Agricultural production cooperative, agricultural cooperative and other types of public organizations associated with similar sectors of entrepreneurial activity are becoming increasingly popular. There is a simple explanation for this fact: such structures make it possible to combine the efforts of several individuals or legal entities, which greatly facilitates the achievement of various goals within the framework of entrepreneurship. Moreover, such a format of integration makes it possible to successfully scale up activities and enter new levels of productivity.
The relevance of cooperation
When a term such as “agricultural cooperative” sounds, you need to understand that we are talking about an organization created by agricultural producers or those who maintain personal subsidiary plots.
The basis for the formation of such a structure is voluntary membership, and joint production or any other activity can be considered as the goal of creation.
In turn, to start a business as such, it is necessary to have a combination of property share contributions of the cooperative members. This will satisfy the material needs of the organization.
It is also important to understand that an agricultural cooperative can be both consumer and production. Each of them has its own characteristics and goals.
It is worth noting the fact that in different countries the principles of cooperation in the main points are the same, and the differences cannot be called significant. For example, an integral characteristic of such structures is the democracy of the governance mechanism. That is, everyone has the right to vote, regardless of the size of the share, including when it comes to choosing governing bodies. Such elections, as well as the solution of important issues, can be held only by a general vote.
Basic concepts
In order to have a full understanding of what an agricultural cooperative is, you need to pay attention to key terms. These definitions are constantly used in the description of various fields of activity of structures organized in the format of cooperation.
You can start with membership. So, a member of a cooperative is a legal or natural person who meets all the requirements of the current Federal law and the charter of the organization itself. Also, a member of the organization is required to pay a share fee in the prescribed amount. If everything was done according to the accepted procedure, then the new member of the organization receives the right to vote.
The subsidiary liability of participants in a cooperative is also a term worth paying attention to. In this case, we are talking about additional obligations that are not related to the standard list of requirements for a participant when making a contribution. Such additional liability may be relevant, for example, in a situation where creditors have presented the cooperative with legal requirements, but the organization is not able to fulfill them within the established time frame. It is worth paying attention once again to the fact that both the size and the degree of subsidiary liability are determined by the charter of the structure and the legislation of the Russian Federation.
Under the employee in such organizations should understand a person who is not a member of the organization and involved in a certain type of activity through an employment contract.
It is also important to understand who the agricultural producer is. We are talking about a legal entity or an individual who is engaged in the production of any product. At the same time, the percentage of agricultural goods from this category should be more than 50% of the total volume of products produced by a particular company.
It is worth touching on such a thing as a share contribution. Under this term you need to understand the contribution made by a member of the cooperative to the organization's mutual fund . This can be finance, land and any property, as well as property rights that have a monetary value. There are both basic and additional shares.
Cooperative payments are nothing more than payments to the participants of the organization, respectively, the contribution and labor activity of each of them.
Co-op Membership
In such an organization, the presence of two categories of participants is possible: ordinary members of the cooperative and associate. In the first case, we are talking about individuals and legal entities. Moreover, the consumer form of cooperation implies participation in the activities of only individuals. Each member of the organization is obliged to make a share contribution in the order and amount that has been established. Such participants bear additional liability (subsidiary) to the main obligations and are accepted into the structure with the subsequent voting right.
As for the associated type, in this case we are talking about legal entities or individuals who have made a share contribution and on this basis receive dividends. As part of their contribution, they also share the risks of possible losses arising from the activities of the organization. An agricultural cooperative with associated participants allows the latter not to take an active part in economic activity.
The grounds for termination of membership may be exclusion, withdrawal from the organization, transfer of the share contribution, liquidation of the legal entity and payment of funds invested upon entry, and in full. It is worthwhile to understand the fact that the person to whom the share contribution was transferred may become a member of the cooperative on the basis of this circumstance alone.
The purpose of the agricultural cooperative
Structures of this kind, of course, are not created by chance. They perform certain tasks that are determined by the participants until the formation of the organization. Given that cooperatives related to the agricultural sector are a combination of not only capital, but also specific individuals, the existence of goals is more than logical. Here are the principles of functioning of such organizations, which are also goals:
- democratic governance;
- voluntary membership;
- obtaining mutual assistance and economic benefits;
- additional (subsidiary) liability of members;
- distribution of profits according to the contribution of each participant (share contribution, performance of specific tasks);
- Priority interests of members of the cooperative.
But on the whole, such structures are needed in order to achieve urgent tasks by joint efforts and resources. It is also important to pay attention to the fact that information about the organization’s activities is always available to its participants.
Everyone who took an official part in the activities of the educated structure receives a membership book, which contains the following information: date of accrual and the size of the incremented, basic and additional share contribution.
Consumer cooperative
This term is used to refer to a nonprofit organization owned by agricultural producers. Its management uses a democratic principle, that is, one member of a cooperative can have one vote. The manifestation of democracy can also include a desire to increase the profits of participants and providing them with the types of services that they need for their own households.
Only on condition that at least 5 citizens and 2 legal entities become members of the structure, agricultural consumer cooperatives can be formed. The activities of such organizations exclude the participation of state unitary enterprises as members. This restriction is also true for state-owned LLCs and municipal unitary enterprises.
If necessary, you can organize cooperatives of several levels by combining individual organizations into one large. In the future, these may be structures of all-Russian and even international significance.
It is important to remember that the key goal of the activity must be indicated in the name of the organization, regardless of whether it is a consumer type or an agricultural production one. A cooperative, organizations and any structures that can be defined as associations for the purpose of effective commercial activity allow participants to enter fundamentally new horizons, including outside the country.
The advantages of this type of organization include the opportunity to obtain direct access to producers and consumers and, as a result, a tangible strengthening of their positions in the current market segment. With such resources, the participants in the cooperative are able to effectively defend their own interests both to processing enterprises and to various commercial firms.
Production cooperative
This is a commercial organization that is created by citizens for the purpose of joint activities. It is about the production, processing and sale of agricultural products. Actually, this is the reason why the SEC is registered. Agricultural production cooperative, in principle, can be focused on the implementation of any activity that is not prohibited by law, but the above areas are the most popular.
Legal entities cannot be members of a production cooperative, only citizens of the Russian Federation and only those who are 16 years old. At the same time, members of the organization are required to take a personal part in its activities. It will be useful to know that the word "artel" is used to refer to cooperatives organized in the form of a collective farm.
An interesting fact is that for fixing all the key decisions of the organization, the protocol of the agricultural cooperative is used. This document displays all the information about the meeting, which, for example, decided to expel a specific member of the association or considered other issues. In the protocol you can find the names of all participants in the meeting, the purpose for which the latter was carried out, and, of course, the final decision. Such documentation allows, if necessary, to trace the entire chain of important decisions of the organization.
Charter Structure
This document is the basis of the organization’s work, and without it a full-fledged activity is not possible. Therefore, the charter of an agricultural production cooperative must be compulsory.
As for its structure, it includes several key sections, and their number may change if necessary. At the request of the founders of the organization, some parts of the main sections can be displayed in separate categories. In most cases, the structure is as follows:
1. Initially, general provisions are prescribed. It determines the fact that the cooperative is a legal entity, created without limitation, and carries out its activities on the basis of the charter. Further information is recorded about the possibility of creating reserve and indivisible funds, the right to conclude contracts and transactions as such, as well as about all types of responsibility, etc.
2. Objectives and subject of activity. In this part, the charter of the agricultural production cooperative contains information on the purposes for which the organization is being created, and all planned activities are also clearly defined.
3. Membership. This clause of the charter determines who and under what conditions can become a member of a particular organization. This section describes the features of interaction with both individuals and legal entities.
4. Obligations and rights of participants in a cooperative. This information block is necessary in order to determine in detail what all members of the organization have an equal right to and what obligations they assume. It also discusses possible sanctions in the event that participants do not fulfill their obligations in accordance with the charter.
5. The procedure and conditions for joining a cooperative and termination of membership in it. It contains information on what documents should be presented to everyone who wants to become part of a specific association. Also, this section defines the application submission procedure and the grounds for a possible refusal. It is in this part that the features of issuing a membership book and its contents are recorded. As for the conditions for transferring the share and the conditions for leaving the organization, they are also set out in detail. Attention is also paid to the possible exclusion of participants in the structure.
6. Governing bodies. This is an integral component of all the information that the charter of an agricultural consumer cooperative contains. A sample of such a document will help to more clearly represent the structure of this section. Generally speaking, here a list of governing bodies is determined, which must be formed without fail. Moreover, the conditions for their creation and key principles of work are recorded.
7. Property. This section is needed in order to determine in detail the structure of own and borrowed funds. It describes what constitutes the fixed capital of a nonprofit organization (introductory, mandatory, additional contributions, reserve fund , etc.). It also discusses the allocation of funds and other relevant information.
8. Reorganization, termination of operations and liquidation of the cooperative. This part is necessary in order to fix the possibility of merging and, if necessary, division. It also determines the procedure by which a particular nonprofit organization can be liquidated.
9. Additional provisions. This is the final information block that forms the charter of the agricultural consumer cooperative. A sample of any document of this type ends with it. This part is needed to fix the conditions under which any changes to the charter itself can be made. It also indicates the date of preparation of the document and the number of copies with the same legal force.
How is taxation resolved
The work of the administration in the cooperative will be focused on solving various statutory problems, and this will require several accounts.
Thus, to account for proceeds from non-commercial activities, account 86 “Target financing” is used, on which this information is recorded. The basis for such actions is a financial accounting plan.
In turn, the account 90 is used in order to take into account the income from the business activities of the organization. For this reason, it is called "Sales."
There is another account with number 08 and the name "Investments in non-current assets". It is needed in order to keep track of the capital investments of the organization.
It is worth paying attention to the fact that the taxation of an agricultural cooperative in the contract method of construction of various objects has its own characteristics. In this case, account 60 is credited to the cost of the work performed, and account 08 is debited.
If you are using the economic method, then to maintain costs associated with the construction of specific objects, use the following cost items:
- materials;
- overhead costs;
- costs associated with the operation and maintenance of mechanisms and machines;
- to pay with deductions for the needs of a social nature;
- other expenses.
If all the funds in the cooperative are used strictly for their intended purpose, then targeted revenues are not taken into account when drawing up the tax base. As regards VAT, according to the general rule, such organizations are required to pay it.
General meeting of the agricultural cooperative : credentials
It is this governing body that is supreme in such a structure and has the right to make any decisions regarding the activities of the organization. The powers of the general meeting are so great that it is able to confirm or cancel decisions of the supervisory board and the board of the cooperative.
The general meeting also has exclusive competence in resolving certain issues. This may be, for example, the procedure for the distribution of profits and losses between participants in a cooperative, the acquisition and alienation of land, as well as the fixed assets of the organization, approval of the charter, changes to its structure, determination of the sizes and types of funds, as well as reorganization and liquidation.
Management of an agricultural cooperative without this body is not possible. By the way, the general meeting is also involved in the exclusion and admission of participants in the cooperative.
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Summary
Such a direction of associations as agricultural cooperation is clearly promising and relevant. It is important to know that the Association of Peasant Farms and Agricultural Cooperatives is the most active contributor to the development of this type of cooperation in Russia. The purpose of AKKOR is to protect the rights of small organizations in the field of agriculture and farmers, as well as competent assistance to their quantitative growth. Therefore, this format of associations is increasingly taking root in the vastness of the Russian Federation.