The head of the unit and the person entrusted with the bookkeeping are responsible for the preparation of the annual financial statements. The head of the unit shall ensure that the report is prepared and submitted to the competent authorities within three months from the balance sheet date. If the unit is managed by a multi-person body, the financial report is signed by all members of this body and the person entrusted with keeping the account books.

The entity’s accounting includes keeping accounting books and preparing financial statements. Responsibility for performing accounting obligations, including for supervision, is borne by the head of the unit, unless separate regulations provide otherwise. Therefore, he is responsible for the preparation of the annual financial statements. This is also the case when specific accounting obligations – with the exclusion of liability for inventory taking in the form of a physical inventory – will be entrusted to another person or entrepreneur referred to in Art. 11 para. 2 of the Accounting Act, with their consent. Acceptance of liability by another person or entrepreneur should be stated in writing. If the head of the unit is a multi-person body and no responsible person has been designated, all members of that body are responsible. This is stated in art. 4 par. 5 of the Accounting Act.

As the head of the unit, in accordance with art. 3 par. 1 point 6 of the Accounting Act, a member of the management board or other governing body is recognized, and if the body is multi-member, it is the members of this body, with the exception of proxies established by the entity (see the table). In special cases, e.g. when the entity is subject to a restructuring proceeding, the entity’s manager may be, inter alia, liquidator, receiver or successor manager.

The head of the unit ensures that annual financial statements are prepared no later than within 3 months of the balance sheet date and are presented to the competent authorities, in accordance with the applicable legal regulations, statute or contract (Article 52 paragraph 1 of the Accounting Act). Therefore, if the financial year of a given entity is the same as the calendar year, the annual financial report for 2018 must be prepared by the end of March 2019.

When the responsibility for performing accounting obligations, including the preparation of financial statements, is entrusted in writing to another person, the head of the entity remains responsible for supervision. This means that the manager’s responsibility for the financial statements can not be excluded on any basis. Most often the responsibility for keeping accounting books is entrusted to the chief accountant or, when the accounting is kept by the accounting office, the entrepreneur. Because the bookkeeping can be entrusted to an entrepreneur who performs an economic activity consisting in the provision of accounting services, referred to in art. 4 par. 3 points 2-6 of the Accounting Act.

It should be borne in mind that both the head of the unit and the person entrusted with keeping the books bear criminal responsibility under Art. 77 of the Accounting Act. According to this provision, a fine or imprisonment of up to 2 years, or both, is subject to a person who, contrary to the provisions of the Act, admits:

1) failure to keep accounting books, keep them contrary to the provisions of the Act or provide unreliable data in these books,

2) failure to prepare financial statements, consolidated financial statements, statements on operations, statements on the operations of the capital group, reports on payments to public administration, consolidated report on payments to public administration, preparing them contrary to the provisions of the Act or including in these reports unreliable data .