Primary documentation is the foundation of accounting. Primary documents are documents drawn up immediately at the time when the business transaction is completed, and constituting evidence of their commission. These include accounts, cash orders and receipts, invoices, fence sheets, etc.
The primary documentation in accounting is divided into documents external (created outside the organization) and internal (created in the organization). In addition, the nature of the primary documents are divided into accounting, acquittal, administrative and organizational and combined. And also they are one-time and cumulative.
One-time (settlement and payroll, cash orders, etc.) are used only once to reflect the operation. After that, they enter the accounting department. Accumulative (limit-intake cards; weekly, monthly orders) are compiled over a long period (month, decade) in order to reflect the same type of repeated operations.
Organizational and administrative primary documents include orders, instructions, instructions, powers of attorney. They allow the operations prescribed in them. The data of these documents is not entered in the accounting registers.
Voucher primary documents (invoices, payment claims, receipt orders, etc.) reflect the fact of the operation. Data about them is reflected in accounting registers.
Part of the documents combines the signs of permissive and justifying. These include salary payrolls, cash orders, etc.
Accounting documents are created on the basis of administrative and justifying in order to summarize accounting records. These are overhead calculations , accounting statements, development tables, etc.
Combined primary documents perform the functions of all the above categories (and acquittal, and administrative, and accounting). An example is an invoice for the release of goods and valuables.
Primary documentation provides information for the preparation of all other types of documents (accounting, reporting).
Documents can be prepared manually or using a special computer program. They are created with the aim of accounting for all completed business transactions (monetary, material, settlement) of any scope and volume. Their proper execution is necessary in order to avoid problems and misunderstandings during inspections by regulatory authorities.
Doing business is accompanied by the constant conduct of various operations. Primary documentation is maintained to ensure the accuracy and reliability of all accounting indicators.
So that the compiled primary documents have legal force, they must contain all the required details. These include:
- full name of the document,
- date of direct compilation,
- Company name,
- an accurate indication of the contents of the operation;
- surnames, initials and positions of the persons responsible for carrying out the operation, their signatures with decoding;
- enterprise seals, stamps.
According to the law, the primary accounting documentation is compiled in Russian. In enterprises with foreign capital can be compiled in foreign, but with interlinear translation.
All entries in accounting are kept on the basis of these documents. After that, the data from them are transferred to the accounting registers, where they are subsequently recorded in the accounting accounts. According to these data, at the end of a certain period, reporting is completed. Due to this, it is possible to fully take into account the information necessary for continuous and continuous reflection of the enterprise.