HOA audit. Who can initiate an audit and how to check the HOA for theft? The cost of the audit and the work of the counting commission of the HOA Where to go to check the work of the HOA

Who can initiate an audit of an HOA? The activities of such a popular association of homeowners in recent times should be transparent and controlled by the end users of services. One of the tools to achieve this goal is the audit of the HOA. Who can start it and who is authorized to carry it out, how much does an audit of the HOA cost, who will protect against abuse of the board - sooner or later every homeowner asks these questions.

Who can initiate an audit and how to check the HOA for theft?

Any resident of the metropolis, regardless of who serves the house - the HOA or the management company, can face the improper maintenance of the adjacent territory and poor-quality provision of public services.

In the event of the formation of an association of homeowners of an apartment building, all the funds of residents transferred to pay for utilities are accumulated on the accounts of the association. The management of this organization has access to the current account.

The only mechanism for monitoring the effectiveness of the current activities of the HOA and identifying the facts of theft by unscrupulous management is its verification in terms of financial and accounting performance.

The following persons may initiate an audit:

• general meeting of members of the partnership (any homeowner has the right to convene an extraordinary meeting even with the resistance of the board. For a quorum when making such a decision, more than 50% of the votes are sufficient);
• initiative group of members of the HOA;
• audit committee;
• the board itself;
• any tenant of the house (by filing a complaint with the competent authorities).

A fairly wide range of individuals and their associations can directly conduct the inspection itself, but the initiative for such an event always comes from homeowners.

The cost of the audit and the work of the counting commission of the HOA

The formation of a counting commission on a permanent basis in the structure of an association of owners is optional.

This body has two functions:

1. Counting votes at regular and extraordinary meetings of homeowners.
2. Organization of collection of absentee voting results.

The commission is formed from among the members of the HOA who are not members of the board. The duties of a member of the counting commission are carried out free of charge. If there is no such structure in the state, when an extraordinary meeting is held, the questions on the appointment of members of the counting commission are the first to be put to the vote.

When a decision is made by the board or the general meeting on the need for an examination of financial and economic activities, authorized persons begin to search for organizations that have the right to audit the HOA.

The cost of services of audit firms has no tariffs and depends on the complexity and volume of the proposed work. As a rule, the remuneration of auditors is in the range from 25 to 70 thousand rubles. The urgency of the work and the qualifications of the expert can be important.

The need for control

The management is elected from among the members of the partnership, but this fact does not guarantee their honest and conscientious work. It often happens exactly the opposite: the board strives to fill its own pockets as fully and quickly as possible to the detriment of other residents.

There are several legal and semi-legal schemes that dishonest chairmen of the board resort to:

• involvement of organizations affiliated with the board to perform work at inflated prices;
• provision of services "on paper";
• performance of unnecessary work with their subsequent alteration;
• placement of funds from individual funds at home on a fixed-term deposit with the assignment of interest;
• unreasonable increase in wages for members of the board;
• alienation or leasing of common property at deliberately low prices, with the payment of a cash bonus personally to the chairman;
• deliberate violation of financial and tax discipline in the form of collection of contributions in cash in order to hide the real amount of accumulated funds for further appropriation.

Unsatisfactory performance of duties on the management of common property may be the result not so much of fraud on the part of the board as incompetence or negligence.

In this case, there is no composition of a criminal or administrative offense in the actions of the board. However, the chairman is not released from civil liability for violating the rights of residents as consumers.

Who can conduct an inspection?

The initiation of an audit is the prerogative of the residents themselves, however, the direct implementation of the examination and determination of the legality of the assessment by law is entrusted to several special subjects:

The audit of the HOA does not always aim to punish misconduct .

Ideally, this is an effective tool for improving the quality of work of the HOA board, increasing the financial and tax literacy of accountants, and reducing the risks of careless violation of the law.

How to detect theft?

Practicing lawyers have developed a lot of ways to quickly check the HOA for theft in order to stop illegal activities in a timely manner.

Usually it is enough to follow the basic steps:

• the easiest way, if there are suspicions, is to file a complaint with the relevant department and wait for the results, which the state body is obliged to report within 30 days from the end date;
• hire auditors at their own expense and entrust the audit to them;
• apply to the audit commission indicating specific facts of improper maintenance of housing and management of common property;
• independently request and verify inventory lists, accounting reports and a list of counterparties. After that, carry out analytical work to identify affiliates and ultimate beneficiaries of transactions. Check the compliance of concluded contracts with modern market conditions. Find out on the electronic service of the Federal Tax Service the mutual correspondence of the details of counterparties. Check utility rates.

Based on the results of the inspection by law enforcement, tax or supervisory authorities, a fine may be imposed on the HOA, which is payable at the expense of common property.

Audit check of the HOA

The law provides for one mandatory annual audit of the activities of the partnership - auditing. A complete audit of the activities of the HOA is carried out by a specially created permanent body of the partnership. How to appoint and conduct it, the homeowners decide at the general meeting when approving the Charter.

The audit audit of the partnership is a planned internal regulation with some features:

1. Examines only the financial performance of the board for one calendar year.
2. It has no right to influence the implementation of such activities or give binding recommendations.
3. Draws up a final report of financial activities, an estimate of income and expenses and an audit conclusion.

The audit commission provides documents at the next general meeting or at the request of initiative tenants.

Audit by the Chairman

Audit of the activities of the HOA is a procedure that is objectively necessary more for the board than for ordinary members of the partnership.

Due to a timely audit, the board receives a number of advantages:

All these nuances will allow the board to avoid responsibility for mistakes made in tax and accounting, avoid fines, dismissals and a ban on holding the position of chairman in the future.

Audit procedure

Verification by a third-party organization providing audit services begins with the agreement on the price and the conclusion of a contract for the provision of services. Dates, place and period of verification are specified in the contract.

The verification procedure itself includes several successive stages:

1. Approval of the list of documents submitted for verification. Transfer is carried out according to the description.
2. Familiarization with financial and tax reporting for the audited period. Control of the correctness of accounting entries for accounts and sub-accounts.
3. Comparison of current coefficients with planned markers. Finding out the reasons for the discrepancy.
4. Drawing up an auditor's report based on the results of the audit. Two copies of the act are signed - one for each of the parties.

The act of checking the financial and economic activities of the HOA contains a detailed description of the audit progress, conclusions drawn and recommendations for the future. The document contains elements of a commercial secret, and therefore it is considered confidential and is stored according to certain rules.

TO the main differences between a scheduled inspection from unscheduled include:

1. carrying out scheduled audits with the established frequency;
2. the possibility of conducting scheduled inspections by civilians;
3. voluntary nature of scheduled inspections.

The main goal of a scheduled inspection of the HOA is identify errors in the financial activities of the organization and provide guidance on how to fix them. Scheduled Inspection Dates known in advance to accounting and management of the housing association. They are carried out within the time limits the charter of the organization or the housing code.

Unscheduled audits are carried out on the basis of applications or complaints from individuals by supervisory authorities.

The main purpose of unscheduled events is identify and prove violations in which the organization and/or its employees are suspected.

Who controls the activities of the housing association?

Supervision of the activities of the governing bodies of the housing association may be carried out by the following authorities:

• tax office;
• department of housing supervision;
• prosecutor's office;
• audit committee;
• Labour Inspectorate;
• control commission of residents-members of the association.

The tax authorities control the correctness of filling out tax returns and correct distribution of income and expenses under different systems of taxation, as well as the completeness of payment of taxes by employees.

Important! Housing supervision authorities check the activities of the management of the HOA for compliance with housing legislation.

Including:

1. legitimacy procedures for creating an HOA;
2. correctness clauses of the charter;
3. authenticity minutes of general meetings;
4. legality elected governing bodies and the auditor;
5. conformity activities carried out for statutory purposes.

The prosecutor's office can check for possible criminal offenses: bribery, embezzlement, etc.

Employees of the prosecutor's office have the right to enter the premises of the management of the HOA and withdraw any documentation without prior notice about verification. The tax office has the same rights.

Revision is an internal tool control of the economic activities of the board, since the auditor is elected at a general meeting from among residents who enjoy authority and cannot combine their activities with work on the board (clause 1 of article 150 of the LC RF).

Clause 1 of Article 150 of the LC RF. Audit Commission (Auditor) of a homeowners association

The audit commission (auditor) of a homeowners' association is elected by the general meeting of the association's members for no more than two years. Members of the board of the association may not be members of the audit commission of a homeowners association.

Who can request this procedure?

Who can check the activities of the HOA? Initiate audit of the financial activities of the housing association The following persons are entitled to:

• members of the audit commission;
• owners of apartments and residents of a house belonging to an HOA;
• initiative group of members of the partnership;
• elected bodies of local self-government;
• governing bodies.

The board of the housing association can order an audit from private audit firms to identify and correct their own mistakes in little financial experience, or with a large accounting staff to control its activities.

At presence of suspicions or indirect facts of violations in the activities of the board, a part of the owners-members of the partnership may create an initiative group to audit the activities of the management. In this case, the audit is usually carried out the members of this group.

Attention! Each member of the housing association has the right to get acquainted with all financial and reporting documents of the organization (paragraph 3).

If a resident of the house suspects that the management of the partnership violates the legislation of the Russian Federation, then he can initiate a prosecutor's check by writing an appropriate complaint, regardless of his status as a resident (owner, tenant, etc.).

Elected authorities have the right to initiate a parliamentary check any legal entities, including housing associations, at the request of voters.

What is an audit?

Verification (or audit) means a complete audit of the financial activities of the organization for compliance with statutory purposes. The audit method can determine:

A scheduled audit of a housing association is obliged to conduct it elected audit commission every calendar year, presenting an audit report to a meeting of tenants-members of the HOA (part 1 of paragraph 3 of Article 150 of the RF LC).

Part 1, paragraph 3, article 150 of the LC RF. Audit Commission (Auditor) of a homeowners association

The audit commission (auditor) of the association of homeowners:

• conducts audits of the financial activities of the partnership at least once a year;
• presents to the general meeting of members of the partnership an opinion on the results of the audit of the annual accounting (financial) statements of the partnership.

An unscheduled inspection is carried out housing authorities or prosecutor's office.

In order to avoid large fines or suspension of activities as a result of visits by various state supervisory authorities, housing associations apply to a private audit firm for a preliminary audit.

According to the results of the audit, employees of the audit firm can point out errors to the accountant and chairman allowed during accounting, as well as ways to eliminate them.

The order of this process

First of all, it happens conclusion of an agreement with the executing company. The contract with the audit company specifies:

• audit objectives;
• timing;
• location;
• period under review;
• list of required documentation.

Attention! An auditing firm must be a member of the federal accounting of auditing organizations in order to obtain the right to be called such, and the employees of the firm performing the audit must have an audit certificate (Article 3 of the Federal Law No. 307 and Article 4 of the Federal Law No. 307 "On Auditing").

Article 3 of the Federal Law No. 307 "On Auditing". Audit organization

• An audit organization is a commercial organization that is a member of one of the self-regulatory organizations of auditors.
• A commercial organization acquires the right to carry out audit activities from the date of entering information about it in the register of auditors and audit organizations of the self-regulatory organization of auditors (hereinafter referred to as the register of auditors and audit organizations), of which such an organization is a member.
• A commercial organization, information about which is not included in the register of auditors and audit organizations within three months from the date of making an entry about it in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, is not entitled to use the word "audit" in its name, as well as derivative words from the word "audit". ".

As a test period usually indicated by the calendar year. After signing the contract, the company's employees proceed to the audit in the following order:

1. familiarization with the structure housing associations and peculiarities of doing business;
2. study of financial and reporting documentation for the period selected for verification;
3. comparison of the actual situation with planned indicators and identification of inconsistencies;
4. search for reasons inconsistencies;
5. drawing up an act audit check.

In the course of familiarization, the charter, accounting policy, the procedure for its implementation in a particular partnership are studied.
Upon detection discrepancies between planned and calculated indicators, employees of the executing company begin checking accounting statements and primary payment documents.

In particular, the correspondence of the entries used by the accountant of the housing association to compliance with the plan of sub-accounts of the Ministry of Finance.

How to draw up an act?

The audit report is drawn up by employees of the audit firm and contains the following information:

• name of the housing association and period of verification;
• verified areas of financial activity;
• identified shortcomings and mistakes;
• elimination methods errors.

At the end of the act, the seal of the executing company must be put and responsible person's signature. The act is a confidential document drawn up in two copies, one for the customer and the contractor.

Important! The check can be either full or partial. A full audit, with an audit of all the documentation of the HOA, is usually ordered before the visit of employees of the prosecutor's office or housing supervision, and a partial one may include a small area, for example, personal income tax declarations before the formation of tax reports.

If violations are found, the management of the partnership should be eliminated in accordance with the recommendations of the auditors before the visit of supervisory services, in order to avoid:

1. penalties;
2. layoffs;
3. civil and criminal liability;
4. deprivation of the right to hold positions in housing organizations.

If the audit was initiated and carried out by the prosecutor's office or the tax inspectorate, the partnership is given a deadline (10 working days) to correct violations.

On the topic of homeowners' associations, we have prepared other publications that talk about how it happens and what and when it is concluded with an HOA.

Conclusion

So, checking the financial activities of the HOA may be carried out by supervisory authorities on complaints from residents or by an audit firm for identifying gaps in work and preparation for possible unscheduled inspections.

To avoid potential penalties, regularly conduct internal audits of accounting by the auditor of the partnership or an involved specialist, as a result of which to bring the activities of the accounting department in accordance with the rules.

In one of the letters, readers asked us, to which organization can I complain about the chairman of the HOA in order to check his activities? In most cases, the verification of the activities of the chairman means precisely its financial component. We'll talk about her.

To begin with, let's remember that according to the Housing Code, members of the homeowners association and owners of premises in the house have the right to familiarize themselves with the minutes of meetings and the conclusions of the audit commission of the association.

Members of the audit commission are elected by the general meeting of members of the partnership for no more than 2 years. At the same time, members of the board of the partnership cannot be members of the audit commission. At least once a year, the commission audits the financial activities of the partnership and submits to the general meeting an opinion on the results of the audit of the annual financial statements. In addition, the commission submits to the meeting an opinion on the estimate of income and expenses for the corresponding year and a report on financial activities and the amount of mandatory payments and contributions.

The general meeting of members of the HOA considers complaints against the actions of the board of the partnership, the chairman of the board and the audit commission and approves the conclusions of the audit commission based on the results of the audit of the annual financial statements.

If for some reason the audit commission does not provide reports or you do not particularly trust them, then act in accordance with the law. It would be better if you get an experienced lawyer on your side. And remember that the general meeting is a great power. In addition, according to the Housing Code, it is also the governing body of the partnership.

Initiate an extraordinary meeting, at which, by a majority of votes, make a decision to provide a report on financial and economic activities, or a decision on an unscheduled audit of the partnership by the tax inspectorate. Send a letter with the decision to the chairman of the HOA in person or by mail, or to the head of the Federal Tax Service for your area, depending on which decision you make. The result of the audit by the tax inspectorate will be an act. In addition, the lawyers of one of the housing cooperatives advise, as an option, to contact an audit company. Of course, it will cost more, but it will also go much faster.

In cases where you have evidence of criminal activity on the part of the chairman of the HOA, you can apply to the head of the internal affairs department for your area. If the executor (as a rule, the district commissioner) refuses to initiate a criminal case due to the absence of corpus delicti, you can appeal this decision in court.