Detecting and correcting errors in accounting is not very difficult using the utilities for its keeping that allow us to visualize the erroneous entry and modify it. However, when the accounting is already closed and deposited and we realize an error, we must know how to act.
First of all, we must understand that we are talking about an accounting error and not a possible change in estimate. The General Accounting Plan defines it as follows:
"Accounting errors are understood as omissions or inaccuracies in the annual accounts of previous years due to not having used, or not having done so properly, reliable information that was available when they were formulated and that the company could have obtained and taken into account in the formulation. of said accounts.
Accounting errors from previous years will make it necessary to record some expense or income in the current year without the possibility of using group 6 or group 7. The 22nd regulation of Registration and Valuation of the General Accounting Plan establishes that the corresponding income or expense to previous years referring to the error, will motivate the corresponding adjustment in the current year, which will be allocated directly to equity, specifically in a reserve account.
The accounting errors that we can find are many, but we are going to focus on the most common ones: the first refers to a poorly carried out amortization, the second an invoice that arrives after the deadline and the third a tax inspection that forces us to record facts. of past exercises.
Accounting errors in amortization
Suppose the purchase of a freight wagon to transport our merchandise for 20,000 euros in January 2016. In order to estimate its useful life, given the lack of experience in this type of fixed assets, we turn to the tax tables and take 20% as the maximum coefficient.
When we have amortized 2017 (second year), we realize an error, since we amortize the wagon as if it were a truck instead of attending to its correct maximum coefficient, which is 8%.
As it is an error, the standard asks us to do two things:
Amortize from this moment the correct amount
Correct, by means of an adjustment entry, the error of previous years, taking it to reserves.
For this adjustment we perform the following calculations:
Amortization that we have made to date
Quota: 20,000 x 20% = 4,000
Years amortized= 2 years x 4,000 = 8,000
Amortization that we should have according to the coefficient of 8%
Fee: 20,000 x 8% = 1,600
Years amortized= 2 years x 1,600 = 3,200
Difference: 8,000 – 3,200 = 4,800. This means that we have overpaid, so we must reduce the account (281) and take the difference to reserves.
By setting:
From this moment on, the correct amortization fee will be:
Accounting errors due to not having recorded an expense
Either due to our oversight or due to some negligence of some other creditor, the truth is that it is more frequent than it should be that, once our accounting is closed, an expense invoice appears that we have not accounted for and we do not know well what to do with it We do not know if we will be able to record an expense now in group 6, or if the Treasury is going to allow us to deduct it, or what happens with VAT, etc.
Example:
Once the accounting for 2017 was closed, we received the invoice for a repair of one of our trucks for the amount of 2,500 euros plus VAT for November 2016.
The accounting entry that we will make will be the following
Accounting. We have already commented that the expense is not recorded in group 6, but in a reserve account.
Fiscally we ask ourselves two questions.
VAT. The entry we make in the account (472) will be perfectly deductible since we have four years to do so.
Corporate tax. An expense that we forgot to record, we can deduct it the year following its accrual as long as this does not imply a detriment to the Treasury. In addition, if we want to deduct it from corporation tax, since it is now accounted for in group 1 and not in group 6, it does not appear as an expense for the tax, so we will have to make an adjustment to the accounting result by subtracting its amount.
Treasury inspection records
Example
After an inspection by the Treasury, our company must reveal an investment in shares of Company X that it did not record at the time for an amount of 18,000 euros.
The inspection report has the following detail
Tax amount: €5,400
Late-payment interest for the current year: €480
Late interest from last year: €144
Penalty: €3,600
First of all we must make an accounting note where we register the hidden assets:
On the other hand, we must write down the inspection report and the sanction. Here we must be careful and write down as reserves those that refer to past years but as group 6 expenses those that refer to the current year.
These are just a few examples, but they serve to let you know that making mistakes is normal when keeping accounts, especially when sometimes you depend on creditors who don't always make it easy for you, but there are established procedures to correct them without risking receiving a sanction by the Treasury.
Turning to our tax advisors is the best way to avoid mistakes and correct them properly when they occur. Contact us.
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