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THE ACCOUNTANCY LAW (No. 82 / 1991)

 

Chapter I General provisions

Art. 1.

The autonomous administrations (regies autonomes), the commercial companies, the public institutions, the co-operative companies, the associations and the other legal persons as well as the natural persons having the quality of businessmen are obliged to organise and to manage their own accounts according to the present law.

Art. 2.

The bookkeeping, as main instrument of the knowledge, the management and the control of the patrimony and the obtained results, shall provide:

1.the chronological and systematic recording, the processing, the issuing and the keeping of the data related to the patrimony situation and the obtained results for both the requirements of the persons referred to in Art.1. and the relationship, of the same with the partners or the share-holders, the clients, the suppliers, the banks, the fiscal bodies and other legal and natural persons;

2.the control of the effected patrimonial operations and of the employed processing procedures as well as the accuracy of the supplied bookkeeping data;

3.the supply of information in order to assess the national patrimony, to execute the national public budget as well as to work out the financial balances and the whole national economy balance.

Art. 3.

1.The bookkeeping shall be worked out in the Romanian language and the national currency.

2.The bookkeeping of the foreign currency operations shall consider both the national currency and the foreign currency.

Art. 4.

The Ministry of Economy and Finance issues the general account plan, the model of the bookkeeping records and balances, the common forms related to the financial and bookkeeping activity, the methodological regulations for their working out and utilisation. For the banking companies, they are to be designed by The National Bank of Romania and approved by The Ministry of Economy and Finance.

Art. 5.

1.The persons under Art.1. are obliged to carry out the double-entry bookkeeping and to prepare the balance or the bookkeeping report in case of public institutions herein called "bookkeeping balance".

2.The Ministry of Economy and Finance establishes the categories of persons allowed to carry out the single-entry bookkeeping as well as those working out the bookkeeping balance.

Art. 6.

1.The bookkeeping recording is chronological and systematic according to the account plans and the regulations issued as per the provisions of Art.1.

2.Any patrimonial operation is written down when being carried out, in a document that is the basis of the bookkeeping recording thus having the quality of a justifying document.

3.The justifying documents on which the bookkeeping recordings are based imply the responsibility of the persons who prepared checked and approved them or recorded them in the book as required.

Art. 7.

1.The bookkeeping recording of the real and personal assets is carried out according to the purchasing, production or market value, as required.

2.The debts are recorded in the books according their nominal value.

Art. 8.

1.The persons under Art.1. are obliged to carry out the general inventory of the patrimony: at the beginning of the activity; at least once a year during its operation; in case of the merging or the activity suspension as well as in other cases provided by the law.

2.The exceptions to the yearly compulsory inventory are approved by The Ministry of Economy and Finance.

Art. 9.

The valuation of the patrimonial elements based on the inventory and their recording in the bookkeeping balance are done according to the regulations issued by the Ministry of Economy and Finance.

Art. 10.

The official management document of the persons under art. 1. is the bookkeeping balance which shall provide a true, clear and complete image of the patrimony of the financial situations and the obtained results.

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Chapter II Patrimony bookkeeping organisation

Art. 11.

1.The persons under Art. 1. usually organise and carry out the bookkeeping in a separate department managed by the finance and bookkeeping director, the chief accountant or other persons entitled to carry out this function. These persons shall be university graduates in economics.

2.The bookkeeping of the persons under Art. 1. may be organised and carried out by authorised legal persons or natural persons who have the status of chartered accountant or expert accountant. They are responsible according to the law. 3.The responsibility to organise and carry out the bookkeeping under the present law is incumbent on the manager, the credit ordering person or other person obliged to administer the patrimony.

4.The natural persons under paragraph 1 are responsible, together with the subordinated staff for the bookkeeping according to the law.

5.If the bookkeeping is not carried out by authorised persons the employer is responsible.

Art. 12.

1.The object of the patrimony bookkeeping is the pecuniary expression of the real and personal assets including the land, the natural resources, the deposits and other goods with an economic potential, the liquid assets, the securities, the rights and obligations of the persons under Art. 1. as well as the expenses, the incomes and their results.

2.The holding of tangible and liquid assets under any forms and any title, of any patrimonial rights and obligations as well as any patrimonial rights and obligations as well as any patrimonial operation unrecorded in the books are forbidden.

Art. 13.

1.The fixed means bookkeeping is kept per categories and per each record object.

2.The tangible assets bookkeeping is kept per quantity and value or only per value.

Art. 14.

The value of the issued shares or other titles as well as the payments to the subscribed capital account are clearly reflected in the bookkeeping.

Art. 15.

The bookkeeping of the clients and suppliers, of the other debts and obligations is kept per categories as well as per each natural or legal person.

Art. 16.

The bookkeeping of the expenses is kept per kinds of expenses according to their nature.

Art. 17.

The bookkeeping of the expenses financed by budgetary and extra-budgetary means provides both the record of the cash payments as well as the effective payments according to the budget classification structure.

Art. 18.

The bookkeeping of the incomes shall be kept per kinds of incomes according to their nature.

Art. 19.

1.The profit and loss is monthly established in the bookkeeping.

2.The profit distribution is recorded in the books according to the destination as provided by the law.

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Chapter III Account books

Art. 20.

1.The main account book and big book.

2.The Ministry of Economy and Finance may except the use of some of these books by certain persons under Art. 1.

Art. 21.

The account books are used in strict accordance with their purpose and are properly arranged and completed in order to allow at any time the identification and the control of the performed patrimonial operations.

Art. 22.

The checking balance is prepared every month in order to check the correct recording of the patrimonial operations in the books.

Art. 23.

1.The natural and legal persons using automated data processing systems are obliged to ensure the observance of the bookkeeping regulations regarding the storing, the preserving under the form of technical supports and the control of the data recorded in the books.

2.The data processing companies are responsible for the accurate processing of the information from the documents and the beneficiaries are responsible for accuracy and reality of the data submitted for processing.

Art. 24.

The recording in the book of the operations due to the merging or suspension, according to the law, of the activity of the persons under Art. 1. is based on the relevant documents prepared for such cases.

Art. 25.

The account books as well as the justifying documents for the recording in the books are stored in the archives of the persons under Art. 1., for 10 years, beginning with the conclusion date of the accounting period they were prepared except the payrolls which shall be stored for 50 years.

Art. 26.

In case of loss, theft or destruction of some bookkeeping documents, actions shall be taken to restore them in maximum 30 days after such finding.

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Chapter IV Bookkeeping balance

Art. 27.

1.The bookkeeping balance shall be prepared every year as well as in case of merging or suspension, according to the law, of the activity of the persons under Art. 1., as required.

2.With regard to the autonomous administrations and commercial companies in which the state holds 20% of the nominal capital as well as to other legal persons, the Ministry of Economy and Finance may decide the preparation and submittal of the bookkeeping balances in other periods than every year.

3.The bookkeeping balance consists of: the profit and the loss balance/account, the execution account in case of public institutions, the annexes and the management report.

4.The financial year begins on the 1st January and ends on the 31st December, except the first year of activity in which case it begins on the setting up or registration date, according to the law, of the persons under Art. 1.

Art. 28.

The bookkeeping balance shall be based on the following rules:

1.the positions in the balance shall comply with the data recorded in the books, correlated with the actual situation of the patrimonial elements settled through the inventory;

2.the compensations between the accounts written down in the balance as well as between the incomes and expenses from the profit account and the losses are not allowed.

Art. 29.

The bookkeeping balances are checked and approved by auditors, authorised accountants or accounting experts, as required, under the conditions issued by the Ministry of Economy.

Art. 30.

1.The approved bookkeeping balance shall be published under the provisions of the law.

2.The yearly bookkeeping balance shall be kept for 50 years.

3.In case of suspension of the activity of the persons under Art. 1., the bookkeeping balance as well as the records and the other documents referred to under Art. 25. are handed over to the State Archives according to the provisions of the Law of the Romanian National Archives, if not otherwise provided by the law.

Art. 31.

1.One copy of the yearly bookkeeping balance shall be submitted no later than the 15th April of the following year by all persons under Art. 1., to The General District Department of the Public Finances and to the Municipal Department of Bucharest.

2.The public institution and other legal persons whose managers have the quality of credit ordering persons shall submit one copy of the quarterly and yearly bookkeeping balance to the higher body at the time required by the latter.

3.The ministries, the departments and the other central public administration bodies, the prefectures, the local councils, the district councils and the municipal council of Bucharest whose managers have the quality of credit ordering persons shall submit to the Ministry of Economy and Finance one copy of the regulations and terms issued by the latter.

Art. 32.

With regard to the checking of the calculation and to the correlation with the state budgets, as required, of their due incomes according to the law, the persons under Art. 1. shall submit, every month, the situation of "The financial results and fiscal obligations" to the general public finance departments of the districts and Bucharest according to the model and the terms established by the Ministry of Economy and Finance.

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Chapter V Bookkeeping of the public finances treasury, of the public institutions and the balance of the whole national economy

Art. 33.

1.The bookkeeping of the public finances treasury is organised within the Ministry of Economy and Finance and its subordinate departments and it includes: the operations related to the cash execution of the state budget, of the local budgets, of the state social insurance budget; the setting up and utilisation of the extra-budgetary means and special destination funds; the administration of the domestic and external public debts as well as other financial operations on behalf of the central public administration bodies.

2.The organisation and management of the bookkeeping of the public finances treasury are carried out according to the regulations issued by the Ministry of Economy and Finance.

3.The ministries, the departments and the other central public administration bodies whose managers have the quality of main credit ordering persons as well as the public institutions having legal personality and subordinated to them organise and manage the bookkeeping of the collected incomes and of the expense made according to the approved budget, of the extra-budgetary means and of the special destination funds.

Art. 34.

1.The bookkeeping of the local budgets is organised and managed at the level of the country districts and Bucharest City, of the municipalities and districts of Bucharest, of the towns and villages according to the regulations issued by the Ministry of Economy and Finance in order to record the operations related to:

• the collected incomes and payments within the execution of the local budgets and special destination funds set up according to the law;

• the record of the transfers from the state budget and treasury fund set up according to the law.

2.The locally subordinated state institutions, with legal personality whose managers have the quality of credit ordering persons, organise and manage the income and expense bookkeeping to the approved budget.

Art. 35.

The bookkeeping of the budget of the state social insurance and of the other autonomous social insurance bodies as well as of the their subordinated enterprises is organised and managed by each social insurance enterprise.

Art. 36.

1.The Ministry of Economy and Finance prepares the balance of the whole national economy every year. 2.The main object of the balance of the whole national economy is the national patrimony including the public and private patrimony including the land, the natural resources, the deposits and other goods with an economic potential expressed in money.

3.The record in natural units or natural-conventional units, as required, of the land, the forests, the useful mineral deposits and other natural resources of the bodies and enterprises which administer, exploit and use the respective goods.

Art. 37.

The balance of the whole national economy is submitted to the Government at the same time with the general yearly account for the execution of the state budget.

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Chapter VI Contraventions and law infringement

Art. 38.

Contravention to the provisions of this law is any of the following deeds not committed under such conditions which, according to the law are infringements:

1.The holding of tangible and liquid assets under any form or any title as well as the existence of any patrimonial rights and obligations without begin recorded in the books;

2.Receiving and releasing from the deposits of goods of any kind without entering and exiting justifying documents;

3.Non-elaboration of the checking balances;

4.Non-observance of the regulations issued by the Ministry of Economy and Finance with regard to:

5.utilization and keeping of the account books;

6.keeping in the achieves of justifying documents and bookkeeping documents as well as the restoring of the lost, stolen or destroyed documents; 7.making the patrimony inventory;

8.preparation, checking, certification and submitting of the bookkeeping balances.

Art. 39.

1.The contraventions under Art. 38., items 1 and 2 are sanctioned by a fine from 20,000 to 50,000 lei and those ones under items 3 and 4 by a fine from 5,000 to 20,000 lei.

2.The contraventions are ascertained and the sanctions are applied by persons with financial control competence and other persons specifically authorised by Ministry of Economy and Finance.

3.The provisions of the Law no. 32/1968 related to the contravention ascertaining and sanctioning are also applicable to the contraventions under Art. 38.

Art. 40.

The deliberate effecting of inaccurate word as well as the deliberate commission of the records in the books having as a consequence the falsification of the incomes, expenses, financial results and patrimonial elements reflected in the bookkeeping balance are considered as intellectual forgery infringement and punished according to the law.

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Chapter VII Transitory and final provisions

Art. 41

The Government of Romania shall submit within 60 days from the law publication, the draft law for the organisation or the activity of the bookkeeping survey and of the authorised accountants.

Art. 42.

The Ministry of Economy and Finance shall within 6 months from the coming into force of the present law, elaborate the application regulation of the same and shall bring up to date and re-edit the general account plan the model of the records and bookkeeping balances the common forms for the financial and bookkeeping activity as well as methodological regulations for their completion and utilisation. Until such publication, the account plans, their application instructions and the existing bookkeeping regulations brought up to the basis of the regulations to be adopted during this period, shall be further used.

Art. 43.

The National Defence Ministry, the Internal Affairs Ministry and other institutions named by the law make proposals to the Ministry of Economy and Finance in connection with their own organization and bookkeeping management.

Art. 44.

The Ministry of Economy and Finance controls the application of this law.

Art. 45.

This law comes into force on the 1st of January, 1992.

Art. 46.

The provisions of this law are also applied to the branches residing abroad belonging to the persons under Art. 1. having their offices or residing in Romania as well as the branches residing in Romania belonging to some legal or natural persons having their offices or residing abroad.

Art. 47.

On the effective date of this law the following abrogated:

1.Decree no. 375/1956 referring to the restoring of the papers, documents and records with financial contents which were lost, stolen or destroyed, published in the Official Bulletin no. 22 on the 4th of August, 1956;

2.Decision no. 1885 dated the 28th of December 1970 referring to the organisation and management of the bookkeeping, the tasks and responsibilities of the manager of the financial and bookkeeping department, published in the Official Bulletin no. 156 on the 29th of December 1970;

3.Decision no. 1533/1973 referring to the forms with special utilisation, published in the Official Bulletin no. 189 on the 2nd of December 1973;

4.Decision no. 1116/1975 referring to the improvement of the main balance survey, the increase of the efficiency and quality of the information on the economical and financial results of the socialist state enterprises, published in the Official Bulletin no. 127 on the 5th of December, 1975;

5.Any other provisions contrary to this law. This law was adopted by the chamber of Deputies and the Senate, during the joint meeting on the 20th of December 1991 in observance of the provisions under Art. 74, paragraph (2) and (76), paragraph (2) of the Romanian Constitution.

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