The fulfillment of the obligation to perform inventory of the assets and liabilities was discussed at the workshop which was organized by Knigoprima Consulting, and held on 16.12.2019 at Hotel “Porta”.

The inventory is also a legal obligation that the legislator has established for all traders, that is to say, has prescribed an obligation to perform an inventory of the assets and the liabilities at least once a year in the fiscal year and to reconcile the accounting balance of assets and liabilities with the actual position determined with the inventory. The commencement that is to say completion of the inventory is not subject to normative regulation in the laws and bylaws, however this matter is left to be regulated by a general act of the entities.

The Managing Authority makes a Decision for inventory, in which among others the time limits should be determined, within which the inventory Commissions will conduct an inventory for the calendar year 2019.

Reconciliation of the accounting with actual balance means:

1) reconciliation of the physical balance and the accounting value of the assets recorded in the accounting records during the accounting period with the actual balance determined by the inventory;

2) reconciliation of the accounting value of assets and liabilities determined by recording business events in analytical records of consumers demands , liabilities to suppliers, used and approved credits and loans, advances received and granted, and other,  up to the date of inventory with their actual value determined by the inventory; and

3) reconciliation of the value of the assets and liabilities determined in the manner described previously and the value of the assets and liabilities determined by applying a method different than the historical cost method (value determined using the replacement cost method, fair value, net realizable value; present value of future cash flow and other).

An inventory is carried out on the trader’s entire property, including assets owned by the trader, such as:

– the material assets owned by the trader,

– tangible assets leased,

– intangible assets,

– investments in real estate,

– biological assets,

– long-term and short-term financial resources,

– the stocks,

– demands,

– money,

– monetary equivalents,

– advances paid,

– active time partitions and

– other assets owned by the trader.

The work plan of the inventory  commission is prepared prior to the beginning of the inventory and the inventory commission are given data on the nomenclature numbers, names, types and unit measures of the assets subject to the inventory, data on the names of buyers and suppliers with whom the trader has entered into debt-to-credit relationships, business banks in which he/she has opened accounts, loans approved, and similar, as well as other data that can facilitate the work of the inventory commission.

The inventory commission should not have access to the accounting data on the quantities and value of the assets which are subject to the inventory prior to recording the factual condition in the inventory lists and their submitting to the responsible or authorized person for verification.

The inventory lists are compiled separately, according to the analytical accounts of the assets and liabilities which are the subject of the inventory in at least two copies. In the inventory lists are entered data on nomenclature numbers, names, types, units of measure, actual quantities, if it is applicable, and actual values, individually for the assets and liabilities which are the subject of the inventory.

The data on the assets and the liabilities whose actual condition on the date of the inventory cannot be ascertained or for which there is no proper documentation are entered in separate inventory lists.

The report of the inventory which was carried out contains in particular:

– data on the start and end date of the inventory;

– an overview of the material (physical) and value differences between the factual and accounting condition and the reasons for the differences;

– an overview of the accounting value of the assets and the liabilities whose actual value on the day of the inventory is not established, with appropriate justifications;

– remarks and explanations regarding the identified differences given by the persons handling the assets, that is to say, who are in charge of material (physical) and monetary values;
– proposals for liquidation of the identified differences (offsetting of shortages and surpluses arising on the basis of replacement of the same and similar types, that is to say assets and value, the way of compensation of the shortages and the income of the surpluses, write-off of the outdated receivables, income on outdated liabilities, and

– other remarks and suggestions by the inventory commission.

The inventory report, together with the inventory lists and the act of the trader’s responsible person for the procedures of reconciling the accounting with the factual condition of the inventory assets and liabilities, shall be submitted for entry to the person to whom the trader entrusted the keeping of the commercial books and compilation of the annual account and financial statements, for the purpose of reconciling the accounting with the actual condition of assets and liabilities.