors for 2009, found in May and September 2010, must be corrected in 2010 in the month they were discovered by accounting entries in account 91 (according to the previous rules for correcting errors of previous years). This means that the correction of these errors will have an impact on the financial result of the organization’s economic activities as a whole for 2010.

In this situation, is it possible to say that the organization complied with the requirements of PBU 22/2010 when preparing annual financial statements for 2010? Of course not. In this case, the norms of the new accounting standard when preparing financial statements for 2010 will not be met. This is a clear violation of paragraph 2 of Order No. 63n. To prevent this from happening, it would be more appropriate to apply the new error correction rules to all inaccuracies and distortions identified during 2010.

Previous error correction rules

PBU, dedicated exclusively to the issue of error correction, appeared in the Russian regulatory framework for accounting for the first time. Prior to this, the error correction rules were relatively brief. Thus, when an organization’s accountant discovered an error in accounting data, he had to be guided by the rules set out in paragraph 11 of the Guidelines. The procedure for correcting the error depended on the period to which it belonged and when exactly it was identified.

If an error made in the current period was discovered before the end of the reporting year, it should have been corrected by entries in the corresponding accounting accounts in the month of the reporting period when the distortions were identified.

Let's say that an inaccuracy in the reflection of business transactions of the reporting year is discovered after its completion, but before the approval of the annual financial statements. In this case, corrections to accounting must be made retroactively - with entries for December of the reporting year for which the annual financial statements are prepared. In practice, such adjustment entries were usually dated 31 December. Thanks to this, the financial result of the organization’s economic activities for the reporting year was immediately formed taking into account the corrections made.

If the annual financial statements of an organization have already been approved in the prescribed manner, and then errors were identified in the organization for the previous year, then it is no longer possible to make corrections to the approved annual financial statements. In this case, corrections to accounting must be made on the current date - at the moment when the error from previous years was discovered.

Starting next year, starting with the annual financial statements for 2011, Order No. 67n is cancelled. This is stated in the Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated September 22, 2010 N 108n.

Note. According to clause 7 of PBU 9/99, profits from previous years identified in the reporting year are reflected as part of the organization’s other income. A similar rule is contained in clause 11 of PBU 10/99. It says that losses from previous years recognized in the reporting year are classified as other expenses.

New bug fix requirements

Let's analyze the new error correction rules set out in PBU 22/2010 to understand how they differ from the previous procedure (table on p. 120).

Table. Comparing new and old error correction rules

Moment detection errors	New rules (PBU 22/2010)	Previous rules (clause 11 instructions)
Significant errors	Non-essential errors
Error reporting year, identified before the end of this of the year	accounting accounts that month reporting year in which the error was identified (clause 5)	Corrected records on relevant accounts accounting accounting in that month reporting period when were identified distortion
Error reporting year, identified after it graduations, but before the date signing accounting reporting this year	Corrected by entries according to the relevant accounting accounts for December reporting year for which it is compiled annual financial statements (clause 6)	Corrected accounting records December reporting year, for which is being formed annual accounting reporting
Error previous reporting year, identified after date signing accounting reporting this year, but before the date representation such reporting owners	Corrected records on relevant accounts accounting for December reporting year for which annual accounting reporting. To users, which was presented original reporting, seems revised accounting reporting (clause 7)	Corrected records on relevant accounts accounting that month reporting year, in which it was revealed error. Profit or loss arising in result bug fixes, reflected in the account 91 "Other income and expenses" (clause 14)	Corrected accounting records December reporting year, for which is being formed annual accounting reporting
Error previous reporting year, identified after representation accounting reporting this year owners, but before the date statements such reporting	Corrected records on relevant accounts accounting for December reporting year for which annual accounting reporting. Owners and others users, which was presented original reporting, seems revised accounting reporting with explanations about reasons for correction reporting (clause 8)	Corrected records on relevant accounts accounting that month reporting year, in which it was revealed error. Profit or loss arising in result bug fixes, reflected in the account 91 "Other income and expenses" (clause 14)	Corrected accounting records December reporting year, for which is being formed annual accounting reporting
Error previous reporting year, identified after statements accounting reporting this year	Corrected records on relevant accounts accounting in the current reporting period period. Corresponding account in these records is score 84 "Unallocated profit (uncovered lesion)". Produced recount comparative indicators accounting reporting for reporting periods, reflected in accounting reporting organizations for current reporting year (clause 9)	Corrected records on relevant accounts accounting that month reporting year, in which it was revealed error. Profit or loss arising in result bug fixes, reflected in the account 91 "Other income and expenses" (clause 14)	Corrections in accounting accounting and accounting reporting for last reporting year are not included. In accounting accounting for current reporting period reflected correctional entries in correspondence with a score of 91 "Other income and expenses"

General approaches to identifying errors

Clause 2 of PBU 22/2010 provides a definition of an error. Thus, an error is the incorrect reflection or non-reflection of the facts of economic activity in the accounting and (or) financial statements of the organization. Errors can be caused by various factors. In particular, these include:

• incorrect application of the legislation of the Russian Federation on accounting and (or) regulatory legal acts on accounting;
• incorrect application of the organization's accounting policies;
• inaccuracies in calculations;
• incorrect classification or assessment of facts of economic activity;
• incorrect use of information available at the date of signing the financial statements;
• dishonest actions of officials of the organization.

A very important note is made in the last paragraph of paragraph 2 of PBU 22/2010. It considers the situation when an organization receives new information that was not available to it at the time of reflection (non-reflection) of facts of economic activity. Inaccuracies in the accounting and (or) financial statements of the organization arising due to the lack of this information are not errors. This means that an organization that has received new information in the current reporting period about the facts of economic activities relating to previous reporting periods should not apply PBU 22/2010 to correct identified inaccuracies. Newly received data should be reflected in accounting in the generally established manner in the month when this information became known to the organization. These accounting entries are not corrections of errors; they reflect the transaction, information about which is currently received by the organization.

From a tax point of view, a completely different approach to such situations is taken. If an organization lately receives documents that are dated from the previous reporting (tax) period and indicate that a particular business transaction was completed in the past period, this is interpreted as a distortion of data (error) for past periods. According to the rules of paragraph 1 of Art. 54 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, if an error has led to tax arrears, the organization must submit an updated tax return for the previous period.

Note. If a misstatement has resulted in excessive payment of tax to the budget, then the taxpayer has the right to adjust the tax base and the amount of tax in the current period in which the error was discovered.

Example 1. Let's assume that in April 2011, LLC "Style" received from the supplier - CJSC "Investcom" a certificate of communication services provided in November 2010. The document is dated November of last year. The cost of services was 9440 rubles. (including VAT - 1440 rubles). Along with the act, JSC Investcom sent an invoice, also dated November 2010.

Last year, LLC "Style" did not have this information about the amount of communication services provided and did not reflect it in the accounting and reporting for 2010.

Guided by clause 2 of PBU 22/2010, the organization in April 2011 made accounting usual entries to reflect the cost of communication services provided to her in November last year:

Debit 26 Credit 60

• 8000 rub. - reflects the cost of communication services provided in November 2010;

Debit 19 Credit 60

• 1440 rub. - the amount of VAT charged on communication services is taken into account;

Debit 68, subaccount "VAT calculations", Credit 19

• 1440 rub. - the amount of VAT on communication services provided in November 2010 was accepted for deduction.

Thus, LLC "Style" reflected in its accounting not the correction of an error for the previous year, but the usual accounting entries for reflecting a business transaction for the purchase of communication services.

An invoice from CJSC Investcom was registered in the purchase book for the second quarter of 2011, because the services were accepted for accounting and the invoice was received precisely in this period.

IN tax accounting failure to reflect expenses for communication services for November 2010 led to an overestimation of the tax base and an overpayment of income tax for the previous year. Therefore, LLC "Style", based on the norms of paragraph 1 of Art. 54 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, decided not to submit an updated income tax return to the tax authorities, but to make the necessary adjustments to the tax base for the current period. In the income tax return for the first half of 2011, the organization reflected the amount of expenses for communication services provided to it in November 2010. On line 040 of Appendix No. 2 to sheet 02 of the declaration, an additional amount of expenses of 8,000 rubles was indicated as part of indirect expenses.

Major and minor errors

According to PBU 22/2010, errors for previous periods are divided into significant and insignificant. Clause 3 of this standard provides a definition of significant errors. An error is considered significant if it, individually or in combination with other errors for the same reporting period, can affect the economic decisions of users made on the basis of the financial statements compiled for this reporting period. The organization determines the materiality of the error independently based on both the size and nature of the relevant item(s) of the financial statements.

Note. If an error, by itself or in combination with other errors for the same reporting period, can affect the economic decisions of users made on the basis of the financial statements prepared for this reporting period, then it is considered significant.

This means that the organization must determine in its accounting policies which errors are considered significant for it. In our opinion, this needs to be done by introducing amendments to the accounting policy for 2010, because the new PBU 22/2010 applies to the annual financial statements for this year.

The accounting policy should indicate the materiality value for errors in absolute and (or) percentage terms. Materiality in absolute terms is the amount above which the error will be considered significant. Materiality in percentage terms is the share in relation to any accounting indicators or a particular item in the financial statements, above which the error will be considered significant.

Note. In the accounting policy, you can simultaneously set both absolute and percentage values ​​for significant errors. It is possible that a violation of a small amount will turn out to be significant in percentage terms in relation to the total amount of a particular accounting indicator.

Let us recall that the generally accepted level of materiality as a percentage is about 5%. This value is mentioned in separate regulations of the Ministry of Finance of Russia<2>. And in Art. 15.11 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation states that a gross violation of the rules of accounting and presentation of financial statements means a distortion of the amounts of accrued taxes and fees by at least 10%, as well as a distortion of any article (line) of the accounting reporting form by at least 10%. When establishing the materiality value for errors in the accounting policy, the organization should be guided by the specified standards.

<2>See paragraph 1 of the Instructions, paragraph 1 of the Instructions on the procedure for compiling and presenting financial statements of insurance organizations (Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated May 11, 2010 N 41n), as well as paragraph 88 of the Guidelines for accounting of inventories (Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated December 28, 2001 N 119n).

In our opinion, it is possible to establish a provision in the accounting policy according to which an error will be recognized as significant for the organization if the following conditions are simultaneously met:

• the amount of distortion exceeds a certain value n thousand rubles;
• the magnitude of the error is n% of the total value of this type of assets (liabilities), of the value of the corresponding indicator in the financial statements, etc.

In addition, the organization needs to highlight errors that will be considered significant based on the relevant items in the financial statements. We are talking about those reporting indicators that are very significant for the organization and users of its reporting when making economic decisions. Misstatements made in these financial statements will be considered significant regardless of the amount of the error.

Sometimes a single error may be small in magnitude, but suppose many similar small errors were made during this reporting period. For example, an accountant incorrectly accounts for the same standard transaction. In this case, all typical errors must be assessed together. It is possible that the total amount of such errors will exceed the materiality limit established in the organization’s accounting policies. These errors are assessed collectively as significant. This means that they will have to be corrected according to the rules established in PBU 22/2010 for significant errors.

New procedure for correcting errors in the reporting year

The general rule set out in paragraph 4 of PBU 22/2010 states that any errors identified in accounting and reporting are subject to mandatory correction. Moreover, not only errors should be corrected, but also the consequences to which they led. The order in which errors are corrected depends on whether they are major or minor and at what point they are discovered. PBU 22/2010 provides the following classification of errors depending on the period when they were identified:

• errors of the reporting year identified before the end of this year (clause 5);
• errors of the reporting year identified after its end, but before the date of signing the financial statements for this year (clause 6);
• significant errors of the previous reporting year, identified after the date of signing the financial statements for this year, but before the date of submission of such statements to the owners, shareholders, participants of the limited liability company (clause 7);
• significant errors of the previous reporting year, identified after the presentation of the financial statements for this year to the shareholders of the joint-stock company, participants of the limited liability company, government body, local government body or other body authorized to exercise the rights of the owner (hereinafter referred to as the owners), but before the date of approval of such reporting in the prescribed manner (clause 8);
• significant errors of the previous reporting year, identified after approval of the financial statements for this year (clause 9);
• errors of the previous reporting year that are not significant, identified after the date of signing the reports for this year (clause 14).

Let's take a closer look at how, according to the rules of PBU 22/2010, corrections are made to accounting and financial reporting data.

Error in the reporting year identified before the end of that year, is corrected by entries in the relevant accounting accounts in the month of the reporting year in which the error was identified. By adjusting current accounting data, the results of correcting such an error will be taken into account when generating financial reporting indicators for a given reporting year.

Example 2. In November 2010, the accountant of Alpha LLC discovered that in the third quarter of this year the corresponding amount of costs for voluntary insurance of employees was not written off from account 97 “Deferred expenses”. The amount of unwritten expenses is 72,000 rubles. An accounting certificate was drawn up in which the accountant calculated the amount of insurance expenses for the third quarter of 2010 to be written off from account 97. In accordance with clause 5 of PBU 22/2010 accounting Alpha LLC made a corrective entry in November 2010:

Debit 26 Credit 97

IN tax accounting This amount of expenses for employee insurance was also not taken into account when preparing the tax return for the nine months of 2010, although it fully complied with the conditions for recognizing such expenses established by clause 16 of Art. 255 Tax Code of the Russian Federation. As a result, Alpha LLC had an overestimated tax base for the past reporting period, which led to an overpayment of income tax to the budget. Based on paragraph 1 of Art. 54 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, the accountant of Alpha LLC did not prepare an updated income tax return for the nine months of 2010. In November of this year, in the tax register for accounting for labor costs, he additionally recorded the amount of 72,000 rubles. These costs for voluntary insurance of employees were taken into account as part of indirect costs on line 040 of Appendix No. 2 to sheet 02 of the income tax return for 2010.

Note. In practice, these adjustment entries are usually made on December 31. As a result, the error becomes corrected within the year to which the operation relates. This means that the financial result for this reporting year will be immediately formed taking into account the corrected error.

An error in the reporting year discovered after its end, but before the date of signing the financial statements for this year, is corrected by entries in the corresponding accounting accounts for December of the reporting year (that is, the year for which the annual financial statements are prepared). In other words, if an error for the reporting year is discovered at the beginning of the next year during the period of preparation of the financial statements for this reporting year, entries should be made on the same accounting accounts in which this operation is usually supposed to be reflected. But these records must be dated in December - the last month of the reporting year.

Example 3. Let's use the condition of example 2. Let's say that the accountant of Alpha LLC discovered an error in writing off expenses for voluntary insurance of employees for the third quarter of 2010 in February 2011. The organization's annual financial statements for 2010 have not yet been drawn up and signed.

Based on clause 6 of PBU 22/2010, the accountant recorded in the accounting records the write-off of expenses for voluntary insurance of employees from account 97 to the account for general business expenses (example 2). These entries were dated December 31, 2010. Thanks to these actions, the results of correcting this error were immediately taken into account when preparing the annual financial statements of Alpha LLC for 2010.

Now let's look at three cases where an accounting year error was discovered after the annual financial statements were signed. Please note: we will only talk about significant errors for the past reporting year.

A significant error of the previous reporting year, identified after the date of signing the financial statements for this year, but before the date of submission of such statements to the owners, is corrected in the same manner as in the previous case discussed above (example 3). That is, entries in the relevant accounting accounts dated December of the reporting year. If the signed annual financial statements have already been submitted to some other users, then they must be replaced with statements in which the identified significant error has been corrected (revised financial statements).

Who are the other users to whom annual financial statements can be submitted earlier than the owners? These could be tax authorities, state statistics authorities, a bank from which the organization plans to take a loan, counterparties with whom they are going to enter into an agreement, and, ultimately, the head of the organization, who is not the owner, who signed the annual financial statements.

After making adjustments to the accounting records dated December of the reporting year, the data on the accounting accounts will change. Therefore, the accountant needs to recalculate the financial result and generate new annual financial statements. These revised financial statements should be provided to all users in lieu of the original financial statements previously presented to them.

A significant error of the previous reporting year, identified after the presentation of the financial statements for this year to the owners, but before the date of approval of such statements in the manner prescribed by the legislation of the Russian Federation, is corrected in a similar way - by entries in the relevant accounting accounts dated December of the reporting year (example 3). Revised financial statements must be submitted to all addresses where the original financial statements were submitted. Unlike the previous situation, in the case under consideration, the revised financial statements provide information that these statements replace the originally presented financial statements, and also indicate the grounds (reasons) for drawing up the revised financial statements. This information can be presented in the form of notes to the restated financial statements.

Note. If a significant error is identified in the previous reporting period, after the presentation of the financial statements for this year to the owners, but before the date of approval of such statements, revised statements must be submitted to all addresses where the initial financial statements were submitted.

A significant error of the previous reporting year, identified after the approval of the financial statements for this year, is corrected as follows. The approved annual financial statements are not subject to revision, replacement or re-presentation to users. This is determined by clause 10 of PBU 22/2010. In this case, a significant error for the past reporting year is corrected directly in the current reporting period in which it was discovered. The procedure for such adjustments is given in clause 9 of PBU 22/2010.

First, you need to make entries in the relevant accounting accounts for the current reporting period. In this case, the corresponding account in the records should be account 84 “Retained earnings (uncovered loss)”. Then you should recalculate the comparative indicators of the financial statements for the reporting periods reflected in the financial statements of the organization for the current reporting year. It is permitted not to recalculate reporting indicators for previous reporting periods if it is impossible to establish a connection between this error and a specific period or it is impossible to determine the impact of this error on a cumulative basis in relation to all previous reporting periods.

Note. Situations when it is possible not to recalculate reporting indicators for previous reporting periods are extremely rare. After all, the organization usually knows to which past period the detected error belongs, and it is possible to calculate what distortions in the financial statements this error led to.

Recalculation of comparative financial statements is carried out retrospectively. That is, the corresponding indicators of previous reporting periods are recalculated, which are reflected in the financial statements of the current reporting year in which the error was discovered, as if the error of the previous reporting period had never been made. When preparing interim (annual) financial statements for the current reporting period in which an error was discovered, the organization corrects the recalculated indicators relating to previous reporting periods.

Note. Comparative figures are recalculated retrospectively starting from the previous reporting period presented in the financial statements for the current reporting year in which the corresponding error was made.

Example 4. Let's use the condition of example 2. Let's assume that the accountant of Alpha LLC in May 2011 discovered an error in writing off expenses for voluntary insurance of employees for the third quarter of 2010. By this time, the organization's annual financial statements for 2010 had already been approved in the prescribed manner. According to the accounting policy of the organization, such an amount of error is considered significant.

Based on clause 9 of PBU 22/2010, the accountant of Alfa LLC in May 2011 made accounting the following correction note:

Debit 84, subaccount "Retained earnings (uncovered loss) for 2010", Credit 97

• 72,000 rub. - reflects the amount of expenses for voluntary insurance of employees for July, August and September 2010.

When compiling financial statements for the first half of 2011 the accountant of Alpha LLC recalculated the comparative indicators for 2010. The accounting statements for this period of 2011 were compiled according to new forms approved by Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated July 2, 2010 N 66n (hereinafter referred to as Order N 66n)<3>.

<3>The procedure for filling out new forms of financial statements starting from 2011 will be discussed in one of the upcoming issues of the magazine. - Note. ed.

In the asset balance sheet in the column “As of December 31, 2010” were reduced by 72,000 rubles. indicators of line 1260 “Other current assets” (which included the balance of deferred expenses at the end of 2010), line 1200 “Total for section II” and line 1600 “Balance”. The values ​​of the indicators in line 1370 “Retained earnings (uncovered loss)”, line 1300 “Total for section III” and line 1700 “Balance” were reduced by the same amount in the liabilities side of the balance sheet. These adjustments had a corresponding impact on the similar indicators of the current reporting period of 2011.

IN income statement for the first half of 2011, the indicators for the previous year were not recalculated, since this form presented comparative indicators for the first half of 2010, and the error related to the third quarter of last year. The consequences of this error will be corrected in the income statement for the next reporting period.

When compiling the profit and loss report for the nine months of 2011, the accountant of Alpha LLC increased the amount by 72,000 rubles. the value of the line indicator 2220 "Administrative expenses". This led to the need to reduce the indicators of line 2200 “Profit (loss) from sales”, line 2300 “Profit (loss) before tax”, line 2400 “Net profit (loss)” by the same amount. In the reference section of the income statement, we also had to reduce the value of the indicator in line 2500 “Cumulative financial result of the period.” All these adjustments were reflected in the last column “For 9 months of 2010” of the income statement.

Based on paragraph 1 of Art. 54 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, Alfa LLC decided not to prepare an updated income tax return, since an error for 2010 led to an overpayment of income tax to the budget. IN tax accounting the accountant of Alpha LLC in May 2011 included the amount of 72,000 rubles. included in indirect costs (as labor costs) and reflected it on line 040 of Appendix No. 2 to sheet 02 of the declaration for the half year of 2011.

As a result, the correction of last year's error led to a decrease in the tax base for income tax for the current year 2011. In accounting, the financial result of the reporting year did not decrease by this amount of expenses. Therefore, the accountant of Alpha LLC applied the rules of PBU 18/02 and reflected the following entry in the accounting records:

Debit 68, subaccount "Fixed tax liabilities", Credit 99

• 14,400 rub. (RUB 72,000 x 20%) - PIT is accrued for the amount of the difference between accounting and tax accounting data.

Note. If an error for 2009 is identified in 2011, the accountant will have to recalculate the comparative figures in the current financial statements for both 2009 and 2010. Indeed, the new forms of financial statements approved by Order No. 66n provide for comparative indicators for the two previous years.

An accountant needs to be extremely careful when recalculating comparative financial statements for the current reporting period due to correction of errors from previous years. Some errors affect many financial statements. The accountant's task is to identify and correct all the consequences of the mistake. For example, an error in writing off materials as production costs may lead to the need to recalculate inventory balances, estimate work in progress balances, the cost of finished products, and cost of sales. Ultimately, the recalculation of indicators that were affected by the correction of errors of previous years always leads to a change in the indicators of retained earnings (uncovered loss), net profit and total financial result both for previous years and for the current reporting period.

What should you do if a significant error was made before the beginning of the earliest previous reporting period presented in the financial statements for the current reporting year? In this case, the opening balances for the corresponding items of assets, liabilities and capital at the beginning of the earliest reporting period presented are subject to adjustment. This rule is contained in clause 11 of PBU 22/2010.

It may occur that an accountant is unable to determine the impact of a material error on one or more prior reporting periods presented in the financial statements. In this case, the organization must adjust the opening balance for the relevant items of assets, liabilities and equity at the beginning of the earliest period for which restatement is possible. This is prescribed by clause 12 of PBU 22/2010.

Note. If it is impossible to determine the impact of a significant error on one or more previous reporting periods presented in the financial statements, then the organization must adjust the opening balance for the relevant items of assets, liabilities and capital at the beginning of the earliest period for which recalculation is possible (clause 12 of PBU 22 /2010).

So that the organization is not tempted to baselessly declare that it is not able to recalculate comparative indicators for previous reporting years reflected in the current financial statements, PBU 22/2010 separately sets out the conditions for recognizing such a situation.

So, based on clause 13 of PBU 22/2010, the impact of a significant error on the previous reporting period cannot be determined in the following situations:

• if complex and (or) numerous calculations are required, during which it is impossible to identify information indicating the circumstances that existed at the date of the error;
• it is necessary to use information received after the date of approval of the financial statements for such previous reporting period.

If one of these conditions is met, the organization has the right not to recalculate comparative financial statements. But this applies only to indicators for those reporting years for which recalculation is impossible. If it is possible to restate comparative figures for later reporting periods presented in the current financial statements, then they need to be restated.

It should be borne in mind that if a significant error is discovered for the years preceding the previous one, it does not matter in which month of the current year this error was found. The financial statements for these years have long been compiled and approved.

This means that such an error will have to be corrected in the current period by entries in the corresponding accounting accounts in correspondence with the account for retained earnings (uncovered loss). And after that, you need to recalculate the comparative indicators of the financial statements for the earliest reporting periods presented in them.

Example 5. In February 2011, Salyut OJSC received a statement of reconciliation of payments from the supplier. When checking the document, it turned out that the organization’s accountant mistakenly did not reflect in the accounting records the cost of services performed by the supplier in November 2008 (in the amount of 30,000 rubles excluding VAT) and in August 2010 (in the amount of 25,000 rubles excluding VAT). VAT). According to the accounting policy of the organization, errors relating to accounts receivable and payable are recognized as significant, regardless of the amount.

Since the organization’s financial statements for 2010 had not yet been signed, the accountant of Salyut OJSC corrected last year’s error by making the following adjustment entry for December 2010:

Debit 26 Credit 76

• 25,000 rub. - the cost of the supplier’s services for August 2010 is reflected.

In the annual financial statements for 2010, the financial result was formed taking into account the corrected error for this year.

To eliminate the inaccuracy for 2008, the accountant of Salyut OJSC made an adjustment entry and dated it to February 2011 (the day the error was discovered):

Debit 84, subaccount "Retained earnings (uncovered loss) for 2008", Credit 76

• 30,000 rub. - the cost of the supplier’s services for November 2008 is reflected.

When preparing financial statements for the first quarter of 2011, the accountant of OJSC Salut adjusted the comparative indicators for 2009 and 2010. (as the earliest periods presented). At the same time, in the balance sheet in the amount of 30,000 rubles. The indicators for lines 1520 “Accounts payable” and 1500 “Total for section V” have been increased. At the same time, the indicators of lines 1370 “Retained earnings (uncovered loss)” and 1300 “Total for section III” were reduced by the same amount. As a result, the indicators for line 1700 “Balance” for 2009 and 2010 balance sheet liabilities have not changed.

Now let's figure out how to correct an insignificant error for the previous reporting year, identified after the date of signing the financial statements for this year. This error is corrected by entries in the relevant accounting accounts in the month of the reporting year in which it was detected. Profit or loss arising as a result of correcting this error is reflected as part of other income or expenses of the current reporting period. This rule for minor errors is written in clause 14 of PBU 22/2010. Since the amounts of profits and losses from previous years resulting from the correction of immaterial errors are written off to other income and expenses of the current period, they are thereby taken into account when forming the financial result of the current reporting period. Therefore, when correcting immaterial errors, comparative indicators for previous reporting years are not adjusted in the current financial statements.

Note. The procedure for correcting minor errors identified after the date of signing the annual financial statements completely coincides with the rules for correcting errors of previous years that were applied before the advent of PBU 22/2010.

Example 6. Let's say that in mid-March 2011, the accountant of Kvadrat CJSC discovered an error for October 2010. The accounting did not reflect the write-off of office supplies in the amount of 120 rubles. (excluding VAT). The organization's financial statements for 2010 were compiled, signed, and submitted to the tax office, but have not yet been approved by the shareholders. According to the accounting policy, an error for previous years in such an amount is considered insignificant. Based on clause 14 of PBU 22/2010, the following entry was made in the accounting records of CJSC “Kvadrat” in March 2011:

Debit 91, subaccount “Losses of previous years”, Credit 10, subaccount “Stationery”,

• 120 rub. - the cost of office supplies transferred for use to employees in October 2010 was written off.

The signed financial statements for 2010 have not been revised. In the financial statements for the first quarter of 2011, comparative figures for 2010 were not recalculated.

Some relaxation of requirements for small businesses

An exception to the general rule has recently been made for small businesses other than issuers of publicly traded securities. According to clause 8 of the Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated November 8, 2010 N 144n, clause 9 of PBU 22/2010 has been supplemented with a new paragraph. Thus, small enterprises have the right to correct a significant error for the previous reporting year, identified after the approval of the financial statements for this year, in a simplified manner - according to the rules established by paragraph 14 of PBU 22/2010 for minor errors, without retrospective recalculation.

Note. The criteria for small businesses and the procedure for their application are given in Art. 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." According to Decree of the Government of Russia dated July 22, 2008 N 556, currently the maximum amount of revenue from the sale of goods (work, services) for the previous year excluding VAT, calculated according to tax accounting data, for small enterprises is no more than 400 million rubles.

This means that enterprises classified as small businesses can correct any errors from previous years, regardless of their magnitude in the reporting period when they discovered this inaccuracy. Moreover, they need to reflect accounting entries for the corresponding accounting accounts in correspondence with account 91 “Other income and expenses.” And comparative indicators for previous years in the financial statements of the current reporting period for small businesses do not need to be recalculated, even if the error turns out to be significant. To take advantage of a simplified method of correcting significant errors of previous years, a small business enterprise should record this provision in its accounting policies.

Please note: relief for small businesses when applying the norms of PBU 22/2010 is provided only in relation to errors of previous years identified after the approval of the annual financial statements for the year in which the error was committed. For other errors, they must apply the general rules of the named accounting standard. Therefore, if an error for the previous reporting year is identified after the signing of the annual financial statements, but before the date of their approval by the owners (participants of the company, shareholders), the small business entity must correct it in the generally established manner. That is, in December of the reporting year, it is necessary to make corrective entries in the relevant accounting accounts, revise the annual financial statements and present them to all users to whom the initial annual statements were submitted earlier.

Explanatory note

In the notes to the financial statements, the organization must disclose information about significant errors that were corrected in a given reporting period. This is stated in paragraphs 15 and 16 of PBU 22/2010. Please note: this applies not only to annual financial statements, but also to interim financial statements. When disclosing information about material errors, an organization should describe the nature of the error, provide the amount of the adjustment for each line item in the financial statements for each preceding period and the amount of the adjustment to the opening balance of the earliest reporting period presented.

Note. If an organization is required to disclose earnings per share, it must also disclose the amount of the adjustment for basic and diluted earnings (loss) per share.

If the organization was unable to determine the impact of a material error on one or more previous reporting periods presented in the financial statements, then the reasons for this should be disclosed in the explanatory note to the annual financial statements. In addition, you need to provide a description of the method for reflecting the correction of a significant error in the organization’s financial statements and indicate the period from which the organization was able to make corrections.

M.S.Polyakova

Journal expert

"Russian tax courier"

In order to improve legal regulation in the field of accounting and financial reporting and in accordance with the Regulations on the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation, approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of June 30, 2004 N 329 (Collected Legislation of the Russian Federation, 2004, N 31, Art. 3258; N 49, Art. 4908; 2005, N 23, Art. 2270; N 52, Art. 5755; 2006, N 32, Art. 3569; N 47, Art. 4900; 2007, N 23, Art. 2801 ; N 45, Art. 5491; 2008, N 5, Art. 411; N 46, Art. 5337; 2009, N 3, Art. 378; N 6, Art. 738; N 8, Art. 973; N 11, Art. 1312; N 26, Art. 3212; N 31, Art. 3954; 2010, N 5, Art. 531; N 9, Art. 967; N 11, Art. 1224), I order:

1. Approve the attached Accounting Regulations “Correcting Errors in Accounting and Reporting” (PBU 22/2010).

2. Establish that this Order comes into force with the annual financial statements for 2010.

Deputy
Chairman of the Government
Russian Federation -
Minister of Finance
Russian Federation
A.L. KUDRIN

APPROVED
By order of the Ministry of Finance
Russian Federation
dated June 28, 2010 N 63n

ACCOUNTING REGULATIONS "CORRECTION OF ERRORS IN ACCOUNTING AND REPORTING" (PBU 22/2010)

I. General provisions

1. These Regulations establish the rules for correcting errors and the procedure for disclosing information about errors in accounting and reporting of organizations that are legal entities under the legislation of the Russian Federation (with the exception of credit organizations and state (municipal) institutions) (hereinafter referred to as organizations). (as amended by Order of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation dated October 25, 2010 N 132n)

2. Incorrect reflection (non-reflection) of facts of economic activity in the accounting and (or) financial statements of an organization (hereinafter referred to as an error) may be due, in particular:

incorrect application of the legislation of the Russian Federation on accounting and (or) regulatory legal acts on accounting;

incorrect application of the organization's accounting policies;

inaccuracies in calculations;

incorrect classification or assessment of facts of economic activity;

incorrect use of information available at the date of signing the financial statements;

unfair actions of officials of the organization.

Inaccuracies or omissions in the reflection of facts of economic activity in the accounting and (or) financial statements of an organization identified as a result of obtaining new information that was not available to the organization at the time of reflection (non-reflection) of such facts of economic activity are not considered errors.

3. An error is considered significant if it, individually or in combination with other errors for the same reporting period, can affect the economic decisions of users made on the basis of the financial statements prepared for this reporting period. The organization determines the materiality of the error independently, based on both the size and nature of the relevant item(s) of the financial statements.

II. Error correction procedure

4. Identified errors and their consequences are subject to mandatory correction.

5. An error in the reporting year identified before the end of that year is corrected by entries in the relevant accounting accounts in the month of the reporting year in which the error was identified.

6. An error in the reporting year identified after the end of this year, but before the date of signing the financial statements for this year, is corrected by entries in the corresponding accounting accounts for December of the reporting year (the year for which the annual financial statements are prepared).

7. A significant error of the previous reporting year, identified after the date of signing the financial statements for this year, but before the date of submission of such statements to shareholders of a joint-stock company, participants of a limited liability company, a state authority, local government or other body authorized to exercise the rights of the owner, etc., is corrected in the manner established by paragraph 6 of these Regulations. If the specified financial statements were presented to any other users, then they must be replaced with statements in which the identified significant error has been corrected (revised financial statements).

8. A significant error in the previous reporting year, identified after the presentation of the financial statements for this year to shareholders of a joint-stock company, participants in a limited liability company, a state authority, local government or other body authorized to exercise the rights of the owner, etc., but before date of approval of such reporting in the manner established by the legislation of the Russian Federation, is corrected in the manner established by paragraph 6 of these Regulations. At the same time, the revised financial statements disclose information that these financial statements replace the originally presented financial statements, as well as the basis for preparing the revised financial statements.

9. A significant error of the previous reporting year, identified after approval of the financial statements for this year, is corrected:

1) entries on the relevant accounting accounts in the current reporting period. In this case, the corresponding account in the records is the account for retained earnings (uncovered loss);

2) by recalculating the comparative indicators of the financial statements for the reporting periods reflected in the financial statements of the organization for the current reporting year, except in cases where it is impossible to establish the connection of this error with a specific period or it is impossible to determine the impact of this error on a cumulative basis in relation to all previous reporting periods.

Restatement of comparative financial statements is carried out by correcting the financial statements as if the error of the previous reporting period had never been made (retrospective restatement).

Retrospective restatement is carried out 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.

Organizations that have the right to use simplified accounting methods, including simplified accounting (financial) statements, may have the right to correct a significant error of the previous reporting year, identified after the approval of the financial statements for this year, in the manner established by paragraph 14 of these Regulations, without retrospective recalculation. (as amended by Orders of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation dated November 8, 2010 N 144n, dated April 27, 2012 N 55n, dated April 6, 2015 N 57n)

10. In the event of correction of a significant error of the previous reporting year, identified after the approval of the financial statements, the approved financial statements for the previous reporting periods are not subject to revision, replacement and re-presentation to users of the financial statements.

11. If a significant error was made before the beginning of the earliest previous reporting period presented in the financial statements for the current reporting year, the opening balances for the corresponding items of assets, liabilities and capital at the beginning of the earliest reporting period presented are subject to adjustment.

12. If it is not possible to determine the impact of a material error on one or more previous reporting periods presented in the financial statements, the organization must adjust the opening balance for the relevant items of assets, liabilities and equity at the beginning of the earliest period for which restatement is possible.

13. The impact of a material error on the previous reporting period cannot be determined if complex and (or) numerous calculations are required, during which it is impossible to identify information indicating the circumstances that existed at the date of the error, or it is necessary to use information received after the date of approval of the financial statements for such previous reporting period.

14. An error of the previous reporting year, which is not significant, discovered after the date of signing the financial statements for this year, is corrected by entries in the relevant accounting accounts in the month of the reporting year in which the error was identified. Profit or loss arising as a result of correcting this error is reflected as part of other income or expenses of the current reporting period.

III. Disclosure of information in financial statements

15. In the explanatory note to the annual financial statements, the organization is obliged to disclose the following information regarding significant errors of previous reporting periods corrected in the reporting period:

1) the nature of the error;

2) the amount of adjustment for each item in the financial statements - for each previous reporting period to the extent practicable;

3) the amount of adjustment based on data on basic and diluted earnings (loss) per share (if the organization is required to disclose information on earnings per share);

4) the amount of adjustment to the opening balance of the earliest reporting period presented.

16. If it is impossible to determine the impact of a significant error on one or more previous reporting periods presented in the financial statements, then the explanatory note to the annual financial statements discloses the reasons for this, and also provides a description of the method for reflecting the correction of a significant error in the financial statements of the organization and indicates the period , starting from which corrections were made.

The Financial Department approved a new PBU - Accounting Regulations “Correcting Errors in Accounting and Reporting” (PBU 22/2010). This document will slightly change the procedure for correcting errors. In this article, innovations are commented on by N.N. Tomilo (Ministry of Finance of Russia).

Note:

What is considered an accounting error?

In order to improve the legal regulation of accounting and reporting, the Ministry of Finance of Russia approved the Accounting Regulations “Correcting Errors in Accounting and Reporting” - PBU 22/2010 (order dated June 28, 2010 No. 63n, registered with the Ministry of Justice of Russia on July 30, 2010 No. 18008 ) and forms of financial statements of organizations (order dated 07/02/2010 No. 66n, registered with the Ministry of Justice of Russia 08/02/2010 No. 18023)*

Note:
* Accounting statements will change starting in 2011; commentary on the new forms will be published in the journal later.

PBU 22/2010 should be applied by organizations that are legal entities under the laws of the Russian Federation (with the exception of credit organizations and budgetary institutions) from the annual financial statements for 2010.

PBU 22/2010 defines that an error is the incorrect reflection or failure to reflect the facts of economic activity in the accounting and (or) financial statements of an organization. The reasons for errors can be different: incorrect application of the legislation of the Russian Federation on accounting and (or) regulatory legal acts on accounting, incorrect application of the organization’s accounting policies; incorrect classification or assessment of facts of economic activity; improper use of information available at the date of signing the financial statements; dishonest actions of officials of the organization, inaccuracies in calculations.

For example, the organization did not conduct an inventory of property when changing the financially responsible person - a warehouse employee. However, in accordance with Article 12 of the Federal Law of November 21, 1996 No. 129-FZ “On Accounting”, to ensure the reliability of accounting data and financial statements, the organization was obliged to conduct an inventory. In this case, there is an error associated with the incorrect application of Russian legislation on accounting.

Let's give another example. Starting from 2007, the organization revalued the land plot it owned and reflected the results of the revaluation in its financial statements. However, in accordance with the Methodological Guidelines for Accounting of Fixed Assets, approved by Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated October 13, 2003 No. 91n, land plots and natural resources (water, subsoil and other natural resources) are not subject to revaluation. Thus, there is an error in accounting and reporting associated with incorrect application of regulatory legal acts on accounting.

According to PBU 22/2010, inaccuracies or omissions in the reflection of facts of economic activity in the accounting and (or) financial statements of an organization, identified as a result of obtaining new information that was not available to the organization at the time of reflection (non-reflection) of such facts of economic activity are not errors.

So, for example, in accordance with PBU 7/98 “Events after the reporting date”, approved by order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated November 25, 1998 No. 56n, if in the period between the date of signing the financial statements and the date of their approval the organization received new information about events after the reporting date disclosed in the financial statements presented to users, and (or) events have occurred (identified) that may have a significant impact on the financial condition, cash flow or results of operations of the organization, then the organization informs about this the persons to whom these financial statements were presented. Such circumstances are not related to errors in accounting and reporting. But if the organization does not inform the persons to whom the financial statements were presented about this, then an error will arise due to the incorrect application of the regulatory legal act on accounting.

Errors are significant and insignificant

To choose the procedure for correcting errors, the organization must divide them into significant and non-significant.

According to PBU 22/2010, an error is considered significant if it, individually or in combination with other errors for the same reporting period, can affect the economic decisions of users made on the basis of the financial statements prepared for this reporting period. The organization determines the materiality of the error independently, based on both the size and the nature of the relevant item(s) of the financial statements.

Note that a similar definition regarding the materiality of financial reporting indicators is given in the Instructions on the procedure for drawing up and presenting financial statements, approved by Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated July 22, 2003 No. 67n. However, in contrast to the norms of this order, PBU 22/2010 does not contain recommendations on the percentage (5%) benchmark as a sign of materiality. In practice, the percentage benchmark often leads to a formal approach to determining materiality, and materiality is primarily a qualitative characteristic of information.

Error correction procedure

All identified errors and their consequences are subject to mandatory correction. The procedure for correcting errors is as follows.

An error in the reporting year identified before the end of that year is corrected by entries in the relevant accounting accounts in the month of the reporting year in which the error was identified.

An error in the reporting year identified after the end of this year, but before the date of signing the financial statements for this year, is corrected by entries in the corresponding accounting accounts for December of the reporting year.

Example 2

An insignificant error of the previous reporting year, identified after the date of signing the financial statements for this year, is corrected by entries in the relevant accounting accounts in the month of the reporting year in which the error was identified. Profit or loss arising as a result of correcting this error is reflected as part of other income or expenses of the current reporting period.

Example 2

A significant error of the previous reporting year, identified after the date of signing the financial statements for this year, but before the date of submission of such statements in the prescribed manner, is also corrected.

If the financial statements in which a significant error was discovered were presented to some other (external) users, then they must be replaced with statements in which the identified significant error has been corrected. These statements are called restated financial statements. When providing it to users (to all addresses to which it was previously presented), it should be indicated that it replaces the originally submitted financial statements and indicate the reasons for such a revision.

If a significant error is identified after approval of the financial statements in the prescribed manner, then the organization must:
- make accounting entries on the relevant accounting accounts in the current reporting period in correspondence with account 84 “Retained earnings (uncovered loss)”;
- retrospectively recalculate the comparative indicators of the financial statements (assets, liabilities and capital) for the reporting periods reflected in the financial statements of the organization for the current reporting year.

A retrospective recalculation of comparative financial statements is understood as such a correction of financial statements as if the error of the previous reporting period had never been made.

Retrospective recalculation is carried out in relation to comparative indicators starting from the previous reporting period in which the identified error was made.

This error correction method can be used if it is possible to establish a connection between this error and a specific period, or if it is possible to determine the impact of this error cumulatively in relation to all previous reporting periods.

If a significant error was made before the beginning of the earliest previous reporting period presented in the financial statements for the current reporting year, the opening balances for the corresponding items of assets, liabilities and capital at the beginning of the earliest reporting period presented are subject to adjustment.

If it is not possible to determine the effect of a material error on one or more prior reporting periods presented in the financial statements, the entity must adjust the opening balances for the relevant items of assets, liabilities and equity at the beginning of the earliest period for which restatement is possible.

PBU 22/2010 indicates that it is impossible to determine the impact of a significant error on the previous reporting period if complex and (or) numerous calculations are required, during which it is impossible to identify information indicating the circumstances that existed on the date of the error, or it is necessary to use information obtained after the date of approval of the financial statements for such previous reporting period.

When correcting a significant error of the previous reporting year, identified after the approval of the financial statements, the approved financial statements for the previous reporting periods are not subject to revision, replacement and re-presentation to users of the financial statements.

In the explanatory note to the annual financial statements, the organization must disclose the following information regarding significant errors of previous reporting periods corrected in the reporting period:

• nature of the error;
• the amount of adjustment for each item in the financial statements - for each previous reporting period to the extent practicable;
• the amount of adjustment based on data on basic and diluted earnings (loss) per share (if the organization is required to disclose information on earnings per share);
• the amount of adjustment to the opening balance of the earliest reporting period presented.

If it is impossible to determine the impact of a significant error on one or more previous reporting periods presented in the financial statements, then in the explanatory note to the annual financial statements it is necessary to disclose the reasons why this is impossible, as well as describe the method of reflecting the correction of a significant error in the financial statements of the organization and indicate the period from which the corrections were made.

Let us also draw attention to the fact that in accordance with the Federal Law of November 21, 1996 No. 129-FZ “On Accounting”, making corrections to cash and banking documents is not allowed. Corrections can be made to other primary accounting documents only with the agreement of the participants in business transactions, which must be confirmed by the signatures of the same persons who signed the documents, indicating the date of the corrections.

Errors in primary documents created manually (with the exception of cash and bank documents), in accordance with the Regulations on Documents and Document Flow in Accounting, approved by the USSR Ministry of Finance on July 29, 1983 No. 105, are corrected as follows: the incorrect text or amounts are crossed out and the corrected text is written above the crossed out or amounts. Crossing out is done with one line so that the correction can be read. Correction of an error in the primary accounting document must be indicated by the inscription “corrected” and confirmed by the signature of the persons who signed the document, indicating the date the correction was made.

Other innovations

As stated at the beginning of the article, another element of improving the legal regulation of accounting and reporting was the approval of new forms of accounting reporting.

Forms of financial statements of organizations, approved by order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated July 2, 2010 No. 66n, must be applied from the annual financial statements for 2011. The order provides for the possibility of small businesses using a simplified system for generating financial statements.

When preparing this order, changes were taken into account in regulatory legal acts on accounting for the period after the adoption of Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated July 22, 2003 No. 67n “On Forms of Accounting Reports of Organizations.” In addition, taking into account the practice of applying PBU 4/99 "Accounting statements of an organization", approved by order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated 07/06/1999 No. 43n, columns appeared in the balance sheet to reflect indicators for 3 reporting dates. The balance sheet includes a column for explanations of the indicators contained in the reporting.

In the form of the Profit and Loss Statement, such an indicator as the “total financial result of the period” appeared, defined as the sum of the indicators “Net profit (loss)”, “Result from the revaluation of non-current assets, not included in the net profit (loss) of the period” and “Result from other operations not included in the net profit (loss) of the reporting period."

In the article presented to the attention of readers by M.L. Pyatov and I.A. Smirnova (St. Petersburg State University) analyze the content of the new PBU 22/2010 “Correction of errors in accounting and reporting,” which, according to the authors, is another significant step towards the convergence of domestic regulations and IFRS.

According to the said Order of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation, this PBU is applied from the preparation of financial statements for 2010. The introductory provision of the PBU, contained in paragraph 1, determines that this Russian accounting standard “establishes the rules for correcting errors and the procedure for disclosing information about errors in the accounting and reporting of organizations that are legal entities under the legislation of the Russian Federation (with the exception of credit organizations and budgetary institutions) (hereinafter referred to as organizations)".

New PBU

A very important characteristic of the content of IFRS is that the provisions they define, which shape modern accounting practice, primarily relate not to the accounting procedure, but directly to the content of the statements. IFRS, therefore, view accounting specifically as the practice of creating information about the financial position of business entities. This information is necessary for the market and influences the decisions of participants in economic relations, which determine the real economic reality. This information, that is, the content of financial statements, must be as adequate as possible to economic reality. Such adequacy is, among other things, determined by the correspondence of the data presented to the point in time at which the reporting will be reviewed and analyzed by its users. The process of reporting on the financial position of a company is inevitably characterized by errors of both an objective and subjective nature. And here it is important not only to find such errors, but also to promptly eliminate their impact on the information that users of the reporting data receive. A separate IFRS is devoted to the issue of correcting errors in accounting and reporting. Now domestic accounting practice has also received an independent standard (PBU), which determines the procedure for correcting errors made during accounting and reporting.

Such a standard is the Accounting Regulation “Correcting Errors in Accounting and Reporting” (PBU 22/2010), which was approved by Order No. 63n of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation dated June 28, 2010, and was registered with the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation on July 30, 2010 under No. 18008.

According to the said Order of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation, this PBU is applied from the preparation of financial statements for 2010. The introductory provision of the PBU, contained in paragraph 1, determines that this Russian accounting standard “establishes the rules for correcting errors and the procedure for disclosing information about errors in the accounting and reporting of organizations that are legal entities under the legislation of the Russian Federation (with the exception of credit organizations and budgetary institutions) (hereinafter referred to as organizations)".

What is an error?

Paragraph 2 of PBU 22/2010 defines an accounting error. According to PBU, an error is understood as “incorrect reflection (non-reflection) of the facts of economic activity in the accounting and (or) financial statements of the organization.”

It is curious that the concept of “incorrect” PBU is not defined. Probably, the meaning of this term should be obvious to specialists using PBU and should be interpreted exclusively in the traditional meaning of this word when used in Russian. It is curious that even the famous “Dictionary of the Russian Language” by S.I. does not give an interpretation of the word “wrong”. Ozhegova. However, the dictionary gives us an interpretation of the word “correct”. According to Ozhegov, “correct” means “not deviating from the rules and norms”*. Accordingly, “wrong” means deviating from such “rules and norms.”

Therefore, in our case, we can assume that “incorrect reflection (non-reflection) of the facts of economic activity in the accounting and (or) financial statements of the organization” is their reflection not in accordance with the requirements of current regulatory documents.

Note:
* S.I. Ozhegov Dictionary of the Russian language. M.: "Russian language", 1984, p. 511.

Further, paragraph 2 of PBU 22/2010 provides a list of reasons that may cause an error. The list is not closed, which we can understand from the wording of the text of the PBU, according to which “incorrect reflection”, “(hereinafter referred to as error) may be due to in particular":

• “incorrect application of the legislation of the Russian Federation on accounting and (or) regulatory legal acts on accounting;
• incorrect application of the organization's accounting policies;
• inaccuracies in calculations;
• incorrect classification or assessment of facts of economic activity;
• incorrect use of information available at the date of signing the financial statements;
• dishonest actions of the organization's officials."

Defining the concept of an accounting error, PBU also points to cases that cannot be classified as an error. Here, according to paragraph 2 of PBU 22/2010, “inaccuracies or omissions in the reflection of facts of economic activity in the accounting and (or) financial statements of the organization, identified as a result of obtaining new information that was not available to the organization at the time of reflection (non-reflection) are not errors. ) such facts of economic activity."

What is considered a significant error?

Defining the concept of an accounting error, PBU 22/2010 introduces the concept of materiality of the error. According to PBU, “an error is considered significant if it, individually or in combination with other errors for the same reporting period, can affect the economic decisions of users made on the basis of the financial statements compiled for this reporting period.”

Thus, the criterion for qualifying an error as significant is the degree of its potential impact on users’ opinions about the financial position of the company, as reflected in its financial statements. For example, a user of financial statements uses balance sheet data to assess the solvency of a company. Determining its solvency, he compares the assessment of the most liquid property reflected in the “current assets” section with the amount of short-term liabilities the organization has. And here, if, for example, the valuation of assets is unjustifiably inflated (suppose the depreciation of product inventories is not reflected), the user may form an opinion about the level of solvency of the company that does not correspond to reality. However, if the valuation of inventories is overestimated by 100 rubles, and their total value presented in the statements is 1,000,000 rubles, such an error can hardly be considered significant.

Attention should be paid to another extremely important provision of paragraph 3 of PBU 22/2010. The standard establishes that “the organization determines the significance of an error independently, based on both the size and nature of the relevant item(s) of the financial statements.” Determining the materiality of an error has thus become another potential opportunity for the exercise of the accountant's professional judgment in practice. And it must be said that this option for implementing professional judgment is very difficult, since it involves the implementation of the accountant’s opinion regarding the possibility of an error influencing the opinion of the user of the statements.

How to fix the error?

Paragraph 4 of PBU 22/2010 contains a general rule according to which, “identified errors and their consequences are subject to mandatory correction.”

However, “there are different types of errors,” and here, when determining the procedure for correcting errors, the PBU identifies 6 types of errors, depending on the moment of detection and the degree of significance of a particular error.

The procedure for correcting errors in the following cases is separately determined:
- (1) significant and immaterial errors of the reporting year identified before the end of this year;
- (2) significant and immaterial errors of the reporting year identified after the end of this year;
- (3) significant errors of the previous reporting year, identified after the date of signing the financial statements for this year, but before the date of submission of such statements to shareholders of the joint-stock company, participants of the limited liability company, government body, local government body or other body authorized to exercise rights owner, etc.;
- (4) significant errors of the previous reporting year, identified after the presentation of the financial statements for this year to the shareholders of the joint-stock company, participants of the limited liability company, government body, local government body or other body authorized to exercise the rights of the owner, etc., but before the date of approval of such reporting in the manner established by the legislation of the Russian Federation;
- (5) significant errors of the previous reporting year, identified after approval of the financial statements for this year;
- (6) insignificant errors of the previous reporting year, identified after the date of signing the financial statements for this year.

Let's consider the requirements of the PBU regarding the procedure for correcting errors in the above situations.

According to paragraph 5 of PBU 22/2010, an error in the reporting year identified before the end of that year is corrected by entries in the relevant accounting accounts in the month of the reporting year in which the error was identified.

Accordingly, in accounting, “reverse” entries are either made, or reversal entries are made, and after this a proper entry is made into the accounts*.

Note:
Here it should be borne in mind that although reverse entries are a method of correcting errors adopted in the accounting practice of English-speaking countries, their significant drawback is the possible distortion of account turnover, which makes the reversal method more preferable.

In accordance with paragraph 6 of the PBU under consideration, an error in the reporting year identified after the end of this year, but before the date of signing the financial statements for this year, is corrected by entries in the corresponding accounting accounts for December of the reporting year (the year for which the annual financial statements are prepared). Here the procedure is similar to the previous case, but all corrections are carried out in December.

According to paragraph 7 of the PBU, if an error is recognized as significant, and at the same time it relates to the previous reporting year, and was also identified after the date of signing the financial statements for this year, but before the date of submission of such statements to the shareholders of the joint-stock company, participants of the limited company responsibility, a state authority, a local government body or another body authorized to exercise the rights of the owner, etc., then it must be corrected in the manner established by paragraph 6 of the PBU.

Consequently, here too, either "reverse" entries are made, or reversal entries are made, and after that a proper entry is made into the accounts, and all corrections are made in December. It is separately established that if the specified financial statements were presented to any other users, then they must be replaced with statements in which the identified significant error has been corrected. PBU calls such amended financial statements “restated financial statements.”

According to paragraph 8 of PBU 22/2010, in the event that “a significant error of the previous reporting year, identified after the presentation of the financial statements for this year to shareholders of a joint-stock company, participants of a limited liability company, a government body, local government body or other body authorized to carry out owner's rights, etc., but before the date of approval of such reporting in the manner established by the legislation of the Russian Federation" must also be corrected "in the manner established by paragraph 6 of these Regulations." This means that in this case, either “reverse” entries are made, or reversal entries are made and after that a proper entry is made into the accounts, and all corrections are made in December.

However, here the revised financial statements must already disclose information that these financial statements replace the originally presented financial statements, and must also communicate the basis for preparing the revised financial statements.

According to paragraph 9 of PBU 22/2010, if a significant error of the previous reporting year was identified after the approval of the financial statements for this year, it is corrected:
"1) entries for the relevant accounting accounts in the current reporting period. In this case, the corresponding account in the entries is the account for retained earnings (uncovered loss);
2) by recalculating the comparative indicators of the financial statements for the reporting periods reflected in the financial statements of the organization for the current reporting year, except in cases where it is impossible to establish the connection of this error with a specific period or it is impossible to determine the impact of this error on a cumulative basis in relation to all previous reporting periods" .

At the same time, according to PBU, “the recalculation of 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 carried out 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."

In other words, when correcting an error of this kind, the accountant in the current reporting period must make corrective entries for the accounting accounts in correspondence with account 84 “Retained earnings (uncovered loss)” and recalculate the corresponding reporting indicators for previous periods as if there had been no error admitted.

For example, in the financial statements of an organization for 2009, an excessively accrued amount of depreciation was reflected, which affected the value of the reflected residual value of fixed assets, the volume of reflected costs and, accordingly, the financial result. This error was identified in 2010 after the statements were approved.

When reflecting the error in the accounting accounts, you should make a debit entry to account 02 “Depreciation of fixed assets” and a credit to account 84 “Retained earnings (uncovered loss)” for the amount of the error. Correction of accounts can also be performed by reverse entry using the reversal method.

In the organization's balance sheet for 2010, the indicators of the residual value of fixed assets and retained earnings at the beginning of the year must be corrected for the amount of excessively accrued depreciation.

Here it is important to pay attention to the fact that according to paragraph 10 of PBU 22/2010, “in the event of correction of a significant error of the previous reporting year, identified after the approval of the financial statements, the approved financial statements for previous reporting periods are not subject to revision, replacement and re-presentation to users of the financial statements ".

Regarding the procedure for retrospective correction of reporting when an error is detected, PBU 22/2010 also contains a number of additional rules. According to paragraph 11 of PBU 22/2010, “if a significant error was made before the beginning of the earliest of the previous reporting periods presented in the financial statements for the current reporting year, the opening balances for the relevant items of assets, liabilities and capital at the beginning of the earliest of of the presented reporting periods." Paragraph 12 of the PBU establishes that “if it is impossible to determine the impact of a material error on one or more previous reporting periods presented in the financial statements, the organization must adjust the opening balance for the relevant items of assets, liabilities and capital at the beginning of the earliest of the periods for which recalculation available".

According to paragraph 13 of the PBU, it is considered that “the impact of a significant error on the previous reporting period cannot be determined if complex and (or) numerous calculations are required, during which it is impossible to identify information indicating the circumstances that existed on the date of the error, or it is necessary to use information received after the date of approval of the financial statements for such previous reporting period."

And finally, paragraph 14 of PBU 22/2010 establishes that if an error from the previous reporting year identified after the date of signing the financial statements is not significant, it must be corrected by entries in the relevant accounting accounts in the month of the reporting year in which it was identified. In this case, the profit or loss arising as a result of correcting this error is reflected as part of other income or expenses of the current reporting period.

How to disclose the fact that an error has been corrected?

Special section III of PBU 22/2010 is devoted to the issues of disclosing information on the correction of accounting errors in reporting.

Paragraph 15 of the PBU establishes that in the explanatory note to the annual financial statements, the organization is obliged to disclose the following information regarding significant errors of previous reporting periods corrected in the reporting period:
"1) the nature of the error;
2) the amount of adjustment for each item in the financial statements - for each previous reporting period to the extent practicable;
3) the amount of adjustment based on data on basic and diluted earnings (loss) per share (if the organization is required to disclose information on earnings per share);
4) the amount of adjustment to the opening balance of the earliest reporting period presented.”

At the same time, according to paragraph 16 of the PBU, if it is impossible to determine the impact of a significant error on one or more previous reporting periods presented in the financial statements, the explanatory note to the annual financial statements must disclose the reasons for this, as well as provide a description of the method of reflection correction of a significant error in the organization’s financial statements and the period from which such corrections were made is indicated.

Results

Concluding our review of the content of the new PBU 22/2010 “Correcting Errors in Accounting and Reporting”, it should be noted that its content differs from the relevant IFRS requirements by more detailed qualification of errors and greater detail in determining the procedure for correcting them and disclosing this in the financial statements. This circumstance makes it possible to hope that the implementation of the new PBU in practice will not cause significant methodological difficulties.