HOA accountant: responsibilities according to the job description, can the chairman hold this position part-time and a sample employment contract Justice

Is such a specialist needed in a homeowners' association?

Accounting in an HOA is designed to control the flow of funds and reflect revenue in the correct accounts. The partnership must form funds from the funds received, which accumulate funds and direct them to the needs provided for by the partnership. That is, accounting activities are required.

However, it can be done by any member of the organization, as well as by the chairman (how is the chairman selected and how is his work paid?). If the partnership includes only one house and the amount of financial work is small, then the formal position of accountant is not necessary. Instead, payment transactions and issues can be handled by the most experienced HOA employee who understands economic transactions.

Those organizations that include several residential buildings are required to have formal accounting, which involves several employees, including the chief accountant. The job of the chief accountant is to monitor all payment transactions carried out, and in reporting - to monitor the correctness of calculations.

This employee manages the rest of the employees, whose tasks are to pay taxes, work with suppliers, and pay salaries to HOA employees.

Is it necessary to hire him?

Based on Article 148 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation, accounting in an HOA is one of the main responsibilities of the board of the partnership. An accountant is a mandatory employee when no member of the HOA, including the chairman, can handle reports.

Based on Federal Law No. 188 dated December 29, 2004, Article 147, clause 3.1. The chairman does not have the right to combine his main activity with any other during his entire working time.

But if he does accounting, he has no right to receive money for it. As an exception, board members may set a higher salary for the manager. If the partnership has several houses and the amount of work is too large, then it is necessary to organize an entire accounting department with a chief accountant who will be the person responsible for reporting.

Any errors in reporting entail liability on the part of the HOA, so accounting is the organization’s primary task.

Who is doing the searching?

The search for an accountant can be undertaken by residents of the building who are part of the community and have received the approval of the board. This is also within the competence of the head of the HOA, but he is not obliged to do this, but does it only at his own discretion and desire. When a candidate is found, he is considered at a board meeting, where a decision is made on his acceptance or rejection.

Can the chairman of the HOA hold this position?

No normative act or other document regulating the procedure for distributing staffing prohibits combining the positions of chairman and chief accountant. This becomes a motive for many chairmen to combine positions.

However, this raises the question that the position of chairman involves work throughout the working day, just like the activities of an accountant . For this reason, combination is not allowed.

Reference! Federal Law No. 123 of 06/04/11 defines the illegality of the actions of managers (chairmen) who combine their main activities with any other during the same period of working time.

Based on this provision, the chairman has the right to conduct accounting, but without payment . The meeting of members may, in this regard, establish an increase in the chairman's salary or other payments.

Requirements for the applicant

An accountant's responsibilities include working with documents and PCs. Based on this, the main requirements for an applicant for the position of accountant are:

availability of economic education and experience in accounting for at least 1 year and 3 years of experience as an ordinary accountant in the housing and communal services sector;
skills in working with 1C programs: VDGB;
Fluent computer skills and knowledge of programs such as Microsoft Office, Word, Excel;
orientation in office work;
ability to conduct accounting in homeowners' associations, housing cooperatives, management companies;
knowledge in legislation, jurisprudence, personnel issues.

Skills related directly to the individual play an equally important role:

good mentality;
composure and stress resistance;
painstaking work with documents;
perseverance and patience.

Job description for HOA accountant - sample

The job description of an accountant for an HOA (homeowners' association) describes the rights and responsibilities of this specialist, as well as the requirements for him. we’ll talk about in this article about the job description of an HOA accountant

Position of HOA accountant

Homeowners often form partnerships to resolve issues related to the maintenance, operation and repair of their homes on their own. To coordinate actions, the members of the HOA elect a board, which includes an accountant who carries out his functions on the basis of the job description.

The main task of this specialist is to organize the work of the partnership in the field of finance and to strive for reasonable spending of funds received at the cash desk and into bank accounts from residents. He is also taking measures to optimize costs.

Moreover, the HOA accountant actively participates in replenishing the partnership’s finances, seeking additional opportunities for these purposes and attracting funds from outside.

This can be done by placing advertisements on houses, renting out vacant space, etc.

In a word, the main task of an HOA accountant is to maintain the partnership’s accounting in strict accordance with current legislative norms and carry out the necessary settlements with the budget, extra-budgetary funds and counterparties.

General provisions

This section of the document defines:

who approves the job description;
to whom does the HOA accountant report?
what are the terms of payment;
who replaces the employee during the period of his temporary absence for valid reasons (when going on another vacation, during illness, etc.);
what regulatory documents and laws should an accountant follow in his work.

It also sets out the requirements for the applicant for this position, in particular they relate to the level of his education, experience and skills. When determining this part of the general provisions, one should be guided by the professional standard of Accountant.

As a rule, it is said here that an accountant must be competent in almost all matters related to his activities. After all, he will have to report on his work (including for expenses incurred) to the board and owners upon their first request.

Otherwise, doubts may arise about the properly organized activities of the partnership and the transparency of its actions.

Responsibilities and rights

An HOA accountant has a wide range of functional responsibilities in the workplace:

maintains accounting records for the HOA;
prepares accounts, primary accounting forms, internal accounting and reporting papers;
calculates taxes and issues them to subcontractors and resource suppliers;
conducts inventory;
maintains a register of accounting of property, funds, materials, finances, credit transactions, services, HOA estimates;
provides owners with receipts, invoices, and controls payment;
settles accounts with third parties;
pays the HOA's loan obligations;
writes off materials and spare parts;
prepares and constantly updates information for GIS;
issues certificates and recalculations for utility services to residents;
conducts calculations for the rental of non-residential premises;
makes payments to the social insurance fund and pension fund;
advises residents on all issues regarding payments.

All accountant responsibilities are spelled out in more detail in the job description.

In addition to the duties, the specialist has the following rights:

signing documents or their endorsement;
representing the partnership on financial matters to service providers or contractors;
cash flow analysis;
debt collection;
control of material assets through inventory;
opposition to irrational or criminal spending of money or materials of the HOA;
control of the legality of the partnership policy;
requirement to improve the professional level of governing bodies.

Can you trust the HOA accounting department?

At the end of January, a telegram channel about legal problems of housing and communal services asked readers whether they trusted the accounting department of their HOA.

Results of the survey in the telegram channel “Housing and Communal Services”

The result was not surprising. Scandals involving HOAs regularly appear in the press. Three complaints are most often made against the management of the HOA:

Inflated payments, when, for example, receipts for consumed heat and electrical energy are issued to owners according to the standard, and money is transferred to resource supply organizations based on the readings of common house meters.
Payment to affiliated contractors for work that was not actually performed or was performed, but its market price is lower than the amount paid.
Concealing HOA income from apartment owners. For example, from advertising or renting out common areas.

But how do HOA accountants embezzle money? Such studies have not yet been conducted. At the same time, they have something to hide from the chairman and apartment owners. As a result of an analysis of sentences in criminal cases against HOA accountants over the past five years, we found that the majority of convicted accountants use one of four main schemes.

Can tenants of premises attend a meeting of HOA members
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What information is contained in the job description?

The job description contains all the information about the requirements for an accountant, his duties, rights and responsibilities that he bears. General information about the employee in this document is as follows:

Only a person with an appropriate higher education can apply for the position of accountant;
For official appointment to the position of accountant, minutes of the HOA board meeting are required.

This paper contains the following sections:

general provisions;
main functions;
what an accountant should know and observe;
responsibilities;
rights;
responsibility;
final position.

At the very end of the document there is a field for the accountant’s signature, which confirms familiarization with the job description.

We do not recommend completing the documents yourself. Save time - contact our lawyers by phone:

8 (800) 302-76-94

If there is a need to make adjustments to the document, an “Addendum to the Job Description” is drawn up.

Hiring procedure

When a person is nominated for the position of accountant, his candidacy is brought up for discussion at the HOA board meeting. Upon approval, an order is created to hire this person.

Then an employment contract is concluded with the new employee, according to which they will fulfill the duties prescribed there. The salary must also correspond to the amount specified in the document.

We are considering the situation of official hiring. However, some HOAs hire a person before concluding an employment contract with him.

Employment contract: main points and their contents

An employment contract is a contract concluded between the chairman and the hired specialist. The document specifies the basic requirements for the employee and general provisions. This allows the employer to formally track the employee’s affairs, and for the accountant to obtain the right to legal leave, sick leave, and accumulation of seniority.

To access all these functions, the following points are covered in the employment contract:

Subject of the agreement.
Duration of the contract.
Conditions of remuneration of the employee.
Working hours and rest hours.
Rights and obligations of the employee.
Rights and obligations of the employer.
Employee social insurance.
Guarantees and compensations.
Responsibility of the parties.
Termination of the contract.
Conclusion of the provision.
Details of the parties.

The contract is drawn up in two copies and the final provisions specify points regarding possible disputes. At the final stage, the document is signed by the employee and the employer, then the organization’s seal is affixed to it.

We do not recommend completing the documents yourself. Save time - contact our lawyers by phone:

8 (800) 302-76-94

If it is necessary to change clauses in the contract, an additional agreement is created that stipulates the change or exclusion of some clause. It is better that this is not done by the employee himself, but by a lawyer or chairman.

Responsibility

Accountant, in accordance with Art. 243 Labor Code of the Russian Federation and Art. 15.11 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, bears material and administrative responsibility. Responsibility is imposed on accounting specialists when:

the specialist avoids maintaining accounting documentation in accordance with the legislative and regulatory acts of the Russian Federation;
the provisions of the job description are not implemented correctly;
confidential information is disclosed;
internal regulations and fire safety rules are violated;
material damage is caused to the partnership;
theft of funds is committed;
unlawful instructions of the chairman are carried out.

If the chairman himself induces the accountant to violate the law, then the employee must inform the audit commission about this.

In case of theft of funds and damage to property, criminal liability may occur.

The structure of the HOA necessarily includes a management team (members of the board, chairman, manager) and an emergency dispatch service that registers and executes requests from residents. You can find out about this and more on our website.

Job description for HOA accountant - sample

Moreover, the HOA accountant actively participates in replenishing the partnership’s finances, seeking additional opportunities for these purposes and attracting funds from outside. This can be done by placing advertisements on houses, renting out vacant space, etc.

Job description structure for HOA accountant

Specific requirements and provisions describing the work of an HOA accountant are contained in his job description. This document, like any other act of this kind, contains several main sections:

General provisions.
Responsibilities of an HOA accountant.
Rights of an HOA accountant.
Responsibility of the HOA accountant.

We'll talk about them in more detail later.

This section of the document defines:

who approves the job description;
to whom does the HOA accountant report?
what are the terms of payment;
who replaces the employee during the period of his temporary absence for valid reasons (when going on another vacation, during illness, etc.);
what regulatory documents and laws should an accountant follow in his work.

As a rule, it is said here that an accountant must be competent in almost all matters related to his activities. After all, he will have to report on his work (incl.

for expenses incurred) to the board and owners upon their first request.

Otherwise, doubts may arise about the properly organized activities of the partnership and the transparency of its actions.

Responsibilities of an HOA accountant

The second section of the instructions lists the responsibilities of the partnership accountant. Typically these include:

Exercising control over the revenue and expenditure parts of the partnership's budget.
Conducting an analysis of the financial and economic activities of the HOA.
Reflection in accounting documents of the movement of material and financial assets and all transactions carried out with them.
Putting on the balance sheet and removing goods and materials from it (inventory assets).
Timely and correct preparation of primary accounting documentation.
Preparation and submission of reliable reports to the relevant government agencies and extra-budgetary funds.
Carrying out timely settlements with counterparties under agreements concluded with them.
Taking measures to prevent damages/losses and minimizing such risks.
Documentation of identified thefts of goods and materials, shortages and, if necessary, transfer of compiled papers to investigative authorities and judicial authorities.
Ensuring the safety of financial documentation and its timely transfer to the archive in the prescribed manner.
Carrying out an inventory of goods and materials, finances, carrying out systematic checks of the correctness of the calculations made and the fulfillment of payment obligations.
Collection of accounts receivable and repayment of accounts payable within the prescribed period.
Compliance with payment discipline.

In addition, the job description of this specialist may contain provisions regarding his interaction with members of the partnership who are homeowners. For example, he may be charged with:

registration of certificates (for the provision of subsidies, from the place of residence, about the absence of arrears in paying for utility services) with their subsequent registration;
issuing extracts from their personal accounts to owners;
acceptance and registration of certificates and documents on temporary absence from the place of registration submitted by residents;
accepting copies of title documents from owners for the residential space they occupy;
acceptance and registration of documents confirming the right to receive benefits for utility bills;
reconciliation of receipts for payment of utility services with accounting documents (this helps to identify the presence or absence of debt among HOA members);
issuing payment books to residents;
providing homeowners with the necessary advisory assistance within their competence;
presentation, at the request of residents, of estimates of income and expenses of the partnership, contracts, calculations and other documentation regulating the activities of the accounting department.

Conclusion

Our article provides only a general description of the job description drawn up for an HOA accountant. Each individual partnership has the right to make its own changes to its structure and even add additional sections (for example, this could be a section that specifies working conditions). A sample standard job description for an HOA accountant can be downloaded from our website.

Source: https://jur24pro.ru/vestnik-jur-portala/dolzhnostnaya-instruktsiya-bukhgaltera-tszh-nbsp-mdash-obrazets-/

Dismissal procedure

The dismissal of an employee from the position of an accountant occurs within the framework of Article 81 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation. It specifies all the grounds for dismissing an employee at the initiative of the employer. To fire an accountant, a meeting of HOA members is scheduled, where this issue is raised.

It must provide all the evidence that the citizen does not meet the standards assigned to his position. Once the board decides to dismiss an employee, the employment contract with him is terminated. An employee can also resign on his own initiative.

After the order to dismiss the accountant is ready, the document is given to him against signature. On the last day of stay at the workplace, the former employee is paid a salary and compensation for unused vacation, and is also given a work book (according to clause 1 of Article 81 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).

The accountant is a key employee in the HOA, since most of the financial transactions are carried out through him. And each community of co-owners needs its own professional assistant who can avoid financial difficulties and perform most labor-intensive tasks. Because of this, the accountant has the right to count on an official structure in exchange for his work.