Consultancy services on accounting | tax | labour legislation

A Russian member of our international group kept parallel accounts in two systems configured to RAS and IFRS standards. To optimize the process, we had to migrate all accounts to 1C. We gave the task to Beterra. They have both 1C analysts and certified international accountants on their staff.

Beterra's expert team set up compliance between the Russian chart of accounts and the international one. They also developed custom reporting formats based on 1C document forms with due regard to the international group's accounting standards.

What we got in the end was a unique configuration of 1C-based accounting software, which implements data exchange between the accounting system of our Russian company and the ERP system at the global office as per the schedule in place.

A few years back, when our staff ballooned, we understood that we needed to change the inefficient business processes.

The accounts department was overwhelmed, the paperwork kept piling up, and month-end closes became a nightmare for the finance director.

We had to decide: whether responsibilities were well assigned within the accounts department, whether the staff make the grade, whether any process can be automated or workloads redistributed.

So we looked for an external consultant with a good grasp of the methodology of finance business processes, extensive experience in our sector and capable of offering a competent and user-friendly solution.

When preparing to wind up a Russian arm of our group, we decided to claim a refund for a large amount overpaid in profits tax. We paid tax advances, which later transformed in tax assets based on the company's performance.

We tried but couldn't arrange a refund ourselves. We turned to Beterra experts for help. They drafted a submission to the Federal Tax Service Inspectorate, but met with a denial because of the missed deadline for filling the refund claim for the amount overpaid.

Beterra consultants notified us, however, that the time limit for filing a refund claim with the tax authority where tax payments are made in advance is three years from the filing date of a year-end return, but not past the statutory deadline for its filing. They studied the relevant case law in this matter and drafted an appeal to a higher authority, citing the legal precedents. The appeal having been examined, we were refunded the excess amounts of tax paid in full.