Closing any organization is a lengthy and specific process, requiring managers to complete numerous steps and actions. This also includes the preparation of special reports called the liquidation balance sheet. It may be intermediate or final. The liquidation balance is an important documentation approved by the management of the company and transferred to the Federal Tax Service. Therefore, a lot of attention is paid to its compilation by professional accountants.
Document concept
A liquidation balance sheet is a specific financial report prepared solely in the process of closing a legal entity. It is with the help of this document that the actual material condition of the company is evaluated.
Before its drafting, a liquidation commission consisting of professionals must be appointed. Their responsibilities include drawing up a liquidation balance sheet, but before that they perform many important tasks:
- determine all the creditors of the organization;
- assess the state of receivables in order to understand whether there is a possibility for its collection;
- send creditors special notifications containing information that the company will be closed in the near future;
- the document contains information on how long lenders can make claims, and this time period cannot be less than 60 days from the moment the information on the closure of the enterprise is posted in the media.
The company will certainly keep copies of the notifications sent to creditors, as they confirm that the organization has fulfilled its obligations.
Types of balance
The liquidation balance sheet is the most important document for each organization being closed. It can be presented in two varieties:
- Intermediate. Such a document includes all information about the existing assets and debts of the organization. This form of liquidation balance sheet is standard, therefore the document used to create the annual balance sheet is usually used. Documentation is made by members of the liquidation commission. With its help, you can determine whether the company can cope with existing debts at the expense of assets. The duties of the commission additionally include the identification of all hidden property belonging to the enterprise.
- Final. It is compiled solely after the company has paid all existing debts to creditors. Therefore, financial calculations are initially carried out, debts to contractors, company employees, tax and other organizations are paid off, and only after that this documentation is compiled. The main purpose of its formation is to determine the assets remaining after the repayment of debts. They are further distributed among the managers of the enterprise. The number of assets in this document should not exceed the results of the interim balance, since such a result will be suspicious and will lead to a check by tax inspectors.
When preparing a document, the liquidation commission usually uses samples of the liquidation balance sheet. This helps prevent various errors in meaningful documentation.
What form is used?
Filling the liquidation balance sheet is not a very complicated procedure, usually performed by experienced accountants. To do this, it is enough to prepare in advance the necessary data entered into the document. Specialists involved in the introduction of information should be included in the liquidation commission.
There is no clearly defined form that should be used to compile this document. The exception is budget organizations and banks, as certain strict forms are established for them.
Other firms draw up a liquidation balance sheet in the standard form of an accounting report. A sample of filling the liquidation balance sheet can be found below.
Could it be null?
An interim document is usually drawn up at the very beginning of the liquidation process , so it is rarely zero. It includes not only the assets of the enterprise, but also all debts to various people, other organizations and government bodies.
When drawing up the final balance, a situation often arises when it is zero. In this case, all the assets of the enterprise were aimed at paying off debts, therefore the company did not have any debts or property.
It is not difficult to compile zero reporting for each accountant, so the procedure does not take much time. For employees of the Federal Tax Service, such a document usually does not cause any doubt or suspicion. It shows that the company will not be presented with any claims from the creditors, and the founders will not be able to receive the property, since it was sold in order to pay off the company's debt.
When is it formed?
The liquidation balance sheet is an important documentation that is formed during the process of company closure, but there are no clear deadlines during which it must be drawn up, approved and submitted to the Federal Tax Service. Therefore, members of the liquidation commission should not strive to make documentation by a specific date.
The only requirement for documents is the inclusion of all assets and debts. An interim document is formed only after all creditors have filed a claim, as well as members of the commission will identify all the property of the organization.
The final document is drawn up after the repayment of debts, therefore, it indicates whether the company has any property left after that. If the balance is negative, then this indicates that the company was not able to repay the debts with the help of its assets, therefore it cannot be closed in a standard way. In this case, the Federal Tax Service begins the bankruptcy procedure of the company.
Legislative regulation
The procedure for the preparation and approval of the interim liquidation balance sheet should be subject to numerous legislative requirements. Therefore, the compilers of this document take into account the following regulations:
- Federal Law No. 127 “On Bankruptcy,” which contains information that if the final balance is negative, the company will have to declare itself insolvent, as it simply does not have assets and funds with which it can pay off debts to creditors;
- The Civil Code includes data on how and when the formation of the intermediate and final balance occurs;
- Federal Law No. 208 “On JSC” contains the rules for opening and closing such companies.
On the basis of the Civil Code, it is imperative to include in the liquidation balance sheet data on all available property represented by cash, buildings, equipment or other valuables. Tangible assets must be sold at auction, so that the funds received from this process are used to pay off debts. The members of the liquidation commission should be engaged in the formation of the document after all creditors have been identified. Additionally, approval of the liquidation balance sheet by the meeting of shareholders of the company is required.
Rules and procedure for compiling a document
Usually, the interim and liquidation balance sheets are drawn up according to the same model, since there is no strict single form for these documents. It is recommended that a liquidation balance sheet be used to ensure that important details are not missed. In the formation of the documentation, the members of the liquidation commission carry out sequential steps:
- a property inventory is carried out in the company, the main purpose of which is the identification of all assets belonging to the organization;
- an assessment is made, the results of which make it clear what the market value of the property in the company is;
- accounts receivable are determined if available, and it is also determined whether these funds can be returned in a short time;
- requirements are sent to debtors;
- all creditors of the organization are established;
- then an intermediate balance is formed;
- it is determined whether the company can cope with the debts of available cash;
- if there is not enough money to pay off the debt, then the company’s assets are sold, for which tenders are held;
- the final balance is drawn up, which should be zero or positive, since if there is a negative value, it will be necessary to initiate the bankruptcy of the company.
It is important not only to draw up a direct balance sheet, but also to attach additional documentation to it, which is then handed over to the department of the Federal Tax Service. This documentation includes an act on the inventory, claims of creditors and information about all the assets of the company. An example of the liquidation balance allows you to correctly fill out this document to any accountant.
What is claimed?
By law, it is required not only to correctly compile this document, but also to approve it by the management of the enterprise. A sample approval of the liquidation balance sheet can be found below.
By all means, this document includes information:
- Company name;
- form of the meeting;
- place of decision;
- list of persons attending the meeting;
- agenda;
- decision on each important issue.
If the company has only one founder, then no meeting is required. The decision is made by him alone, after which a document is drawn up approving the liquidation balance sheet.
Who is involved in the drafting, approval and signing of documents?
The decision to close the company is made only by the management of the company, and for various reasons, a corresponding court decision can be made. The plaintiff in this case may be the counterparties, the Federal Tax Service or other state bodies.
To close any company, two balances are required. For this, the following process features are taken into account:
- documentation is being prepared by an accountant, who should be part of the liquidation commission, so the management of the company should make sure that not all accountants of the company quit before the company closes;
- the documentation is signed by the head of the liquidation commission, and the signature is certainly notarized;
- The balance is approved by the head of the company, after which the drawn up document is also certified by a notary.
Properly prepared documents are handed over to the employee of the Federal Tax Service at the place of registration of the company, and this process must be completed within three days from the approval procedure. Often there is a need to transfer additional data to the Federal Tax Service that allows clarifying certain information from the balance sheet. In this case, it is allowed to draw up an explanatory note in free form, which is transmitted to the inspection together with other papers.
If the bankruptcy procedure is implemented, then the balance is signed and approved only by the bankruptcy trustee, who monitors the identification of all assets of the company, through which its debts can be repaid.
How many times is a document generated?
The final balance should be formed only once, therefore, it indicates how many assets remain after repayment of debts to creditors. It is allowed to form a zero liquidation balance sheet if, after paying off the debt, the company has no assets left.
An interim balance can be drawn up several times, since this process depends on how many lenders remain after paying off debts. This is due to the fact that, by court order, certain creditors may be added to the balance sheet. The decision can be made not only by the court, but also by members of the liquidation commission or the Federal Tax Service.
A mandatory tax audit is conducted for many companies. If, during the process, inspectors identify discrepancies in the actual data with the information contained in the balance sheet, this may become the basis for the inclusion of assets or creditors in this document, therefore, its re-compilation is required.
Balance sheet deadline
The interim balance can be surrendered at any time. Part-time documentation is being compiled.
The final balance is required to be submitted to the department of the Federal Tax Service at the place of registration of the company within three months after the company is excluded from the register. At the same time, it is important that the document is not negative, as this will necessarily lead to sad consequences for the leaders of the company.
Conclusion
Liquidation balances are required to be made at the closing of the company. The procedure can be performed voluntarily by the founders of the enterprise or forced, and in the second case, the initiator can be employees of the Federal Tax Service or counterparties.
Each company leader must understand how the documentation is compiled correctly, how it is approved, and also when submitted to the Federal Tax Service. If there are violations, this will serve as the basis for refusing to liquidate the company.