Correct bookkeeping is the key to victory in court

Having become acquainted with the judicial practice of civil cases of clients of the law firm KORGAN, the results of which revealed errors made by clients in the preparation of accounting and financial documents. The purpose of this generalization is to draw the attention of customers to the mistakes made by employees of enterprises and to prevent future losses for the organization.

When one of the parties applies to the court for the enforcement of the amount of debt, the court bases its conclusions on the basis of the evidence presented by the parties in the case, and as judicial practice shows, in this category of cases it is such that the economic court of one region can take into account the evidence of one party , and the court of another area, similar evidence may be ignored and not taken into account. The main evidence for this category of cases are primary accounting documents, properly executed.

Thus, the primary accounting documents are often the following:

• invoice;
• act of work performed (services rendered);
• invoice.

The Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On Accounting and Financial Reporting” states that accounting documentation includes primary documents, accounting registers, financial statements and accounting policies.

Accounting records are made on the basis of primary documents.

Order of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated March 31, 2015 No. 241 approved the Rules for maintaining accounting records.

Paragraph 2 of the Accounting Rules regulates the procedure for compiling primary accounting documents.

Timely and high-quality execution of primary documents, their transfer within the established time limits for reflection in accounting, as well as the reliability of the data contained in them, is ensured by the persons who compiled and signed these documents.

To formalize the right of a person to act on behalf of the subject upon receipt of assets, a power of attorney is used, the form of which was approved by the order of the Minister of Finance of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated December 20, 2012 No. 562 “On approval of forms of primary accounting documents” (registered in the Register of State Registration of Regulatory Legal Acts under No. 8265 ) (hereinafter – Order 562). Powers of attorney are issued to persons with whom a written agreement has been concluded on full liability for the storage of money and assets. The power of attorney is signed by the management of the subject and certified by a seal. Individual entrepreneurs certify with a seal if it is available.

In the context of the foregoing and reinforcing everything with practical experience, we strongly recommend:

• When sending primary accounting documents for signing, also send a free-form cover letter with the following content: “We are sending primary accounting documents to your address for signing, in case of refusal to sign, please give a written reasoned answer ….” this cover letter must be made in 2 (two) copies;
• Categorically refuse to transfer the goods if: upon receipt of the goods, the buyer presents a power of attorney to receive the goods, but the person authorized by the power of attorney does not correspond to the person who presents the power of attorney, along with the power of attorney, it is necessary to request an identity document (copies) both for the power of attorney and and upon receipt of the goods;
• Not signing the invoice or signing by a person not authorized by a power of attorney, in which case the goods may be considered not transferred to the proper person.