Do accountants have to undergo certification? Is it necessary for a chief accountant to undergo certification according to professional standards? Is it necessary to prepare for a GIT inspection after the introduction of the professional standard?

Depending on the applicant’s compliance with the requirements for education and work experience, the following are distinguished: main types of qualification certificates:

1. Certificate Chief accountant- confirms the level professional competence applicant required to perform the functions of a chief accountant in accordance with the requirements of the 6th level of the professional standard “Accountant” and the requirements for professional accountants of the IPB of Russia.
2. Certificate Accountant- confirms the level of professional competence of the applicant necessary to perform the functions of an accountant in accordance with the requirements of the 5th level of the professional standard “Accountant” and the requirements for professional accountants of the IPB of Russia.

Applicant for chief accountant certificate must satisfy one of the following education, training and experience requirements practical work:

• have a higher education and work experience related to managing accounting and preparation of accounting (financial) statements or auditing activities, at least 3 years
• have secondary vocational education and relevant work experience of at least 5 years.

On accountant certificate candidates must meet one of the following requirements:

• have a secondary vocational education in the field of training "Economics and Management" without presenting requirements for work experience,
• at the time of application, be studying at a university in a course of at least 3 in the field of study “Economics and Management” without presenting requirements for work experience.
• have at least a general secondary education, special training in accounting and control, as well as at least 3 years of work experience in positions requiring basic knowledge of accounting (accountant; accountant; cashier; accountant, etc.)

The exam after completing training to obtain a qualification certificate as a professional accountant is taken in two stages:

• intermediate certification, which is carried out directly at the STEK Training Center,
• a qualifying exam that candidates take at the IPB of Russia.

Scroll necessary documents provided by the student for admission to the qualifying exam for the Professional Accountant certificate:

1. Application for membership in Full Members of the IPB of Russia. ipbr.org)

2. Application for membership in Full Members of the IPB of the Moscow region.(print from the applicant’s personal account on the website ipbr.org)

3. Application for certification.(print from the applicant’s personal account on the website ipbr.org)

4. Education document: copy of education diploma.

5. Documents confirming work experience in the required positions: extract from work book, as well as other documents confirming work experience in the required positions, in the absence of the necessary work experience: a copy of the part-time employment contract, a certificate of part-time work, and, if necessary, a certificate from the place of employment; Reference
Documents are certified by an official authorized to perform this function. Certification of documents by the applicant himself is not allowed.

Last name change
If you change your last name, you must provide a photocopy of a document confirming the change in your last name.

6. Copies of payment documents confirming payment of the entrance fee to the IPB of the Moscow region (9,700 rubles) and the IPB of Russia (1,200 rubles) with the correct purpose of payment

The entrance fee for the certificate of accountant and chief accountant at the IPB MR and IPB Russia (RUB 10,900) is paid by the candidate independently. When paying entrance fees through the STEC Training Center, the total cost increases and amounts to 11,900 rubles.

7. Color photograph 3x4.

Scanned copies of documents must be placed in your own Personal account applicant on the IPB Russia website (ipbr.org). The code for registering on the site will be sent to you at email within a week from the start of classes.

Important! If you are taking a training course for a professional accountant certificate in the format online broadcasts and join another territorial institute (TIPB), then receipts for payment of entrance fees must be downloaded in the applicant’s Personal Account on the website ipbr.org.

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Many employers are interested in the procedure by which accountants are certified in 2018, because last changes legislative norms have transformed the certification procedure for these specialists. In order to go through the entire procedure, obtain qualifications and engage in legitimate accounting activities, you need to find out when the certification of accountants takes place, undergo training and complete the verification. If the procedure goes well, then in the end the specialist will receive the qualifications he needs, and the employer will not have problems with regulatory authorities.

Preparation of accountants for certification

Before an accountant has the opportunity to undergo certification, he must complete the necessary training. It can be completed both in an educational institution and independently. In accordance with current legislation, certification is required in the following professional areas:

• Certification of chief accountant, at the end of which the employee will receive the appropriate qualifications and will be able to engage professional activity in this direction. This category also includes specialists working as expert accountants.
• Employees applying for the position of financial director of an enterprise. This category also includes those who are planning to become a financial expert.
• Employees applying for the position of director responsible for management accounting in the organization.
• An employee who decides to become an internal auditor of a company. Considering that such activities are closely related to verification financial activities organization, the employee needs certification as a professional accountant.
• Accountant in charge of maintaining tax accounting In the organisation. This position may also be referred to as a tax law expert consultant.

Certification of an accountant by an employer or educational organization is possible only if the applicant shows the proper level of training and initial knowledge. It must meet the requirements that apply to specialists who want to engage in accounting activities:

• The applicant for the position must have a complete higher education and a document confirming its receipt. In this case, the specialist must have work experience in this specialty. This can be any profession that is partially related to accounting and tax accounting. For example, leadership positions, requiring such knowledge, as well as teachers at universities in the accounting specialty. The experience must be at least three years.
• Applicants who do not have higher education, can also undergo certification for the position. If they only have an incomplete higher or secondary education obtained at a vocational educational institution, then they also receive the right to receive the required certificate. But in this case, they must have a total working experience in positions that require accounting knowledge of at least five years.
• Pass the professional education in associations of professional accountants, where the applicant will be given a special certificate confirming receipt of additional education.

Such requirements for the qualifications and preparation of an applicant for an accounting position are prescribed for a reason. The fact is that an employee working in this position is closely related to the financial flows of the organization. And, as a result, the cost of his mistake can be much higher than that of another specialist in the same company.

Moreover, it is worth remembering that the activities of accountants and other similar financial specialists are closely monitored by executive federal authorities. With the opportunities that come with such a position, a person may be tempted to engage in financial fraud and other criminal activities. In order to prevent and suppress them, high criteria for obtaining a certificate were established and constant control by the state was ensured.

Procedure for certification of accountants

Before taking part in the certification, the applicant for the position of accountant must undergo appropriate training. It can be completed either independently or in relevant educational institutions and research centers. Then, after it was completed preparatory stage, the employee can begin to undergo certification.

In order to take part in testing and assessing knowledge, a specialist must submit an appropriate application. You can take the exam and undergo certification on the territory of the responsible organizations.

If the applicant wants to obtain a professional accountant certificate commercial company, then he must pass an exam consisting of four parts. Each of them focuses on one of the aspects of the financial employee’s activities and is designed to check everything. necessary for a person knowledge.

• The first stage of the exam is an exam on accounting, preparation of reports on financial activities, control of financial transactions and audits. Also, additional questions may include knowledge of the specialist’s professional values, as well as ethics.
• The second stage of the exam is tax reporting and control of taxation of the organization.
• Economic activities of an organization or company, regulation of legal issues.
• General concepts and issues of international standards financial statements.

If a specialist who intends to work as an accountant in a budget-funded institution wants to pass the certification, then for him four examination stages will be held on other issues.

• The first stage includes questions about maintaining budget accounting, preparing and filling out financial statements for responsible organizations, conducting an internal audit, knowledge of the professional values ​​of an accountant and ethics.
• The second stage is tax reporting and control of taxation of the organization.
• Activities of budgetary institutions and their legal regulation.
• Parts of legislation relating to the activities of budgetary organizations and the implementation of treasury execution of budgets.

After the knowledge testing is completed, the results of the knowledge and skills test are summed up. Qualification training is assessed according to the criteria specified in the Assessment Regulations. After the results are summed up and the decision is made, the formation of the results of the first examination papers begins. Those applicants who score at least a satisfactory number of points based on the results of these tasks are entitled to take the second part of the exam.

This part of testing can be organized by educational organization, not related to executive bodies or the employer. In this case, the applicant has the opportunity to undergo testing at the place of his registration.

An applicant who has passed the exams and received the appropriate grades, which are established in the Assessment Regulations, can receive a certificate confirming his qualifications as a professional financial worker. But if a person fails to pass the exams, then he has two main options:

• Retake parts of the exam that you failed during the test. The applicant has two years to do this. If during this time the specialist does not have time to retake the required parts of the exam, then the training and preparation will need to be completed again.
• If the exam is not passed, but he does not want to undergo training again, then the specialist can obtain the qualification of a practicing accountant.

Passed exams and a qualification certificate obtained based on their results confirm the level of knowledge and skills of a specialist. With this document, he receives the right to get a job in the appropriate category, which was assigned to him after undergoing training and testing.

Main changes in accountant certification in 2018

Accountant and Chief Accountant can work in his specialty, even if he has not passed certification. Legislative norms do not require such verification to be carried out. An accountant is not included in the list of professions that must be certified.

The main changes made to legislation in 2018 relate to the exam procedure itself and those organizations that have the right to conduct it. From now on, there is an official federal register of educational institutions that have received the right to conduct certification of accounting department employees.

In order to send an accountant for training, the organization must take several mandatory steps.

• It is necessary to conclude a special agreement for training with one of the qualification assessment centers.
• It is necessary to conclude an agreement with the employee of the organization himself, who will undergo training and obtain qualifications. There are no standards for this type of document, so it can be concluded in any form, as stated in Part 2 of Article 197 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.
• The manager must issue an appropriate order that one of the employees will be sent for training.

It is worth noting that in 2018, even despite the increase in regulations and legislation that relate to the procedure for assessing the qualifications of employees and their work activities, there is still no mandatory certification for all financial employees. The organization and conduct of such verification activities depends only on the decision of the manager. But if the head of the enterprise has made a clear decision that there will be an inspection, then the employee is obliged to undergo it.

There is also a list of specialists who are required to undergo certification of their professional skills and knowledge. This list includes:

• As mentioned above, employees whose management has made an unequivocal decision to begin such a check must undergo certification;
• Specialists who work in budget-type organizations, banking and credit companies.

The main reason for the changes that affected this area of ​​assessment and verification professional knowledge financial personnel, lies in the amendments that have been introduced to the legislation. They are reflected in the law governing independent assessment qualifications - No. 248-FZ, 07/03/2016.

It is also worth noting that if an organization has decided to conduct certification for its employees, then the employee will not have the opportunity to conduct normal labor activity. He needs to spend time and effort preparing. This means that while the employee is undergoing certification, he must be exempt from performing his duties. labor responsibilities with the same salary. The employer also has the right to send his employee to a special The educational center, where they will be convinced of his professional suitability. But this can only be done if the manager has received the consent of the employee himself. And at the same time, the organization must bear any costs for training itself. The rules regarding this issue are established in Art. 187 Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

After reading the parts of the legislation prescribed in the same article, you can make a preliminary conclusion about where the questions for the exam for certifying accountants come from. Most often, a special professional standard “Accountant” is used to write questions. This standard is legalized by Order of the Ministry of Labor No. 1061n. Those organizations that want to certify their employees must tailor their tasks and exam questions to the requirements specified in this standard.

An accountant, like any other specialist, must correspond to the position he occupies. And it is precisely for this purpose that a procedure such as certification of accountants is carried out annually. After all, the level of his training and professionalism determines how well the accounting of an enterprise, commercial or government institution will be maintained.

Certification is necessary in order to get rid of doubts regarding whether the accountant performs his duties efficiently. After all, the finances of the organization are in his hands. Therefore, this procedure has significantly more advantages than disadvantages. Therefore, both the employer and the accountant themselves should thoroughly prepare for it.

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The certification procedure takes place in accordance with the norms of the legislation of the Russian Federation and has a certain procedure. The accountant, as a professional standard, was introduced by the Ministry of Labor of the Russian Federation in 2020; it specified clear requirements for the employee’s work experience, education, skills and knowledge, and a description of his functions.

Based on all these points, the accountant goes through the procedure and receives an appropriate certificate indicating the level of his professionalism.

What is it and is the procedure mandatory?

Certification of accountants is a special testing procedure to determine the level of qualifications, professionalism, and skills. In addition, during its course, both moral and personal qualities employee. This is necessary in order to check whether the person is suitable for the position he occupies and whether he meets the requirements that the employing company imposes on employees of this level.

The certification procedure is carried out over periods and includes a set of various measures. Moreover, it is initiated by the employer himself, that is, the head of the organization.

Passing certification is beneficial not only to the management team, but also to those being certified, as it makes it possible not only to find out their level, but also to increase it, which can bring bonuses in the form of a salary increase or promotion. If management initiates such a procedure, the accountant must undergo it.

Certification will help not only evaluate the performance of employees, but also optimize the work process, because this will give an additional impetus to employees to refresh or improve their knowledge, thereby increasing their qualifications.

Thus, the certification procedure for accountants is necessary for:

• improving staff selection;
• improving the quality and efficiency of their work;
• moral and material incentives for employees;
• formation personnel reserve, which can subsequently be used to obtain a vacant position;
• determination of qualification level;
• understanding the need for such procedures as advanced training, professional training, and retraining of accountants.

That is, certification is aimed at optimizing the work process and eliminating an unprofessional approach to work, if any. However, the law does not say that an ordinary or chief accountant must be certified.

Legal regulation

The implementation of the certification procedure for accountants is controlled by the Labor Code of the Russian Federation in the Regulations on Certification Inspections, which specifies the basics and rules for conducting, training and preparation. The legal regulation of certification is of practical importance, especially against the backdrop of changes and improvements to existing labor legislation.

According to the norms labor law, the main features of certification are:

• passing the procedure as a consequence of the labor relationship between employee and employer;
• the subject of certification is an employee of a certain category;
• carried out in periods;
• implementation in a special organizational and legal form;
• the presence of mandatory legal consequences for the person being certified;
• means of selection and placement of personnel.

All this allows us to determine the employee’s suitability for the position held and the level of his professionalism, which is main characteristic and the purpose of certification. According to these legal acts, the employee is required to undergo certification, during which he confirms the level of his knowledge and the right to occupy a particular position in accordance with the employment contract concluded with him.

Essence legal regulation certification is to:

• keep the content of the employee’s employment contract unchanged (if qualifications are confirmed);
• change its content by making appropriate adjustments afterwards;
• cease action.

Former employment contract is retained if the certification reveals that the employee’s level of knowledge, professionalism and position are consistent with the employee’s performance. It is worth noting that accountants with secondary or higher education can undergo such certification.

Innovations from 2020

Since 2020, the law on independent assessment of qualifications has come into force, but it does not provide for mandatory certification of accountants. A specialist can undergo it either independently, on a voluntary basis, or on the initiative of an employer who wishes to conduct it.

Among the innovations of 2020, it is worth noting that now centers for independent assessment of the qualifications of accountants will certify them at a professional level, namely, money must be paid for preparation and certification services.

Moreover, if the initiator of the certification was the management of the organization, it is she who pays all expenses. If the accountant personally initiates this procedure, he is guaranteed to receive an income tax deduction, as well as an exemption from work for that day, with payment for all working hours.

In general, certification of accountants includes the following questions:

• Accounting;
• financial reporting and its analysis;
• taxation;
• auditing fundamentals and ethical standards;
• international standards;
• basics of computer science.

Profstandart

In accordance with Labor Code Russian Federation, a professional standard is a characteristic of the qualifications that are needed to work in a certain profession, its components are:

• knowledge;
• skills;
• skills;
• experience.

The professional standard “accountant” establishes the qualifications of the person being certified, that is, the level of his skill required to work in the corresponding specialty. This document is officially registered in Russian Ministry Justice.

Depending on the job responsibilities and position of the employee, qualification requirements are determined. Professional standards are used by managers to form staffing and in matters of certification organization.

Based on the professional standard, each specialist can determine his level and compliance not just with the position held, but with the level of knowledge, and, if necessary, undergo retraining.

In the professional standard we describe, two positions are distinguished: accountant (specialist) and chief accountant (chief accountant). For each of them there is a general labor function, as well as a detailed one, that is, having a specific, specific list of requirements. For each, it is indicated exactly what labor skills, actions, knowledge and abilities are required for its implementation.

For a specialist

The responsibilities of a specialist in accounting activities include the generalized function of counting totals, balances, and closing turnover on current accounts in accounting registers. Profstandard classifies as specialists those workers who perform calculations for individual areas of accounting, without knowledge of all of them. Managers are recommended to delineate responsibilities by identifying such positions among accountants as lead, senior, trainee, and site accountant.

According to each position, the scope of his responsibilities will be determined. It is also worth considering that despite the fact that the cashier, despite job responsibilities, refers to the service sector, not accounting.

For the chief accountant

– the position is more serious, and the professional standard requires him to prepare and provide financial statements of an economic entity, that is:

• prepare financial statements;
• prepare consolidated (generalized) financial statements in accordance with IFRS;
• control internal accounting and preparation of financial statements at the sites;
• keep tax records;
• make up tax reporting and planning.

Defines tax reporting as financial, since the amounts received as a result of tax accounting are reflected in the accounting accounts. The Ministry of Labor of the Russian Federation has determined that a simple accountant, a specialist, is not able to maintain such reporting. And therefore, the one who, on the basis of professional standards, maintains all the company’s accounting records is called the chief accountant.

Procedure for certification of accountants

Test questions for the certification of accountants have been compiled and approved by the IPB RF, all of them correspond to the goal: to check the professional suitability, level of knowledge and experience of the person being certified. Moreover, issues change regularly, which is associated with changes in legislation and regulatory documents.

The certification lasts two hours without a break. electronic format on the IPB website. No strangers are allowed to be present during the test. During the passage, the accountant gives options for his answers, which will subsequently be considered by the IPB commission. Based on the test, a final protocol of certification results is issued.

If the test is passed successfully, the employee receives an accountant or chief accountant certificate a month after the results are announced. If the test taker does not agree with the testing decision of the IPB, within 30 days he can appeal to the organization with an appeal to review the test results.

Sample characteristics and sample questions

Before certifying an employee, the commission must receive, no later than 2 weeks before the test date, the performance characteristics of the person being certified, that is, a letter of recommendation.

It must indicate:

• accounting experience;
• experience and knowledge;
• business and personal characteristics;
• style and method of work of an accountant;
• knowledge of regulatory documents;
• difficulties that are present in the test taker’s work and the reason for their occurrence;
• obligations that he fulfills better or worse;
• ability to innovate, implement and develop them;
• information about self-education, advanced training;
• business qualities;
• work style;
• how responsive the employee is to the recommendations that were given during the previous certification.

There is a certain list of questions from which random ones are selected for the test individually for each person being certified.

This exam consists of twenty questions, it includes sections:

• accounting (15 questions);
• legal basis of accounting (5 questions);
• taxation (5 questions).

How to prepare

Of course, the accountant’s experience and knowledge alone may not be enough to successfully pass the certification, so it is necessary to prepare for it in advance.

To do this you should use:

• approved textbooks on accounting activities, both in standard and electronic format;
• teaching aids;
• tests and assignments for independent work;
• methodological publications on topics and.

Practical exercises, which in total should take up a third of the total preparation time, will also not hurt. This could be an internship at an audit, consulting or accounting firm. For that. To pass the certification with positive results, you should devote a sufficient amount of time and perseverance to the preparation.

Features of a budget organization

In a budget organization, employees must undergo certification after a year if they:

• reappointed to the position;
• underwent advanced training;
• have undergone retraining;
• returned from maternity leave.

During certification, a commission consisting of five people must be present, the composition of which is approved by the head of the organization.

Certification takes place in budgetary institution in several stages:

• formation of a commission;
• approval of the certification schedule;
• providing lists of those certified;
• preparation of necessary documents for the commission.

Before the test, the commission is sent a review of the employee and a sheet of past certification. Based on the results of the test, it is decided whether the employee is suitable for the position held and whether he will remain the same wage, whether a promotion is needed or the need to re-pass certification in a year.

Attention!

• Due to frequent changes in legislation, information sometimes becomes outdated faster than we can update it on the website.
• All cases are very individual and depend on many factors. Basic information does not guarantee a solution to your specific problems.

Today, many accountant job advertisements require that you have a professional accountant certificate. Since 2017, this “wish” of the employer has become more and more common, since the requirements for an accountant are set out in a special professional standard and a potential employee must meet all the standards set out in this document.

Why do you need a certificate?

Labor function accountant, the required level of his knowledge and skills, as well as professional experience are enshrined in the professional standard, approved. By Order of the Ministry of Labor of Russia dated December 22, 2014 N 1061n. Although this standard was introduced several years ago, its importance increased with the adoption of Law No. 238-FZ dated 07/03/2016, which established the principles of independent assessment of specialists’ qualifications.

According to clause 3, part 1, art. 81 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, the employer has the right to terminate labor Relations with an employee whose insufficient qualifications are confirmed based on the results of certification. The employer may send the employee for certification or an independent assessment of his qualifications.

Since an accountant performs the most important functions in an enterprise (keeps records, makes payments to employees and partners, etc.), increased demands are placed on his level of professionalism. Inconsistency with the above professional standard threatens that the applicant will not be able to get a job, and a working accountant may lose his job if the certification results are unsatisfactory.

Having an accountant with a certificate indicates his proper professional training and compliance of his level of knowledge with the necessary requirements of the standard.

Professional Accountant Certificate: How to Get it

Centers are given the right to issue certificates vocational training who have received a license to provide educational services and accreditation by the Institute of Professional Accountants (IPA). These centers, and primarily the IPB, conduct both certification and training in the field of accounting, and upon successful completion of the tests, they guarantee the certified person’s compliance with professional standards. Here the accountant can confirm and renew the validity of his certificate.

You might think that a chartered professional accountant has been mandatory since 2017, but the new legislation does not contain such provisions. Law dated December 6, 2011 N 402-FZ, regulating accounting, also does not oblige the accountant to have certification. An employee can undergo training and certification either of his own free will at his own expense, or at the direction of the employer with reimbursement of the corresponding expenses by the latter. Having a certificate gives an accountant an advantage in the labor market and allows a potential employer to hire a truly professional accounting professional.

The professional standard provides for two levels of accountant qualifications:

• Level 5 - “accountant”;
• Level 6 - “chief accountant”.

Consequently, an accountant can be issued one of two types of certificates - an accountant's certificate or a chief accountant's certificate.

Based on the requirements of the standard, not everyone can obtain a certificate. To do this, it must meet certain characteristics:

Conclusion

Despite the fact that the legislator did not make it mandatory for accountants to obtain a certificate, certification of accountants has become more important since 2017. Persons who have passed certification on their own initiative constitute strong competition to those who have not yet done so. By confirming their professional level based on the results of certification, existing employees can protect themselves from dismissal due to inadequacy for the position they occupy, and the employer is always confident that the accountant who works for him, certified according to all the rules, performs his work professionally and efficiently.

Still, amazing news recently appeared on the Internet... The State Duma announced a competition to teach its deputies how to spell the Russian language, as well as business etiquette. For all its comedy, it makes you sad. Why, one might ask, is it the “people’s representatives” who need educational programs? This is not surprising - literary Russian is considered one of the most difficult to learn, and what can we say about the bureaucratic vocabulary that overwhelms our regulatory documents? Perhaps it’s time for deputies to finally learn to write correctly and express their thoughts more clearly.

But jokes are jokes, and users of our service “” have to deal with regulatory framework, trying to figure out what they “wrote” there. If you can’t understand what’s written the first time, you definitely shouldn’t be upset. It is better to take advanced training or qualification courses. In the professional standard for accountants, approved back in 2014, the ability to read, understand and present the “standards” is the main requirement. While the State Duma is studying their native language, we recommend that our colleagues take care of their professional status, and we will tell you how to do this in 2017 in our article.

Supply and demand vary

Particular interest in professional standards appeared in 2016, when business circles actively spread the rumor that their application extends not only to the public sector, but also to the commercial sector. Ultimately, the Legislator reassured particularly zealous citizens and stated that until 2018, accountants employed in private companies can “live in peace” and certification for compliance with professional standards will be carried out on a voluntary basis. When all this was realized, interest in certification decreased significantly. People reasoned quite simply: while people are hiring without a certificate, why go somewhere and confirm something? Not expecting such an attitude towards what was happening (and accountants are mainly executive people), many companies that help in passing the relevant testing “sank”, because the demand for their services was limited only to “public sector employees”. In general, this is where the matter ends - companies are waiting for clients, but they (the clients) are in no hurry.

You can find out more about professional standards as such and whether an employer should focus on them in ours.

Who is an “accountant” according to the authors of the professional standard?

The regulation on the certification of accountants states that a specialist has every right to strive to have a certificate of an ordinary or chief accountant, taking into account what specific qualification claims the applicant meets. To prove suitability for the position held, an ordinary accountant must have a secondary education in the profession (or only study for one, being at least in the third year educational institution). Only secondary general (but not lower) education, supported by passing courses in control and accounting, is allowed. It is mandatory to have three years of work experience in a position related in one way or another to accounting (it is not entirely clear to students what to do). In theory, it may happen that an accountant, having quite a wealth of practical experience behind him, “forgot” the theoretical part of the certification, as a result of which the exam will be considered failed. From the point of view of our officials, the postponement until 2018 should become a kind of “buffer”, using which an accountant can fully prepare for delivery. There are about six months left before the changes actually come into force (maybe more, since not all of our laws come into effect immediately after their adoption), so we can recommend to our colleagues to use this time profitably and undergo the necessary certification in advance.

How does the process work?

As mentioned above, there has not yet been a rush in this service market, which allows an accountant to freely contact any organization accredited by the IPB of Russia and take part in this process. To do this you will need:

Decide on the company that will conduct testing (here it is advisable to correlate price offers, and also read the reviews of colleagues who have already received a certificate from this particular organization);

Prepare the necessary list of documents (the list is standard. Additionally, the company may request an INN, SNILS and, of course, a document on education or completion of accounting courses. For the chief accountant, a “credential” from a state university will be mandatory);

Discuss with a representative of this company the date and time of the certification (some companies may also offer an analogue of preparatory courses for taking the test - here it’s up to you to decide whether you will need them or not);

When everything has been discussed, you need to take time off from work (due to the fact that the certification takes place in two stages, they can be “split” into several days. The first stage is passing a written and oral exam. The second is testing on the basis of the IPB of Russia)

Request from the company an approximate questionnaire that will be used for testing (this will help with preparation).

Test questions for certification of accountants were compiled and approved by the IPB RF, all of them correspond to the goals of testing the professional suitability, level of knowledge and experience of the person being certified. Moreover, issues change regularly due to changes in legislation and regulations. In 2017certification lasts two hours without interruption in electronic format on the IPB website. No strangers are allowed to be present during the test. During the passage, the accountant gives options for his answers, which will subsequently be considered by the IPB commission. Based on the test, a final protocol of certification results is issued. If the test is passed successfully, the employee receives an accountant or chief accountant certificate a month after the results are announced. If the test taker does not agree with the testing decision of the IPB, within 30 days he can appeal to the organization with an appeal to review the test results.

The certification program, its goals and objectives can be found directly on the IPB Russia website.

Why is it better to take the certification this year?

As they say, “prepare the sleigh in the summer and the cart in the winter.” This folk wisdom is very relevant when applied to our topic. At the moment, you are unlikely to encounter queues for obtaining a certificate, especially since the cost of completing the training, in theory, can be offset by the funds of the company in which you work. Moreover, having a test certificate in hand, your professional status should change for the better. If you have noticed, the largest companies in the country (for example, Gazprom, SberBank, X 5 Retail Group) have quite serious requirements for candidates for open vacancies (including accounting profiles). One of them, among other things, is that the applicant has certificates of compliance with professional standards (especially international ones). Confirmation of qualifications according to a professional standard is a purely Russian testing format, but over time, you can be sure of this, without it it will be quite difficult to find a job. “Freebies,” pardon the vocabulary, are gradually disappearing from the labor market. Employers, for the same money that they paid several years ago, began to demand from workers not only more output, but also more skills. If you don’t want to remain unclaimed in a year or two, it makes sense to urgently take care of your qualifications. Fortunately, as was said above, in 2017, or rather in the middle of it, the best time to do this. Moreover, having a certificate of compliance with the professional standard in hand, it is possible to get a higher-paying job and it does not have to be some kind of “federal giant”. The value of a certificate today comes down to the fact that few people have it now. For now it’s “exclusive”, if you like, but later it will be an obligation. Feel the difference.

If after reading our article you do not have the desire to immediately contact the testing center, then we ask you to at least read more information about this in other sources, find out reviews on the forums about how your colleagues managed to pass the test and how it is now for them this came in handy at work. Believe me, there are truly amazing and interesting stories. Of course, someone may not need a certificate, but is it worth looking so far ahead? Probably not, because in our country everything changes with enviable constancy. In any case, no one has canceled the concept of advanced training. How many stories can you hear in our business environment that an accountant can and wants to apply for the position of chief, but for some reason he is denied this. It seems that you have a higher specialized education and work experience allows it, but it still doesn’t work out. This is probably the ideal case when you need to go and improve your qualifications and then show your certificate at an interview. It could definitely come in handy.

We wish you success!

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