Dismissal of the chief accountant at his own request is a work-off. Dismissal of the chief accountant from his position

If you carefully study the norms of the labor legislation of the Russian Federation, it will become clear that there are no special rules for the dismissal of chief accountants of a company. The general scheme for all employees is established by Article 80 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation. If the dismissal of the head of the accounting service is initiated by himself, the regulations will be as follows:

• The chief accountant informs the manager of his desire to resign.
• an official statement is registered 2 weeks before dismissal
• during compulsory service, the person leaving the job surrenders his cases
• on the last day of work, the chief accountant receives the calculation and documents

Could something change this standard regulation, for example, the reluctance of management to part with a good specialist?

Forced labor is prohibited, therefore, no one can force the chief accountant to work beyond the required 14 days required to transfer cases. Any obstacle to terminating the employment relationship will be illegal. These include the following actions:

• refusal to register a resignation letter on the current date
• no dismissal order until the last day
• deduction of full payment upon dismissal
• not issuing a work book on the last working day

All these cases are a gross violation of the labor code and can subject the manager to administrative and criminal liability. If you want to risk your freedom and reputation, you can try to keep the chief accountant on the staff of the company without his voluntary consent.

When the chief accountant’s work is not needed

There are reasons why even the chief accountant may not work the required 14 days:

• upcoming training of a specialist at a university
• approaching retirement date
• transfer of spouse to work in another country
• moving to a new place of residence if necessary
• probationary work

If you have one of these reasons for dismissal, you will not have to work off. According to the requirements of Article 80 of the code and paragraph 22b of the Resolution of the Plenum of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation No. 2 (approved on March 17, 2004), the manager is obliged to fire you on the day that you yourself indicated in the application.

PLEASE NOTE: the probationary period of the chief accountant can be up to 6 months, which means that during this period the specialist can quit without working.

Dismissal of the chief accountant with completion of work

The work is regulated by the Labor Code of the Russian Federation in order to protect the interests of the employer. How else can the manager organize the transfer of affairs and protect the company if the chief accountant leaves. A period of 14 days is not always enough to submit cases when it comes to managers of this level. By agreement of the parties, the working period may be extended. But you need to format it like this:

• reach an agreement on the date of dismissal of the chief accountant
• if the period is more than 2 weeks, do not apply immediately
• submit an application for dismissal 14 days before its date
• receive payment on the day specified in the application

All these terms can be specified in a special agreement or employment contract, the main thing is that they do not contradict the Labor Code, since working periods of more than 14 days are prohibited by law.

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The chief accountant reports directly to the head of the company. He is responsible for the creation and maintenance of accounting records, as well as for the timely submission of reports. It is not advisable for the company’s management to dismiss a person from this position until all the organization’s debts have been cleared. In addition, it makes sense to appoint an independent audit of the state of reporting. In the current material we will figure out how to do it correctly.

The procedure directly depends on the reason for the dismissal of the chief accountant. We will analyze each of them separately.

Dismissal of the chief accountant at his own request

In this situation, they are guided by the dismissal procedure under Article 80 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

Stages of the dismissal procedure:

1. 14 days (or more, for example, 20, 40 days, etc.) before dismissal, a statement is sent to the employer in which the employee asks to be relieved of his position.
2. The application is registered by the secretary of the organization and sent to the employer.
3. The employer issues an order to dismiss the employee from the date specified in the application, as well as an order according to which the chief accountant is obliged to transfer the affairs to another person. The order prescribes the procedure for transferring cases and submitting the necessary reports, including to whom the cases will be transferred.
4. The chief accountant hands over the documents.
5. After the reception of cases by the responsible person is completed, on the last day of work all financial calculations are made and a work book is issued.

The manager does not have the right to prevent an employee from leaving, for example, under the pretext of submitting a report or preparing an annual plan. Within a two-week period, authority is transferred to the new employee.

Retirement

The employer should remember that a chief accountant who has reached retirement age can terminate the employment contract without a mandatory two-week period of work. In practice, this means that the financial activities of an organization may at any time be left without vital accounting support.

But it is worth noting that a citizen can submit an application for retirement due to retirement age only once. This means that if a pensioner has already quit one job on this basis, then when leaving again he cannot indicate the same reason.

Dismissal of the chief accountant at the initiative of the employer

Why can you fire a chief accountant?:

1. The ownership right to the property of the organization passes to another person (4 paragraph 81 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). In this situation, the new owner has the right to terminate the employment contract with the chief accountant only within three months from the date of transfer of ownership. The dismissed person is paid mandatory compensation, which is equal to three average monthly wages.
2. Dismissal of the chief accountant under clause 5 of Art. 81 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation is not a one-time failure to fulfill labor obligations without good reason in the presence of disciplinary sanctions. When the chief accountant has many disciplinary sanctions (reprimands), then his dismissal will not be a problem.
3. Dismissal of the chief accountant under clause 9 of Art. 81 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation - the adoption of an unfounded decision, which entailed a violation of the integrity and safety of property, its unlawful use or other damage to the enterprise. When an employer wants to fire the chief accountant under Art. 81 clause 9, he must prove the guilt of the chief accountant, argue for the unfounded decision made by him, which led to quite unpleasant consequences. Otherwise, the dismissed employee has every right to go to court and challenge the wording of the dismissal. As a result, the company may have to reinstate the former employee and pay compensation for forced absence.
4. Liquidation of an enterprise or termination of activities by an individual entrepreneur.
5. Reduction of staff of an organization or individual entrepreneur. In general cases, dismissal of the chief accountant due to staff reduction is impossible. There will always be a need for an employee who can take everything into account and calculate taxes. But there are cases when in small organizations the manager undertakes to keep records, then the chief accountant can really be dismissed from the organization.
6. Inadequacy for the position held due to insufficient qualifications, which is confirmed by the results of a completed certification at the company.
7. Change of organization name by the owner.
8. Submitting false documents to management when signing an employment agreement.
9. Disclosure of secrets protected by law (commercial, state, official), which became known to an employee during the performance of labor obligations, as well as disclosure of personal data of the organization’s workers. But in this case, the manager should correctly assess the current situation. The current legislation states that a trade secret is definitely not information that may be contained in the constituent documents of a legal entity, documents on the solvency of an organization, tax reporting (report of losses, profits), and therefore the transfer of such information to someone should not be considered as disclosure of commercial secrets.
10. One-time gross violation of labor obligations by the chief accountant:

• absenteeism during the entire working day, absence from work for more than four hours in a row during the working day, without good reason;
• committing theft of someone else's property at the place of work, its intentional destruction, damage, waste, which is established by a court verdict or a judge's ruling that has entered into legal force;
• violation of labor protection regulations in a situation where it entailed serious consequences or created a threat of their occurrence;
• the commission of guilty actions by an employee who services monetary or commodity valuables, if they become the basis for a rapid loss of trust on the part of the employer;
• the employee commits an immoral offense while performing an educational function;

It is worth noting an important point that the new owner has every right to terminate the employment agreement with the chief accountant within 3 months, starting from the moment ownership rights are transferred to him (Article 75 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).

Also, the chief accountant can be dismissed (Article 76 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation) if:

• he showed up for work in a state of drug, alcohol or toxic intoxication;
• an employee of the organization received a medical certificate stating that this work is contraindicated for him;
• according to the requirements of government officials.

Main stages of dismissal:

1. If an employee violates official duties, appears in a state of intoxication at the workplace, or for other reasons, an internal investigation is conducted by a commission formed by the employer. An act confirming the employee’s guilt is being prepared.
2. A dismissal order is issued on a date chosen by the employer.
3. The employee gets acquainted with the order, is given a work book and the necessary calculations are made.

By agreement of the parties

Dismissal procedure:

1. The employer and the chief accountant discuss together the conditions and procedure for dismissal, sign an additional agreement in which the agreed conditions will be fixed and must be fulfilled during the dismissal process;
2. The parties perform their duties in accordance with the agreement, after which the employee leaves work in accordance with the order.

Once an agreement is reached, it is advisable to record the results on paper in the form of a document. It must indicate:

• the subject of the agreement;
• date of dismissal;
• the conditions under which the procedure will be performed;
• possible consequences of violating the agreement.

The document is maintained in free form. Its presence is not necessary, however, it will help to understand if any aspects of the agreement are violated by one of the parties.

Sample agreement to terminate an employment contract.

Due to unforeseen circumstances

Employer's procedure:

1. Regardless of the circumstances that the parties to the employment contract could not foresee, the employer issues an order to dismiss the employee, referring to these circumstances;
2. After the order is issued, the employee is subject to dismissal.

How to fire a chief accountant during reorganization in the form of affiliation

This procedure cannot yet serve as a reason to terminate the employment agreement with the employee. If the new staffing table contains a specialist position, then the manager does not have the right to fire him. In the event that the reorganization involves changes to the employment contract, the accountant is notified of this in writing. If he accepts the new conditions, then he continues to perform his official duties.

In order not to complicate the current situation, they are trying to resolve all disagreements through negotiations.

How to fire a chief accountant in a budget organization

In accordance with the resolution of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation, the decision to dismiss the chief accountant of any budgetary enterprise must be agreed upon with the local State Treasury institution. A specialist can resign at will or due to reaching retirement age. The head of the company is obliged to prepare all the required documents requested by the state treasury service. Upon dismissal, the accountant’s qualifications are taken into account and a professional assessment of his activities is given.

Is it possible to fire a chief accountant for loss of trust?

As a rule, the majority of accountants are deprived of their powers due to lack of trust. Nevertheless, this cannot be done without compelling reasons. Firstly, the manager is obliged to provide evidence of theft of the company's property or deliberate waste of material resources. For this purpose, you must contact the police. Please note that you can only rely on proven actions of an accountant, and not on indirect suspicions. The owner of an enterprise does not have the right to fire a specialist when he is on sick leave, on vacation or during pregnancy. In a situation where a failure to fulfill job duties has been discovered, the manager usually requires explanations in writing, and if he receives a refusal, he draws up an appropriate order.

Before dismissing a chief accountant for lack of confidence, the employer must levy a disciplinary fine within 30 days after the misconduct was discovered. In this case, the employee is not only fired, but additional sanctions are applied to him. For example, he is not paid unemployment benefits for the first three months after leaving the company, and may be prohibited from holding a leadership position for a specific period of time.

How long must the chief accountant work upon dismissal?

Many managers are concerned about the question of how long the chief accountant should work, because it often takes more than 2 weeks to put all accounting matters in order. In order to oblige the chief accountant to work 3, 4 weeks or more before dismissal, some managers include a mandatory provision in the employment contract regarding this. However, this condition is completely illegal. No matter how much current work and reporting needs to be completed, the accountant has the right to resign two weeks after warning the employer. How to put things in order is only the employer’s problem.

Valid reasons for leaving without work

You can partially try to protect yourself with the help of your subordinates, because the position of chief accountant most often implies the presence of several more accountants in the company. Each of them is responsible for their own area of ​​work, and, if these employees are loyal, you can try to sign with each of them your own copy of the act on the integrity of documents for the current and previous periods.

If the enterprise is large enough and has an archival service in its structure, then it is best to hand over the papers to the archivist. In any case, it is better to spend the two-week warning period for the chief accountant to check and put all the files in order, even if there is no one to hand them over to.

Unlike the retiring manager, it will be difficult for the chief accountant to transfer the archive for storage to a third-party organization or take the documents with him for self-storage.

Intentional harm and liability

Intentional sabotage in the form of destruction of any papers on the part of management is unlikely, because responsibility for the accurate reflection of accounting information and administrative liability for its violation extends to the director to the same extent. The norms of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation talk about the responsibility of the taxpayer (you need to understand - enterprises), and the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation talk about the responsibility of officials (that is, both the manager and the chief accountant). So in this sense, the director and chief accountant are “in the same team” and the management will not harm the departed specialist in this way.

The transfer of cases

Not a single regulatory act defines the acceptance and transfer procedure, therefore the employer has the right to introduce it into the local regulations of the enterprise, introduce it into job descriptions. In addition, in the employment contract concluded upon hiring, it is necessary to specify the conditions for the procedure.

The manager for implementing the procedure must have the following at his disposal:

• the basis on which the need for the transfer arose;
• timing and preparation of the act;
• personal data of the chief accountant and the person accepting the case;
• composition of the commission, official data of its members.

In the transfer and acceptance certificate, it is necessary to indicate the state of the accounting documentation, the content of which is cash flow, cash reports at the point in time corresponding to the day the application was written.

It is drawn up in any form, signed by the parties, and sealed. It contains the date of compilation.

Rules for drawing up a transfer deed

The act should contain a reflection of all accounting documents accepted by the new employee and violations, if any, were discovered during reconciliation. It is signed by both parties: the new and former employee.

The act displays the following information:

1. Start date for document acceptance.
2. Company details and name.
3. All data on documents: from whom and where material assets were received or sent.
4. If there are shortcomings in accounting or tax accounting, they must be noted in the transfer deed.

If an independent audit company was involved in the work, then information about it is included in the transfer act.

The transfer act must include:

• verification data of the certificate of registration in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities;
• supporting documentation on the registration of the enterprise with the Pension Fund and the Employment Fund, with the Insurance Company for the provision of free medical policies, etc.;
• all data on payroll payments to employees;
• about the company's assets and deposits.

The act itself is drawn up in two versions: for the previous and new employee or the management of the organization.

Order

When terminating an employment relationship, the procedure by which cases are transferred must be observed. The resigning chief accountant is required to hand over documentation, which includes balance sheet and cash reports, documents for structural divisions, bank documents, and a seal.

Moreover, the general state of accounting at the enterprise and the state of:

• cash register and cash accounting;
• settlements with counterparties, where the company acts as a debtor and creditor;
• accounting of fixed assets;
• settlements with budgets of all levels regarding taxes, fees and other obligatory payments;
• material accounting based on the results of the inventory of material assets, reconciliation of accounting data with the data of financially responsible persons;
• acceptance of current and archival accounting documents for five years.

Any enterprise is obliged to preserve primary accounting documents, accounting registers and financial statements in accordance with the instructions of the law for a period that is determined in proportion to the rules for organizing state archival affairs, but not more than five years.

Rights of employee and employer

If the chief accountant has expressed his readiness to terminate the employment contract of his own free will, then the employer must sign his statement, indicating in it that the transfer of affairs has been completed. Termination of employment at one's own request is a right of the employee.

Untimely organization of the transfer of cases cannot serve as a basis for delaying the dismissal of an employee. He has the right not to go to work upon completion of the notice period, even if the employer could not find another person to replace him.

If the position of chief accountant at an enterprise was held by a person who, due to retirement, wrote a letter of resignation of his own free will, then the reason for termination of the employment contract is considered valid. Upon dismissal of a pensioner, the duration of the total length of service is retained, which is taken into account when recalculating pension benefits.

The employer has the right to cancel the employment contract unilaterally upon expiration of the notice period, despite the following circumstances:

• The employee is currently on sick leave due to temporary work ability. The allotted period of two weeks does not apply during the employee’s illness;
• he is absent from the workplace for any reason, including a valid one.

An employee, regardless of his position, has the right to withdraw his application at any time. However, if another person is not invited to take his place in writing, then dismissal is not carried out. However, if the invitation has been sent, then, in accordance with the instructions of the Labor Code and federal laws relating to the regulation of labor relations, the employer is deprived of the opportunity to refuse to conclude an employment contract.

Consequences

If the chief accountant committed offenses in the performance of his duties, he bears administrative liability, including criminal liability. As for financial liability, he is obliged to compensate for the damage caused to the enterprise. For example, if taxes were not paid on time, and therefore a fine was imposed on the enterprise, then it is obliged to pay the fine and accrued penalties.

The current labor code provides for compensation for direct damage confirmed by facts, and regarding lost income it is noted that lost profits are not subject to recovery.

What will you have to answer for after leaving?

As in the case of the former manager, the dismissal of the chief accountant will not be a reason to forget about everything and erase the period of work in the company from life. At least for the next few years. Here is a non-exhaustive list of the most common reasons:

Even if facts of violations or economic crimes were discovered at the enterprise after the departure of the chief accountant, he can be held accountable only if there is intent or direct guilt of the dismissed person.

Employer's liability

Quite often, the departure of such an important employee as the chief accountant is extremely unpleasant for the employer. Due to the reluctance to lose a valuable employee and waste time searching for a new one, an employer can create situations that prevent dismissal. For example:

• the employer refuses to accept the resignation letter from the chief accountant. In this case, you should prepare the document in two copies and send it to the employer through the secretary. In this case, it is necessary to ensure that the receipt of paper is recorded in the incoming correspondence log. One of the copies with a mark on the date and time of receipt of the application must remain in the hands of the employee. The period until departure will be counted from the date indicated in the document. The application can also be sent to the employer by registered mail with acknowledgment of receipt. In this case, the date of dismissal begins to count from the date of receipt of the correspondence indicated on the returned notice;
• If the employer was unable to find a new employee, he has no right to keep the resigning accountant at work. In this case, the chief accountant must transfer matters to the head of the organization. Let us note that labor legislation does not generally impose on the accountant the obligation to transfer affairs to the successor;
• if the employer does not want to return the work book to the employee on the day of departure, you should know: such actions are unlawful and are grounds for filing a complaint with the labor inspectorate or court.

Audit as a way to reconcile the parties

It is unlikely that the chief accountant will suddenly decide to resign of his own free will. The brief and streamlined formulation often hides the idea of ​​changing jobs that has been mulled over for weeks or months, as well as accumulated mutual dissatisfaction with management. In this case, it may be acceptable for both parties to conduct an audit of the enterprise’s activities over the past few years.

Firstly, auditors will perform a complete review of all documentation instead of a selective one, which is practiced during the standard transfer of cases between accountants. Secondly, if deficiencies are detected, the company will be given recommendations on correcting them or restoring missing papers. Thirdly, under an agreement with the audit company, responsibility for all detected violations of tax or other legislation during the audited period will be assigned to the involved auditors.

Results

As a rule, the chief accountant is the second most important person in the organization after the manager. In many ways, the financial well-being of a company depends precisely on its actions, knowledge and experience in the field of accounting. Removing a person from this position involves several challenges, which include finding a new competent employee, reviewing the current position of the firm and transferring authority. At the same time, the chief accountant bears the burden of higher responsibility to management for his work.

and other nuances of this procedure require careful and strict adherence to legal norms. The procedure for dismissing the chief accountant on his own initiative, as well as options for resolving some controversial situations, will be discussed in our article.

The procedure for dismissing the chief accountant at his own request in 2015-2016

Current legislation does not provide for a separate procedure for terminating the employment relationship with an organization by the chief accountant. Meanwhile, this responsible position requires strict compliance with legislative norms upon dismissal, as well as the performance of certain actions that ordinary employees may neglect.

According to the Labor Code of the Russian Federation (Article 80), the general scheme for dismissing the chief accountant on his own initiative looks like this:

1. Notifying the employer of your intention to terminate the employment contract by submitting a letter of resignation within the time frame specified by the Labor Code (i.e. 2 weeks before dismissal).
2. Working the required time until the termination of the employment contract.
3. The transfer of cases.
4. Obtaining a work book, other work-related documentation, and payments due to the employee.

Dismissal of the chief accountant at his own request and work off

In everyday communication, there is an opinion that after submitting a letter of resignation on his own initiative, an employee must work for 2 weeks. However, the legislative norms on this issue have a completely different meaning.

According to Art. 80 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, an employee is obliged to submit an application for termination of employment relations with the employer no later than 2 weeks before the desired date of termination of the employment contract. That is, we are not talking about working out, but about warning management in advance about their intentions. Therefore, it is logical that the employee who has declared his desire continues to perform his job duties for some time. Thus, the employee’s duty in this case is to notify of dismissal 14 days in advance. The employer has the right to dismiss him before the expiration of the 2-week period (by agreement with the employee).

However, there are several exceptions to this rule:

1. If dismissal is due to the impracticability of continuing employment:
   • in connection with admission to an educational institution,
   • retirement
   • transfer of a spouse to work abroad or a new duty station,
   • other valid reasons,

   the employer is obliged to dismiss the employee on the day specified by him in the application (Article 80 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, paragraph 22 “b” of the resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated March 17, 2004 No. 2).

2. If an employee wishes to resign during the probationary period, then the period for which the employer must be notified is reduced to 3 days (Article 71 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). Since the probationary period for the chief accountant is quite long and amounts to six months (Article 70 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation), this exception may be relevant.

   The countdown of the time for which it is necessary to notify the company's management about dismissal begins on the day following the management's receipt of the corresponding application from the employee.

Transfer of cases upon dismissal

The work of the chief accountant is accompanied by a large amount of important documentation, which should be handed over upon dismissal. It should be noted that the legislation does not impose an obligation to hand over files upon termination of employment relations to chief accountants, however, it is advisable to carry out such a procedure in the interests, first of all, of the resigning specialist in order to subsequently avoid unfounded claims. Each organization must develop the procedure for transferring documentation independently, installing the most convenient system. It is only necessary to take into account that the acceptance and transfer of cases must occur before the leaving chief accountant leaves the organization.

The delivery of documentation should be completed with an acceptance certificate, which must be drawn up in a number of copies equal to the number of interested parties (for example, one copy for the departing chief accountant, a new employee and the organization’s reporting). It is necessary to transfer all documents for the maintenance of which the chief accountant is responsible. Moreover, this applies to documents for a period of at least 5 years, since this is how long accounting documentation should be stored in an organization (Article 29 of the Federal Law “On Accounting” dated December 6, 2011 No. 402-FZ).

The procedure for handing over files to the chief accountant upon dismissal may also be accompanied by an inventory if:

• this procedure is established by the employer (clause 3 of article 11 of law No. 402-FZ);
• The chief accountant is the financially responsible person (Article 243 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).

Responsibility of the chief accountant after dismissal

Even after leaving the organization, the chief accountant may be held accountable by the previous management or the state. Responsibility can be either material, administrative or criminal.

1. Financial liability for the chief accountant may arise if:
   • they committed an unlawful act or omission;
   • there is a causal connection between the action/inaction of the chief accountant and the material damage caused to the employer;
   • the chief accountant is guilty of committing an unlawful offense (Article 233 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).

   To bring a former employee to justice, the employer can go to court within a year from the moment the loss was discovered (Article 392 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).

2. A retired chief accountant is not insured against administrative liability. So, he can be involved (Chapter 15 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation) to it:
   • for violation of procedures for conducting cash transactions and handling cash;
   • failure to comply with deadlines for submitting tax reports;
   • serious violation of accounting and financial reporting procedures;
   • other administrative offenses related to improper performance of official duties.
3. Despite the fact that criminal legislation contains a number of crimes that imply liability of the chief accountant (Articles 199, 199.1, 199.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), it is quite difficult to bring the resigned chief accountant to justice in this case. This is due primarily to the fact that the legislator assigns it to the official, but an employee who has left the organization is no longer an official of the former employer. It is precisely in this case that an act of acceptance and transfer of affairs can come to the rescue, delineating the responsibilities of the previous and new employees.

Dismissal of the chief accountant at his own request and way out of difficult situations associated with this

The dismissal of such an important employee as the chief accountant may be associated with some inconvenience for the employer, so sometimes the manager artificially creates situations that prevent the employee from leaving. Let's give some tips on how to get out of a difficult situation.

1. If the manager avoids the employee or directly refuses to accept the resignation letter, it is necessary to prepare the document in 2 copies and submit it officially through the office of the organization or the director’s secretary. One of the copies marked with the date and time of acceptance of the application must remain with the employee. The period until dismissal will be counted from the date indicated in the document. The second option for delivering a statement of termination of employment to the company to management is an official letter of notification. In this case, the date of dismissal begins to count from the date of receipt of the correspondence indicated on the returned notice.
2. If there is no replacement for the chief accountant in due time and there is no one to transfer the affairs to, then the affairs can be transferred to the director as the head of the organization. In addition, it should be remembered that the legislation does not contain an obligation to transfer cases, so from the agreed date you can simply not go to work anymore. If there is a properly submitted application for termination of employment in the company, the employee is considered dismissed after 2 weeks.
3. If the employer refuses to hand over the work book, then he should be reminded that issuing the work book to the employee on the last day of work is the employer’s responsibility, and unlawful retention of the document is grounds for filing a complaint with the labor inspectorate or court.

Thus, the legally established procedure for dismissing a chief accountant on his own initiative is no different from the procedure for dismissing any other employee. Dismissal from the named position involves the transfer of accounting documentation to a new employee only in order to avoid possible problems in the future.

One of the key figures in the organization is the chief accountant, for this reason his departure becomes a rather significant event affecting the functioning of the enterprise and the resolution of financial issues. The dismissal process follows an established procedure, and the reasons for dismissal can be either the employee’s own desire or the employer’s initiative. According to the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, the chief accountant's service upon dismissal at his own request is 2 weeks.

In terms of legal status, the position can be considered either an ordinary employee or a specialist who bears great responsibility and has particularly confidential information, including trade secrets. The process of hiring and dismissing an employee for this position is strictly regulated by federal legislation (No. 129-FZ), introduced at the end of 1996. Only the head of the organization has the authority to appoint and dismiss from a position.

Grounds for dismissal

Labor legislation contains several provisions governing the relations of chief accountants working in organizations of various legal forms. Article 59 of the Labor Code allows employment under a fixed-term employment contract, with an increase in the probationary period to six months (Article 70 of the Labor Code).

In addition, the law allows the dismissal of the chief accountant when the owner of the enterprise changes, regardless of whether the employee conscientiously performs his duties.

One of the reasons for dismissal is the actions of an employee who has competence in managing the organization (Article 81 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation), which are recognized as unreasonable. Regarding the timing of dismissal and the need for approval, the law does not provide clear instructions.

At your own request

The most common reason for dismissal is the initiative of the employee. Due to the significance of the event for the life of the entire organization, the employer must know how to properly dismiss the chief accountant at his own request. It is necessary to strictly follow the procedure in accordance with legislative norms, which in some cases are omitted when terminating an employment relationship with an ordinary employee.

Article 80 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation provides clarifications regarding the sequence of actions when terminating an agreement with the chief accountant:

• The employee informs his employer (manager) of his desire to resign. Notification is made in writing by submitting an application within the deadlines established by law, but not less than two weeks before the expected date of departure.
• The employer and employee agree on the transfer of work and the completion of a certain amount of work on the eve of dismissal.
• The accountant works the hours required by law.
• The employer organizes the transfer of affairs to another employee, who will replace the departing chief accountant in his functionality.
• The employee is given a work book, other documentation and certificates, which the employer is obliged to hand over upon termination of the employment contract.
• Making the necessary payments.

Working off

With regard to the processing and the need to comply with this clause in the dismissal procedure, there is a general opinion that these conditions must be fulfilled. However, nowhere in the law is there any direct indication of how long an employee must work or whether he must do so. The law interprets the working off situation differently.

Labor legislation sets a deadline that must be met on the eve of dismissal. Submission of the application must precede a certain date, upon which the accountant is relieved of his duties. In this sense, we are not talking about the need for work, but only about advance warning to the head of the organization.

In some cases, at the discretion of the administration, the employee works the entire remaining period before dismissal. However, it is possible to terminate the employment agreement earlier, without waiting for the expiration of two weeks, but this decision must be agreed upon with the employee himself.

There are some deviations from this rule:

• If it is impossible to continue to perform duties due to admission to a university, reaching retirement age, transfer of the second half of the accountant to work abroad, or any other significant reasons.
• The obligation to dismiss an employee on the day specified in the application is enshrined in Article 80 of the Labor Code.
• If the dismissal took place during the probationary period, you must notify the manager only 3 days before the planned departure. This provision is especially important considering that the probationary period for this category of employees lasts for about 6 months.
• To calculate the exact period of dismissal, the starting point is the working day following the employer’s receipt of the relevant application.

The transfer of cases

It is especially important when dismissing such an important employee to comply with the rules for the transfer of affairs, because the chief accountant is in charge of all financial documentation, confidential data, trade secrets, and information of high importance. Dismissal may be complicated due to the fact that, in fact, his competencies are equal to the second person in terms of influence on the company’s activities.

The transfer of cases is presented in the form of handing over all current cases related to accounting directly to the manager or to a new employee who will then perform the duties of the departing accountant. It is difficult for an employer to part with an accountant whose work he is satisfied with and considers conscientious. For this reason, dismissal under the article “at one's own request” can be difficult.

The handing over of cases is not regulated by law, but its implementation is recommended, as this will allow the employee to completely resign from his duties, eliminating the risk of subsequently receiving complaints about the quality of the duties performed. For the employer, the submission of cases ensures the receipt of sufficient information that will allow the company to painlessly make staffing changes without causing disruption to the life of the enterprise and other risks.

When transferring cases, a correctly drawn up and detailed acceptance and transfer act is required, signed in copies according to the number of interested parties (at least three copies: for the leaving specialist, the new employee and for reporting).

Another important feature of the dismissal of the chief accountant is that specified in Art. 29 Federal Law No. 402 the fact that all documents requiring a 5-year storage period are subject to transfer, i.e. all current accounting documentation.

If there is a signed agreement on liability, the act of transfer of affairs is supplemented by an inventory, as indicated in Art. 243 Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

At the initiative of the employer

The right to dismiss the chief accountant at the initiative of the employer is enshrined in law.

The main reasons for dismissal under this article include:

• When transferring ownership rights to another citizen.
• When establishing the fact of repeated violations of the law and improper performance of duties (based on existing disciplinary sanctions).
• After a series of unfounded decisions that caused damage to the organization, violation of property safety, and unlawful use. Under this article, the employee has the right to go to court and challenge the legality of the employer’s initiative.
• Upon liquidation of the company.
• Due to staff reduction (only for small organizations, where the manager assumes all accounting responsibilities.
• Due to inconsistency (lack of qualifications, as proven by certification results).
• When changing the name of the organization.

The law establishes many legitimate grounds that can be accepted as a motive for terminating relations with the chief accountant. Most of the reasons are related to the accountant’s improper performance of his duties or the disclosure of confidential (or secret) information.

If the owner of the organization has changed, the law preserves his right to terminate the contract with the employee within a 3-month period from the date of entry into new rights.

Article 76 of the Labor Code establishes the right to part with an employee in the following situations:

• appearing at the workplace drunk or under the influence of toxic substances;
• impossibility of performing duties for medical reasons;
• at the request of government authorities.

Responsibility after termination of an employment contract

Even after his dismissal, the person who worked at the enterprise as the chief accountant continues to be responsible to management and the state. As a result, he may be brought to criminal or administrative liability. Knowing how a chief accountant can resign without consequences will help avoid possible troubles.

To bring a former employee to justice, the organization goes to court within the first year after the consequences of damage to the enterprise were identified.

Administrative responsibility falls on the former official when:

• violations of the procedure for recording cash transactions, claims for working with cash;
• violation of deadlines for submitting reports to the Federal Tax Service;
• gross violations of accounting rules;
• improper performance of duties.

Cases of committing crimes specified in Art. have particularly serious consequences. 199 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. However, the process of holding a resigned employee accountable is difficult to implement, because After the transfer of cases, responsibility already falls on the new person. In this situation, the accountant can refer to the signed acceptance and transfer act, eliminating possible claims in the future.

I ask you to provide an explanation of the procedure for dismissing the chief accountant at his own request (how much notice he must give) As a general rule, an employee has the right to terminate an employment contract by notifying the employer in writing no later than two weeks in advance (Part 1 of Article 80 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation ).

For some categories of employees, shortened notice periods have been established (see paragraph 2 of the Appendix to this response). An extended notice period (no later than one month) is established for organizational leaders, athletes and coaches who have entered into an employment contract for a period of more than four months.

Thus, the chief accountant does not belong to the category of employees for whom a shortened warning period is established; a general two-week warning period applies to him. The dismissal of the chief accountant at his own request is carried out in accordance with the general procedure established by Art. 80 Labor Code of the Russian Federation. You can learn more about this from paragraph 1 of the Appendix to this answer.

Answer

Answer to the question:What is the process for transferring cases? The procedure for transferring cases upon dismissal of an employee (including the chief accountant) is not regulated at the legislative level. Therefore, we recommend enshrining the procedure for transferring cases when changing the chief accountant in a local regulatory act, for example, a regulation on the procedure for accepting and transferring cases, which must be familiarized to the employee against his signature when hired, even before concluding an employment contract (Article 68 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).

In this case, the obligation to transfer and accept cases should be provided for in the employment contract and the job description of the chief accountant. When transferring cases, it matters whether another employee has been invited to the position of chief accountant or not, because in the event of the dismissal of an accountant at his own request, the employer has only two weeks to find a new employee (Article 80 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation) and for the transfer itself.

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The employer does not have the right to extend this period and detain the former employee to transfer cases. If a suitable candidate is not found before the expiration of the notice period, the case will need to be transferred to another employee appointed by order of the manager, for example, the deputy chief accountant or another employee.

The manager can also accept the case directly, since by virtue of Art. 7 of Law N 402-FZ, it is he who organizes the maintenance of accounting records and storage of accounting documents. If a new chief accountant is found, the question arises of how and when to transfer affairs, since the candidate for the position may not find time to appear at the future job before being hired.

In addition, not being an employee of the organization, he does not have the right to sign the acceptance certificate, especially since after accepting the affairs, he may change his mind altogether and refuse the position. The best option is when both accountants work simultaneously. Some experts recommend accepting the candidate initially for another position, for example, deputy chief accountant, and after the position of chief accountant is vacated, making a transfer.

Or transfer the chief accountant to the position of deputy, and accept the candidate for the position of chief accountant. But in both the first and second cases, first of all, it is necessary that there is a position of deputy chief accountant, and a vacant one. Therefore, these options not only cannot always be applied, but are also quite problematic. Since the procedure for transferring cases is not established by law, each organization has its own procedure depending on the actual circumstances.

We believe that the future chief accountant should still take part in the transfer of affairs (especially since it is in his interests), but the acceptance certificate is signed either by the manager or another authorized employee. Then, when registering a new accountant, you will have to draw up another acceptance certificate. To participate in the transfer of cases, the employer can create a commission. As a rule, this is required if serious irregularities are identified in the accounting department. The commission may include accounting employees, as well as financially responsible employees of other departments. The commission is created by order of the head, which defines its composition and powers.

The administrative document for the transfer of affairs when changing the chief accountant is the order of the head of the institution. This order indicates: - the reason for the acceptance and transfer of cases (dismissal of the chief accountant); - the person taking over the affairs (new accountant, manager, other person); - other persons (employees) involved in the transfer of cases (representative of a higher authority, auditors); - deadlines (date) for acceptance and transfer of cases; - the procedure for registering the transfer of cases (if such a procedure is not established by a local act).

On the date approved by the order, the chief accountant of the institution must complete all accounting processes for the past period. To do this, you need to generate primary documents, make the necessary entries in accounting, print registers, prepare accounting and tax reporting submitted at the time of transfer of affairs, calculations for the payment of insurance premiums, statistical reporting, etc. In addition, the transfer of affairs when changing the chief accountant may be preceded by an inventory count.

It is carried out: - if this case of inventory is provided for by the employer (clause 3 of article 11 of Law N 402-FZ); - if, by virtue of Art. 243 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, by an employment contract or agreement with the chief accountant, he is assigned financial responsibility (since conducting an inventory when changing financially responsible persons is mandatory). The inventory must be carried out on the basis of the order of the manager and in the manner established by the Methodological Guidelines for the Inventory of Property and Financial Obligations, approved by Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated June 13, 1995 N 49. Please note!

If the chief accountant refuses to transfer cases, and such an obligation is provided for him by the employment contract or local regulations of the institution, then before the accountant is dismissed, the employer can bring him to disciplinary liability, up to and including dismissal under clause 5, part 1, art. 81 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, if he already has an outstanding or outstanding disciplinary sanction. According to clause 6. of the Regulations on chief accountants, approved by Resolution of the USSR Council of Ministers of January 24, 1980 N 59, the acceptance and delivery of cases upon the appointment and dismissal of the chief accountant are formalized by an act after checking the state of accounting and reporting. A copy of this act is sent to a higher authority.

If necessary, the reception and delivery of cases by the chief accountant is carried out with the participation of a representative of a higher authority.

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