Responsibility for failure to conduct a statutory audit. Should we “forget” about mandatory audit? Why, by whom and when a statutory audit is carried out

Law No. ФЗ-307 "On Auditing Activities" approved a list of organizations whose activities are subject to mandatory audit. In the article, we will analyze what liability is provided for enterprises in case of violation of the order established by FZ-307, and also find out what fines for failure to conduct a mandatory audit are entitled to collect by the controlling authorities from violating organizations.

For which organizations a statutory audit is provided

The criteria by which a business entity must conduct a mandatory audit are fixed in Art. 5 FZ-307. According to the document, the activities of the following organizations are subject to mandatory verification:

• credit institutions, insurance firms, clearing companies, credit bureaus, investment fund management companies;
• organizations that, in accordance with clause 5 of clause 1 of article 5, are obliged to publish financial statements;
• companies with an annual revenue of more than 400 million rubles, as well as companies with an increase in assets of more than 60% compared to the previous year;
• participants in the securities market.

The procedure for conducting a statutory audit

As in the case of an audit initiated by a company, the basis for a mandatory audit is an agreement concluded between the audited organization (customer) and the audit firm (contractor).

In the text of the agreement, the parties reflect the direction of the audit (audit of financial statements, tax risks, etc.), indicate the program and schedule of control measures, and also fix the obligations for the auditors to provide an opinion in the prescribed form.

Penalties for failure to conduct a statutory audit

Organizations that, on the basis of Art. 5 ФЗ-307 imposed obligations to conduct an audit, in case of violation of the established requirements, they can be held liable in the form of a fine.

The penalties applied for the failure to conduct a statutory audit are approved in Art. 15.11 Administrative Code.

When the penalty is charged

Fines for failure to conduct a statutory audit can be charged on the following grounds:

1. The company did not attract auditors to conduct a mandatory audit... Imagine that the activity of a business entity meets the criteria established by Art. 5 FZ-307, but at the same time the organization did not engage independent auditors to conduct the audit (the contract was not concluded, the actual audit was not carried out). In this case, the organization is obliged to pay a fine for failure to conduct a statutory auditor.
2. There is no contract for the audit... Engaging auditors, the company must formalize civil law relations by concluding an agreement. If there is no written agreement with the audit firm, but the audit actually took place, then the conclusion on the results of the audit is invalidated, and the audit is considered not carried out.
3. Auditor's report not issued... The purpose of the statutory audit is to express the expert opinion of auditors on the reliability of financial statements, the correctness of accounting, the presence of tax risks, etc., which is drawn up in the form of an opinion. In the absence of a written auditor's report, the audit is considered not carried out, and the organization is deemed to have violated Art. 5 FZ-307.
4. Concealment of information about activities in order to avoid a statutory audit... Based on pp. 4 p. 1 of Art. 5 ФЗ-307, organizations with annual revenues of more than 40 million rubles are subject to mandatory verification. If an organization deliberately underestimated its financial indicators, and therefore the audit was not carried out due to the lack of grounds, then if a misstatement of the reporting is detected, the company is held liable for the failure to conduct a statutory audit.
5. The activity of a securities participant, other credit or insurance organization was checked by an individual auditor... In accordance with paragraph 3 of Art. 5 ФЗ-307, mandatory verification of an organization whose securities are admitted to trading, as well as insurance companies and credit organizations, is carried out exclusively by audit companies. If such organizations involve individual auditors in the audit, the audit is considered not carried out.
6. Checking is carried out less than once a year... On the basis of clause 5 of article 5 of FZ-307, organizations that are charged with an audit obligation on the basis of the law "On Auditing" are obliged to conduct such an audit once a year. If the audit is carried out less often than the specified period, then the organization is obliged to pay a fine for the periods during which the audit was not carried out.

Fine amount

Article 15.11 of the Administrative Code establishes the following penalties for failure to conduct a statutory audit:

In case of repeated violation of the organization of the norms established by Art. 5 ФЗ-307, responsible officials of the company can be disqualified for a period of one to two years. Disqualification means the suspension from certain positions and the prohibition to hold them within a specified period.

Fines for failure to provide an audit report to Rosstat

From 01.01.2014, organizations whose activities are subject to mandatory audit are required to submit duplicate audit reports to the territorial bodies of Rosstat. This obligation is enshrined in FZ-402 "On accounting".

The deadline for submitting an audit report to Rosstat is within 10 days from the date of issuance of the opinion by the auditors, but no later than December 31 of the year following the audited period.

Based on Art. 19.7 of the Administrative Code, in case of failure to provide an audit report to Rosstat, the following penalties may be applied to the organization:

• a fine in the amount of 300 rubles. up to RUB 500 levied from officials who have been found responsible for the violation;
• the amount of the fine is from 3.000 rubles. up to 5.000 rubles installed for legal entities-violators.

The above penalties are envisaged both in the event of a violation of the procedure for submitting an audit report to the statistics authorities (submission later than the established deadline, in violation of the regulations, etc.), and in a situation where the document is not submitted to Rosstat at all.

It should be noted that the collection by the regulatory authorities of a fine for failure to submit an audit report to Rosstat does not deprive the organization of its obligations to submit the document in the prescribed manner.

How much will it cost a company not to conduct a statutory audit? In this article, we will consider possible sanctions from the company's regulatory bodies for the lack of an audit report. The consequences of not conducting an audit (in addition to fines for the absence of an audit report) may affect the financial and economic activities of the company.

Let us analyze which regulatory authorities can fine a company for the lack of an audit report, which, in fact, means a failure to conduct a statutory audit.

Fines from the tax service

Responsibility that can be imputed by the tax authority for failure to submit documents within the prescribed period is provided for in clause 1 of article 126 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

So, the price of non-submission to the tax authorities of documents and (or) other information provided for by the Tax Code of the Russian Federation and other acts of legislation on taxes and fees is 200 rubles for each document not submitted (Clause 1, Article 126 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

According to Art. 6 of the Federal Law of 30.12.2008 No. 307-FZ "On Auditing" (hereinafter referred to as Law No. 307-FZ), an auditor's report is an official document intended for users of the accounting (financial) statements of audited entities, containing the established form of the opinion of the auditing organization, the individual auditor on the reliability of the accounting (financial) statements of the audited entity.

From the foregoing it follows that the auditor's report is not a document serving as the basis for calculating and paying (withholding and transferring) taxes, fees, as well as a document confirming the correctness of the calculation and timeliness of payment (withholding and transferring) taxes, fees, and, therefore, the tax authority has no reason to impose a fine under clause 1 of Article 126 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation for failure to submit it. This position is shared by the arbitration courts (resolution of the Eleventh Arbitration Court of Appeal dated March 24, 2016 No. A55-24924 / 2015).

In addition, the auditor's report is no longer included in the annual accounting (financial) statements (clause 1 of article 14 of the Law of 06.12.2011, No. 402-FZ "On accounting") submitted to the tax authorities, and therefore the tax authorities does not have the right to fine the company (letters of the Federal Tax Service of the Russian Federation in Moscow dated March 31, 2014 No. 13-11 / 030545, dated January 20, 2014 No. 16-15 / 003855, Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation dated January 30, 2013 No. 03-02 -07/1/1724).

Important!

On April 10, 2016, amendments to article 15.11 of the Administrative Code entered into force, which provides for fines for gross violation of accounting and reporting rules, including for the absence of an auditor's report on accounting (financial) statements (if the audit accounting (financial) reporting is mandatory).

The amount of fines provided for by the updated version of article 15.11 of the Code of Administrative Offenses is:

from 5 thousand rubles to 10 thousand rubles (for officials);

in case of repeated violation - up to 20 thousand rubles (for officials) or disqualification of an official for a period of 1 to 2 years.

In this case, the limitation period for bringing to administrative responsibility is 2 years from the date of committing such an offense.

Who can initiate the imposition of such a fine?

Officials are authorized to draw up protocols on administrative offenses:

tax authorities (subparagraph 5 of paragraph 2 of article 28.3 of the Administrative Code);

executive authorities exercising control and supervision functions in the financial and budgetary sphere (subparagraph 11 of paragraph 2 of article 28.3 of the Administrative Code);

Of the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation and the control and accounting bodies of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation (subparagraph 3 of paragraph 5 of article 28.3 of the Administrative Code).

Fines from ROSSTAT

For failure to submit an audit report to the set of financial statements submitted to Rosstat (in the case of a statutory audit), the organization and its official may face an administrative fine (Article 19.7 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation):

• from 300 to 500 rubles (for officials);
• from 3 thousand to 5 thousand rubles (for legal entities).

At the same time, the imposition of a fine does not relieve the organization from the obligation to submit an audit report to the statistics authorities (clause 4 of article 4.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation).

Fines from the Bank of Russia

The most serious sanctions can be imposed by the Bank of Russia.

A public JSC is obliged to disclose its annual report and annual accounting (financial) statements (Article 92 of the Federal Law dated December 26, 1995 No. 208-FZ "On Joint Stock Companies", hereinafter referred to as Law No. 208-FZ).

Requirements for the content of the annual report of joint stock companies are established in the Regulation on the disclosure of information by issuers of equity securities, approved. The Bank of the Russian Federation dated 30.12.2014 No. 454-P (hereinafter referred to as the Regulation).

The annual accounting (financial) statements of a JSC subject to statutory audit are disclosed by publishing its text on the Internet page no later than three days from the date of the auditor's report, expressing in the prescribed form the opinion of the audit organization on its reliability (clause 71.4 of the Regulations). Recall that a mandatory audit is carried out in cases where the company has the legal form of JSC (Clause 1, Clause 1, Article 5 of the Federal Law of December 30, 2008, No. 307-FZ "On Auditing Activities").

The absence of information to be disclosed in accordance with this Regulation, without sufficient grounds for that, is the basis for bringing the issuer to responsibility, as well as for establishing restrictions on the circulation of securities in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation (clause 2.13 of the Regulation).

Administrative responsibility for this violation is provided for in paragraph 2 of Art. 15.19 of the Administrative Code.

So, the disclosure of information is not in full (the financial statements must be disclosed together with the auditor's report), and (or) inaccurate information, and (or) misleading information entails the imposition of an administrative fine:

• from 30 thousand rubles to 50 thousand rubles (for officials) or their disqualification for a period of 1 to 2 years;
• from 700 thousand rubles to 1 million rubles (for legal entities).

Important!

In the presence of exceptional circumstances related to the nature of the committed administrative offense and its consequences, the amount of the minimum fine may be reduced by the court. For example, for not posting the audit report on the website in the information and telecommunication network "Internet", the court reduced the fine to 350 thousand rubles (Resolution of the CA of the North-Western District of 02/10/2016 No. A56-30455 / 2015, the RF Constitutional Court of February 25 .2014, No. 4-P).

Many companies are faced with the need to conduct. Organizations obliged to conduct an audit are defined by law. Scheduled audits of financial documents must be carried out regularly, starting from certain deadlines.

Dates of OA

Sometimes managers replace the concepts of accounting and tax reporting with audit documents. There should be an audit report during a mandatory check, but it does not always coincide with the submission of declarations. The documents are submitted to the tax office separately from the audit reports. The frequency of submission of financial statements is as follows:

• Quarterly, no later than 30 days from the end of the reporting period
• Annual reporting, no later than 90 days after the end of the year.

The law determines the frequency of the statutory audit. Federal Law No. 307 in Art. 5 h. 2 indicates that OA is held annually. At the same time, there are no statements about specific dates. At the same time, Federal Law No. 129 concerning accounting says that the auditor's report must be submitted simultaneously with the annual financial statements.

On the basis of the auditors' report, the accuracy of the accounting documentation submitted to the tax authority is established, therefore on July 25, 2007, the FAS Resolution appeared on the 90-day deadline for submission of the OA opinion. It should be assumed that, in accordance with these laws and regulations, the auditor's report is submitted to the IFTS simultaneously with the accounting statements.

In December 2011, a new law “On accounting” No. 402 was issued, and on 23 May 2016 it was revised. Federal Law No. 251 of July 23, 2013 obliged to submit these documents together, but amendments to Form 402 of 2016 canceled the mandatory submission of reports and opinions. According to these data, the conclusion is submitted either together with the accounting statements, or no later than 10 days after the audit.

Responsibility for failure to conduct a statutory audit

Companies that are legally required to conduct an audit cannot refuse to be audited. They must carry out it regardless of their desire. For refusal, penalties may be imposed. Their value varies depending on the organizational and legal form of the company, as well as on the frequency of the violation.

Repeated refusal or violation of the terms for submission of the audit report entails an increase in the amount of fines.

According to Art. 15.11 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, primary and secondary fines differ in half:

• The first violation - 5-10 thousand rubles for officials
• Repeated up to 20 thousand.

In this case, a repeated violation may entail not only a fine, but also disqualification for a period of 1 to 2 years. This is just one part of the liability for OA considered as an accounting violation. In addition, the auditor's report is submitted to other government agencies.

Sanctions for violations

For refusal to conduct OA, administrative responsibility is also implied. Also, do not forget that a compulsory check of financial documents can be carried out by a court decision.

Violation of the deadline for submission also entails penalties. The least formidable sums in case of delay in submitting data to the tax and Rosstat.

• In the first case the fine is 200 rubles,
• in the second- up to 500 r. for officials and from 3 to 5 thousand rubles for legal entities.

If an audit report is not submitted to the Bank of Russia, which is mandatory for joint-stock companies, then the fines can be very large. Administrative responsibility is provided for by Art. 15.19 of the Administrative Code, clause 2:

1. Legal entity- from 700 thousand rubles to 1 million.
2. Officials- from 30 to 50 thousand rubles or disqualification up to 2 years.

It is worth knowing that incorrectly filed documents, incomplete financial statements or an audit report issued by an unlicensed auditing organization also entails administrative responsibility. Therefore, you need to carefully choose a company for the audit and comply with the deadlines for submitting all reports.

The responsibility of economic entities for evading a statutory audit is also discussed in this video:

Gross violation of accounting and reporting requirements (Article 15.11 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation)

A gross violation of the requirements for accounting and reporting, among other things, means the absence of an auditor's report on the accounting (financial) statements (if the audit of the accounting (financial) statements is mandatory).

The fines provided for in Art. 15.11 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation: an administrative fine for officials - from 5,000 to 10,000 rubles, and in case of a repeated violation - up to 20,000 rubles. or disqualification.

At the same time, the limitation period for bringing to administrative responsibility was increased to 2 years from the date of committing an administrative offense.

Failure to provide an audit report to Rosstat (Article 19.7 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation)

Failure to submit or untimely submission of information (information), the submission of which is provided for by law, or the submission of such information (information) in an incomplete volume or in a distorted form contains the composition of an administrative offense under Art. 19.7 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Offenses. Rosstat for failure to provide an audit report may impose an administrative fine:

For citizens in the amount of 100 to 300 rubles;

For officials - from 300 to 500 rubles;

For legal entities - from 3000 to 5000 rubles.

Wherein the appointment of an administrative penalty does not relieve a person from the fulfillment of the obligation, for failure to comply with which an administrative penalty was imposed (part 4 of article 4.1 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation). Thus, the legal entity must submit an audit opinion to the statistical authorities.

Liability of joint-stock companies and organizations that publish financial statements

Failure to submit an audit report at the request of a shareholder

In accordance with paragraph 2 of Article 15.23.1 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation failure to submit an audit report at the request of a shareholder shall entail the imposition of a fine on officials - from 20,000 to 30,000 rubles, on legal entities - from 500,000 to 700,000 rubles.

Failure to comply with legislation on disclosure and provision of information in financial markets (Article 15.19 of the Administrative Code)

As for joint stock companies and other organizations that publish their reports in accordance with the requirements of the legislation on the securities market, such accounting (financial) statements must be published together with the auditor's report!

Failure to comply with the legislation on disclosure of information in relation to joint-stock companies that publish their accounting (financial) statements and the auditor's report thereon, entails the imposition of administrative fines under Art. 15.19 of the Administrative Code in the amount of 500,000 to 700,000 rubles.

The Bank of Russia may impose sanctions in the form of imposing an administrative fine on officials in the amount of 30,000 to 50,000 rubles or disqualification for a period of one to two years, and on legal entities - from 700,000 to 1,000,000 rubles, if the joint-stock company is not exempted from the performance of the obligation on the disclosure and provision of information stipulated by the legislation of the Russian Federation on securities, or if the court does not mitigate the punishment and does not reduce the minimum limit of the fine.

Violation of mandatory audit requirements by political parties (Article 5.68 of the Administrative Code)

The head of a political party can be brought to administrative responsibility. In this case, the administrative fine can range from 50,000 to 100,000 rubles. A political party can be fined from 500,000 to 1,000,000 rubles.

Administrative liability arises in the event of failure to comply with the requirements for a mandatory audit of the annual accounting (financial) statements and the consolidated financial report of a political party, as well as violation of the deadlines for the mandatory audit of submitting a copy of the audit report to the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation.

How to avoid liability for non-audit?

The cost of conducting a statutory audit in most cases is significantly less than administrative fines. In addition, passing an audit in our company, you will receive not only an audit opinion, but also a report on the identified risks, which can be prevented in a timely manner and you can significantly protect your company and avoid serious consequences.

The Central Bank of the Russian Federation (Bank of Russia), Rosstat, the Tax Inspectorate, the Central Election Commission, as well as the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation can bring an organization to administrative responsibility for failure to conduct a statutory audit or violation of the deadlines.