Certificate of acceptance and transfer of goods: rules and sample document preparation

The activities of commercial, and not only enterprises, often require the acceptance or transfer of any material assets from one party to another.
This, according to the legislation of the Russian Federation, must be accompanied by the execution of relevant agreements and accompanying documents. One of the accompanying documents confirming the fact of transfer and, accordingly, acceptance of goods or other material assets is the transfer and acceptance certificate. What should be the act of acceptance of the transfer for an individual entrepreneur?

The essence of the act of acceptance and transfer.

The transfer and acceptance certificate is a two-sided primary accounting document, which must contain characteristics and a complete description of each item (goods) when making a certain type of transaction. Examples of possible transactions in which it becomes necessary to prepare this document:

Delivery of goods.
Completion of a purchase and sale transaction.
Renting out property or real estate.
Donation of any material assets.
Transfer of goods or other material assets for storage.

An important point in this document is the indication of the monetary value of the goods transferred (sold) to another person.

Peculiarities of drawing up the transfer and acceptance certificate in atypical cases

We examined the preparation of a transfer deed in the case of direct shipment from the seller to the buyer in the territory of one of the parties. If a third party is involved in the delivery process, they also become an interested party.

Documents for the transfer of goods stored in a warehouse of a third-party organization are filled out in triplicate: for the supplier, the customer and the owner of the warehouse. Additional copies of the acts may be required by the carrier company, security company hired to accompany the transportation, etc.

A separate issue is the delivery of products for safekeeping. In this case, as an act of acceptance and transfer of goods, a document is drawn up on a unified form MX-1, which is signed by two parties: the owner of the cargo and the receiving organization. The basis for placing goods in a third-party warehouse is a custody agreement, which determines the quantity and cost of transferred products, the number of deliveries and other conditions.

The law does not impose requirements for the presence of a transfer deed if there is an invoice for the goods signed by the parties, however, in the event of controversial situations, this document has legal force in court.

Mandatory items that must be contained in the transfer and acceptance certificate.

This document is considered the most important addition to the drawn up agreement when making a transaction of a certain nature between the parties. It must be filled out in two copies, one copy for each party to the transaction.

A correctly completed acceptance certificate must contain the following information:

Title of the document.
The date and place of drawing up the act.
Complete data about the counterparties involved in the transaction (passport data for individuals and details of legal entities).
Information about the agreement that accompanies this act.
Complete determination of the quality of material assets to be transferred.
Determination of the exact amount of material assets to be transferred.
Information about product defects discovered during its transfer to the receiving party.
Information about various deadlines that must be observed according to the contract.
Claims that arise regarding the quality of material assets, if they arise from the receiving party.
Seals (if any) and signatures of the counterparties' authorized representatives.

The transfer acceptance certificate can be drawn up in relation to one unit of the transferred goods, or in relation to a consignment of goods indicated in the relevant agreement.

The section intended to indicate any claims regarding the quality of the goods, as well as their quantity, must be included in the acceptance certificate. This is necessary to respect the rights of the party receiving the material assets. In the future, if a discrepancy in the quality and quantity of the goods is identified at the time of its transfer, and if such facts are properly reflected in the acceptance certificate, the party that accepted the material assets has the legal right to demand compensation from its counterparty for the damage caused.

In such cases, the acceptance certificate is the main document, which, together with the invoice and the contract, can prove the discrepancy that has arisen between the parameters of the quality and quantity of the goods detected during its transfer. It is important to remember that this document cannot be an alternative to the concluded agreement, but is only an official confirmation of its execution in whole or in part.

How to draw up an act of transfer of goods

The act of acceptance and transfer of goods is usually attached to the supply agreement as its integral part. The standard form of the act contains the following data:

document's name;
date and place of registration;
information about the parties to the transaction with details, addresses and contacts;
Full names of the responsible persons, their passport details, on what basis the parties represent them;
number and date of the contract under which the delivery is carried out;
a list of transferred values indicating the range and quantity;
quality characteristics of the product;
total cost;
presence/absence of product defects;
a detailed list of detected deficiencies;
claims based on the results of the acceptance procedure.

By agreement of the parties, the act may also reflect other issues:

terms of payment for the delivered consignment of goods (full or partial prepayment, settlements after receipt of the goods);
deadlines for final payments, numbers and dates of payment documents for advances;
inclusion of certain product groups and specific items in separate acts.

Basic requirements for filling out.

The acceptance certificate refers to the primary accounting documents. This means that in accordance with the requirements of Art. 9 Federal Law No. 402 “On Accounting” dated December 6, 2011, when filling out this document, the following requirements must be observed:

The dates of execution of the acceptance certificate and the actual transfer of material assets to the receiving party must coincide.
The prices of all units of goods indicated in the document must be indicated in rubles.
If the goods indicated in the document to be filled out are recorded in pieces, then its weight characteristics (net, gross weight) do not need to be indicated.
The signatures of the responsible persons of both parties must be decrypted, and also, if available, the numbers and validity periods of the powers of attorney issued to them must be indicated.

In the case of transfer of goods to an individual, his signature is sufficient grounds to confirm the fact of acceptance of the goods.

Some features of the act of acceptance and transfer.

In the legislation of our country there are no special instructions on the mandatory execution of acceptance certificates when carrying out such actions. But, since this act is recognized as the main document confirming the actual transfer of material assets, in accordance with the main agreement, its use can help representatives of the business community confirm accounting indicators in the event of an audit by state regulatory authorities.

It must be remembered that the signing of this document means the beginning, or vice versa, the end of the rights and obligations of each party, in accordance with the main agreement.

There is no strict form for the transfer and acceptance certificate form defined by the legislation of the Russian Federation. It is determined that in each specific case related to the transfer (reception) of any material assets, this document is drawn up in accordance with the wishes of the parties and the terms of the relevant agreement. For each specific case related to these actions, an appropriate form of acceptance certificate is drawn up.

The transfer and acceptance certificate, approved by the signatures of persons not authorized accordingly, on the part of any of the counterparties, is considered illegitimate. The authority of the person must be confirmed by the relevant order of the head of the organization, or a power of attorney certified by the responsible person of the enterprise or notarized.

Documents instead of a deed: are there alternative options?

If the purchase and sale agreement is a mandatory document that certifies the agreement of the parties, defines their rights, obligations, the procedure for possible pre-trial settlement of disagreements and other important points, then instead of the act, you can draw up a consignment note . Essentially, the document should contain the same information:

information about the parties;
information about the product;
dates, full names, names of organizations, signatures.

Thus, the fact of transfer of commodity values from one party to another can be confirmed by one of two documents (at the choice of the parties themselves) - either a deed or an invoice. In a legal sense, they perform similar roles.

It is often believed that a deed can be drawn up instead of the main purchase and sale agreement, which is a misconception. In fact, an agreement is the main document confirming the terms of the agreement, subject matter, rights and obligations, etc. The act is only an annex to the agreement, i.e. an integral part of it, but cannot in any way replace the basic agreement.

NOTE. In some cases, drawing up an act is mandatory, since it is extremely important for the document to reflect a description of specific claims or the absence thereof. For example, when complex equipment, mechanisms and other technical devices are purchased, there is no alternative to the act.

Thus, drawing up an act upon acceptance and transfer of goods is a guarantee that the parties really agreed on their actions and carried out acceptance in full accordance with the contract, without claims against each other.

Reception of goods according to the invoice confirms only the fact that the delivery of goods and materials was carried out by item in the specified quantity. Sometimes for optimal acceptance and transfer of goods and materials, the details in the invoice are not enough. In this case, use the form of the acceptance certificate. The current legislation does not contain a unified form: it is a free form that describes in detail all the characteristics of assets, indicating characteristics, defects, quantity and cost. But at the same time, every fact of economic life is subject to registration with a primary accounting document, which is determined by Art. 9 of Law No. 402-FZ “On Accounting”. These circumstances give organizations the right to independently develop forms of primary accounting documents, including permission to develop an act of acceptance and transfer of material assets. Independently developed forms must be approved in the accounting policy.

The importance of the act of acceptance and transfer and its role

Once again I would like to note the special legal importance of the Transfer and Acceptance Certificate. In essence, this document confirms that the planned and completed transaction took place as intended.

Without this document, all actions will be of some kind of incomplete nature, since the main answer to the question of whether a sale or donation took place, etc. without the Act it will not be clear.

BE CAREFUL: Complete any legally significant transaction by signing the acceptance certificate, as it will play a significant evidentiary role in the event of a controversial situation.

How to correctly draw up a transfer and acceptance certificate

Since the act is a two-sided document, it must contain the signatures of representatives of both the supplier and the recipient of the cargo. Before you begin accepting the goods, you must make sure that the persons present from each party have the authority to endorse the transfer deed. Confirmation can be:

power of attorney issued to an employee of the company by the head;
order of appointment to a position with the right to act on behalf of the organization;
a notarized order for an individual representing a party to the transaction.

To document the fact of receipt of products under the contract, you must:

and bring it into compliance with the terms of delivery: remove unnecessary information, add items provided for in the contract.
As a rule, goods are accepted in warehouse conditions, so it is better to print out the prepared form for manual filling in 2 copies in advance.
Carry out the necessary activities: external inspection, recalculation, weighing, reconciliation of positions, etc., depending on the type of product and the features of the established acceptance and transfer procedure.
Record all detected defects in the presence of the supplier’s representative and list them in the report.
Formulate the essence of the claims; if there are none, confirm this in writing: “We have no claims.”
Agree on the contents of the document and check that it is filled out correctly.
Confirm the act with the signatures and seals of the parties.

Inaccuracies, blots and errors in transfer documents are unacceptable. If an error is found in the act, it must be redone before signing.

The acceptance certificate, stating that the goods were delivered with violations, with complaints about quality, is the basis for drawing up a letter of claim to the seller demanding a replacement batch and monetary compensation. Defective products are sent to the supplier using a return certificate (form TORG-2) indicating the reason for the return shipment and a detailed description of all defects.

If the cargo was lost or damaged during transportation, the issue of compensation for losses is decided on the basis of the contract - whether it provides for compensation for losses in such cases.

To correctly draw up a document, download a sample goods acceptance certificate.