Once the accounting year is closed and with the annual accounts of your company formulated and approved at the meeting, these must be deposited in the Mercantile Registry of the city.

But what happens if you detect that failures have occurred? Do you know how to correct errors in the annual accounts?

Their correctness will depend on how serious and significant these errors are. Therefore, the solution will be the correction with a new presentation or the simple reclassification and indication in the annual accounts of the current year.

The simplest assumption to correct errors in the annual accounts

The least significant case and perhaps the simplest to correct is that the accounting does not contain errors but there is one in the transcription of the accounting information dumped,from the accounting program to the paper format of presentation of accounts.

This fact could only occur in the case of presenting the annual accounts in person.

These errors would not occur with telematics presentation,as the system detects the most common failures.

These include, for example, the mismaning sums of totals and subtotals, or the blanks that must be filled in, generating presentation errors that force to be corrected before their registration.

If this were the case, it would be sufficient to submit a request for correction to the corresponding Commercial Registry in which it must be indicated which data are erroneous and would have to be corrected,as well as the new data, resubmiting for deposit the correct account form.

What if the error in the annual accounts is detected in the first 5 months from its presentation?

In this case, we will have to pay 10% of the filing fee for the delivery of the new accounts.

In many cases, it will be the Registry itself that informs us that there are such errors and requests that we correct them in order to register the Annual Accounts.

Data accuracy failures: What should you do?

If, on the other hand, the error detected was poor accounting or inaccuracy in the data of some item,we would have to estimate the severity of the error and its effect on the accounts.

You should not worry excessively, since the General Accounting Plan (PGC) contemplates the possibility of committing this type of errors and gives an exceptional character to the reformulation of the accounts.

It will only consider it necessary for very specific cases in which errors modify the net worth and do not reflect the faithful image that is required of accounting accounts and a report.

Correction of errors in the annual accounts in the General Accounting Plan

subsanacion-errores-cuentas-anuales

As we have already mentioned, the PGC includes this possibility and indicates, through standard 22, that these errors must be corrected in the accounting year in which they have been detected.

Therefore, for the correction of accounting errors in annual accounts, the importance of said error must be analyzed:

  • If the accounts you have submitted contain slight errors that do not affect your company’s results or equity excessively, the adjustment is made directly to the net worth.
    • The correction must be reflected in the Total Statement of Changes in Net Worth. And in the report, in the note “Bases of presentation of the Annual Accounts”, in the section “Correction of Errors” give the following detail:
      • The items concerned.
  • If the accounts contain serious errors that imply the reflection of an image that is not faithful to reality and involve significant changes in the real assets of the company, the accounts must be reformulated.
    • Once the reformulation has been carried out, the following steps for the correction of accounting errors will be:
      • Convene a meeting for the approval of the accounts by the members of the company.
      • Sign a document proving that the agreements reached at a previous meeting are null and effect.
    • Issuance of a certificate that informs of the presentation of new accounts and detailing the errors found in the previous accounts.

But how to correct errors in the annual accounts once they are presented?

This assumption is highly unlikely to occur,as defined in the accounting regulations in Spain.

Let’s think about the meaning of a deposit register that can be consulted by citizens, in which the accounts presented could be modified before any accounting event.

Even so, if this were the case, the annual accounts should be reformulated and the Board of Directors convened again in an extraordinary way so that the approval agreement could be annulled, as a result of errors that show an unreal image of the accounting and financial statements of the company.

The new annual accounts without errors will be approved by the Extraordinary General Meeting and deposited in the Mercantile Registry.

conclusion

As you can see, actually, issuing
annual accounts with small errors
is something much more common than people may think. You just have to know what you should do in case it happens to you.

We hope we have clarified your doubts in an easy and simple way. If you are looking for professional advice, contact the accounting advisors at AYCE Laborytax and you will get answers.