Attention Business Entities! On Mandatory Audit of Financial Statements
ATTENTION BUSINESS ENTITIES!
On conducting mandatory audit
of accounting (financial) statements
In accordanceс paragraph 3 of Article 2 of the Law of the Republic of Belarus of July 12, 2013 "On Auditing Activities" (hereinafter - the Law), audit of accounting (financial) statements is an audit service for an independent assessment of the accounting (financial) statements of the audited entity, including those prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards and their Interpretations (hereinafter - IFRS) or the legislation of other states, for the purpose of expressing an auditor's opinion on its reliability.
According to Article 17 of the Law, mandatory audit of accounting (financial) statements is an audit of accounting (financial) statements, the mandatory conduct of which is established by the Law and other legislative acts of the Republic of Belarus(hereinafter - mandatory audit).
Annual accounting (financial) statements prepared in accordance with IFRS, are subject to mandatory audit if the obligationthe preparation of such reporting is established by the legislative acts of the Republic Belarus.
An annual mandatory audit of annual individual and consolidated (if prepared) accounting (financial) reporting prepared in accordance with the legislation of the Republic Belarus is carried out:
joint-stock companies obliged under the legislation of the Republic Belarus to disclose information about the joint-stock company in accordance with the legislation of the Republic Belarus on securities;
the National Bank of the Republic Belarus;
banks, banking groups, banking holdings;
exchanges;
insurance organizations, insurance brokers;
residents of the High-Tech Park;
organizations carrying out guaranteed reimbursement of individuals' bank deposits (including those in foreign currency);
professional participants of the securities market;
joint-stock investment funds;
investment fund management organizations;
other organizations whose revenue from the sale of goods (performance of work, provision of services) for the previous reporting year exceeds the equivalent of 5,000,000
Part 5 of Article 17 of the Law defines additional conditions for exemption of organizations from mandatory audit for the reporting period (these conditions must be met cumulatively):
- compilation of annual accounting (financial) statements in accordance with the legislation of the Republic of Belarus;
- ownership of shares (stakes in authorized capital) of organizations by the Republic of Belarus and (or) its administrative-territorial units, or belonging of the economic entity to consumer cooperation organizations;
- conducting an inspection within the framework of departmental control during the reporting period.
Part 9 of Article 17 of the Law defines the deadline for conducting the mandatory audit for the reporting year – no later than June 30 of the year following the reporting year.
In accordance with Article 13 of the Law, the audited entities, customers of audit services, are required to notify the tax authorities at their place of registration of the fact that a mandatory audit is being conducted, no later than July 1 of the year following the reporting year.
Thus, the mandatory audit of the annual accounting (financial) statements for 2017 must be completed no later than June 30, 2018, and business entities are obliged to notify the tax authorities at their place of registration thereof no later than July 1, 2018.
Evasion by the head of a legal entity or an individual entrepreneur from conducting a mandatory audit entails the imposition of a fine in the amount of from
from five to thirty basic units in accordance with Article 12.31 of the Code of Administrative Offences of the Republic of Belarus.
In accordance with paragraph 62 of Article 3.30 of the Procedural and Enforcement Code of the Republic of Belarus on Administrative Offences, protocols on administrative offences under Article 12.31 have the right to be drawn up by authorized officials of the bodies of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Belarus and financial departments (units) of local executive and administrative bodies.