Business accounting in Belarus is regulated by the Law “On Business Accounting and Book-Keeping”. This law applies to all juridical persons registered in the territory of this country, branches and representative offices, those of foreign companies including. The Ministry of Finance was entrusted with regulatory functions.

Governmental regulation shall be carried out within the Governmental program of transition of Belarusian companies to the international business accounting standards, as approved by the Government of the Republic of Belarus. The main lines of business accounting reformation in the Republic of Belarus are specified as follows:

• creation of a normative base – development of the national standards;
• training specialists who can use such normative base in their activity;
• development of general educational curriculum for training and upgrade of accountants and economists who will be able to work under new conditions of economic advancement of the Republic of Belarus;
• coordination of actions with the international organizations in the field of economic reformation in the Republic of Belarus with a view to attract foreign investments to the national economy.

A company manager shall establish an accounts department as a structural subdivision headed by a chief accountant; or the duty to maintain business accounting shall be transferred (on contractual basis) to any organization that renders services in business accounting and book-keeping (e.g. auditing company or consulting firm) or to a certified accountant who is registered as an individual entrepreneur.

A persons may be appointed to the post of a chief accountant who has got special university degree, and – in exclusive cases – a person may be appointed, who has not got such university degree if such person has got special education and length of service in the appropriate field at least five years. The competence of a chief accountant shall cover the following:

• arrangement and maintaining of business accounting;
• formation of accounting policy;
• compilation and timely presentation of complete and reliable statements and tax accounts.

The chief accountant involved in management of the company’s business accounting shall be accountable directly to the company manager. All instructions and orders of the chief accountant made within his/her competence shall be binding for all structural subdivisions and employees of the company.

Obligatory certification of chief accountants (introduction of a professional accountant status) is anticipated in the nearest future.

Business accounting of any company shall be maintained according to accounting policy of such company formed in compliance with the legislation of the Republic of Belarus and approved by the company manager.

Such accounting policy shall include the following:

• description of accepted methods of business accounting;
• card of accounts of the company’s business accounting;
• forms of primary documents and business accounting registers used by the company (in case, they differ from standard ones);
• regulation of flow of primary documents and registers in the company’s business accounting (document circulation schedule).

Any branches and representative offices of foreign companies located in the territory of the Republic of Belarus may form their own accounting policy based on the rules established in the country of origin of such companies, provided such rules do not conflict with the international business accounting standards and the legislation of the Republic of Belarus.

Structure and Procedure of Accounts Submission

The structure and procedure of accounts submission shall be specified by the Ministry of Finance.
Any company shall submit interim and annual accounts.

Annual accounts of the company shall include the following:

• balance sheet;
• profit and loss statement;
• annexes provided for by normative legal acts;
• auditor’s report certifying reliability of accounts of the company, provided such company is subject to mandatory audit in compliance with the legislation of the Republic of Belarus;
• explanatory note.

Non-commercial companies that are not involved in business and have no turnover related to sales of goods or execution of work or rendering services, shall submit their accounts by results of the reporting year in a simplified form:

• balance sheet;
• profit and loss statement;
• report on utilization of received funds according to their purpose.

Consolidated accounts include the following:

• balance sheet;
• profit and loss statement;
• explanatory note.

Annual accounts shall be made within 90 days after the end of the reporting (financial) year; interim (quarter) accounts shall be made within 30 days after the end of the quarter.

The time of accounts submission by the interrelated companies which are the group members (in particular, submission of additional information required for making consolidated accounts) shall be fixed by the parent company (authorized juridical person).