The Accountant Profession: Duties, Requirements for the Chief Accountant and Liability

Who is responsible for accounting: the director or the accountant

Accounting and financial reporting are organised by the head of the company (Article 11). The head must ensure the development of the accounting policy, the internal accounting and reporting system and internal control procedures, complete and reliable accounting, safekeeping of accounting documents, preparation and publication of financial statements, preparation of tax returns and timely settlements.

The head has three options (Article 11): set up an accounting department headed by its manager or engage an accountant under a contract; outsource accounting under a contract to a specialised organisation, such as an audit firm, a tax consultancy or another organisation whose charter provides for this service; or keep the books personally.

The chief accountant: status and powers

The head of the accounting function is the chief accountant or another officer performing accounting and financial management functions; this person reports directly to the head of the company (Article 12).

The chief accountant's requirements for documenting transactions and submitting documents to the accounting department are binding on all employees. If the head and the chief accountant disagree about a particular transaction, the documents may be accepted for execution on the head's written instruction, and in that case the head bears sole responsibility for the consequences (Article 12).

Requirements for the chief accountant of a company subject to mandatory audit

If the company is subject to mandatory audit (other than banks and other credit institutions), the head of its accounting function must (Article 12):

• have a higher education degree;
• have work experience related to accounting, preparation of financial statements or auditing: with a degree in economics, at least three of the last five calendar years; with a degree in another field, at least seven of the last ten;
• complete continuing professional development every year; the head of the company is obliged to ensure this.

If an outsourcing company keeps the books

The same requirements for education, experience and annual professional development apply to the employee of a specialised organisation to which a company subject to mandatory audit has outsourced its accounting under a contract (Article 12). So when choosing an outsourcing provider for such a company, it is worth asking for details of the qualifications of the person who will keep your books.

Signing authority

Documents for receiving and issuing money and valuables, credit and settlement obligations, and financial and other reports are signed by the head of the company or persons designated by the head (Article 13). The head approves two lists of persons with signing authority: the first includes persons with managerial functions, the second those performing accounting and financial management functions. If the head personally performs accounting functions, the head appears on both lists.

Documents without the signature of persons on these lists are considered invalid (Article 13).

An accountant's duties in practice

• receiving and checking source documents, whose mandatory details are set by Article 14 of the Law;
• posting transactions using the working chart of accounts (NAS No. 21) and keeping registers;
• taking part in inventory counts of assets and liabilities (Article 16);
• calculating and paying taxes, working with e-invoices (ESF) and digital signatures;
• calculating payroll and deductions;
• preparing financial statements (Article 22) and tax returns;
• taking part in internal control, the system of measures that ensures lawful and appropriate transactions, safekeeping of assets and prevention of theft and errors (Article 21).

Liability

Persons guilty of violating accounting legislation are liable in the established manner (Article 32). Those who prepared and signed source documents are responsible for their reliability and timeliness (Article 14), and the head of the company is responsible for the organisation of accounting as a whole (Article 11).