Administrative and management expenses represent one of the key areas of the production spectrum. In order to account for costs that do not have a direct relationship with production activities, account 26 is used; within its framework, general business expenses are reflected.

Description, characteristics, use

In the plan for account 26, information is collected on costs that do not have a direct relationship with production activities. Traditionally, such expense areas include: the following elements:

• administrative and management costs (for example, parking fees);
• expenses for maintaining general business employees (salaries of the personnel service, security guards, cleaners);
• deductions for depreciation on fixed assets having general economic purposes;
• rent for premises intended for general business purposes;
• costs of paying for various types of services - consulting, purchasing magazines, newspapers, conducting audits;
• other management costs with a similar purpose.

If you look closely at this list of directions that are displayed on account 26, then all of them may relate to direct payment for the list of services provided. That is, this is payment for something that was purchased at a cost, but is not tied to a material equivalent. Along with the 25 score, the goal of this direction is collection of all expenses.

The use of account 26 in accounting and operations is associated with the norms of current legislation. It is carried out in accordance with the existing chart of accounts, which was approved by Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia No. 94 of October 31, 2000.

In addition, the use of account 26 must correlate with other documents approved by law.

1. At the first level there are laws of the Russian Federation and standards related to accounting and reporting approved by specialized services and structures.
2. At the second level, there are various standards and government regulations that appear in accounting.
3. The third level includes numerous recommendations and guidelines that are developed by the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation, as well as other bodies in accordance with the norms of the existing law.
4. The fourth level contains work instructions, and also contains a large number of orders, order documents for recording certain operations.
5. At the fifth level, the law of the Russian Federation “On Accounting and Reporting” prevails.

Accounting with examples

In order to competently and rationally reflect generalized information about the costs that were incurred by the organization in connection with production management processes, account 26 is used.

The collection of amounts in expense areas occurs by debit 26, and the write-off and reduction of non-production costs is carried out by credit. In many organizations engaged in the industrial sector, non-production costs can be identified as a key source: expenses for settlements with employees employed in the administration and management departments.

In this case, all actions and operations are reflected through following entries:

1. Dt. 26 Kt. 70. This indicates that wages for employees working in administrative and business units have been accrued.
2. Dt. 26 Kt. 71. This posting indicates the write-off of amounts of accountable money that were previously issued to employees of non-production departments.
3. Dt. 26 Kt. 69(1). This operation indicates the accrual of insurance payments from the wages of employees who perform official duties within non-production units (FSS).
4. Dt. 26 Kt. 69(3). In this case, we are talking about the calculation of insurance contributions from the salaries of non-production workers (MHIF).

In the process of carrying out settlement activities with counterparties for received commodity items, as well as work and services, non-production costs are reflected through following postings:

1. Dt. 26 Kt. 60. This operation indicates the write-off of expense areas for services purchased from specialized companies.
2. Dt. 26 Kt. 76. The posting states that expenses for services purchased from other contractors have been written off.

If we talk about general business expenses in correspondence in connection with production accounts, this should be reflected through following entries:

1. Dt. 26 Kt. 21. We are talking about writing off semi-finished products belonging to our own production.
2. Dt. 26 Kt. 23. Posting involves reflecting work and services within the auxiliary production process as part of expenditure areas.
3. Dt. 26 Kt. 29. In this account, maintenance work is reflected as expenses.

Each operation is reflected in one or another transaction and is also accompanied by a corresponding entry.

Example: based on the summed up results for 2016, the expenses of the organization OJSC "Rosy", operating in the field of food production, amounted to:

• direct expenses – 800,000 rubles;
• for auxiliary production activities – 100,000 rubles;
• total value – 900,000 rubles;
• general business expenses - 150,000 rubles.

In order to determine the amounts of general business costs attributable to the main and auxiliary production process, it is necessary to carry out certain calculation measures, and also draw up postings:

1. Dt. 20 Kt. 02 (10, 60, 69, 70). We are talking about accounting for direct costs of main production. The posting was made for the amount of 800,000 rubles.
2. Dt. 23 Kt. 02 (10, 60, 69, 70). This posting was compiled for accounting transactions for the main costs of the auxiliary production process, the total amount is 100,000 rubles. for the specific enterprise in question.
3. Dt. 26 Kt. 02 (10, 60, 69, 70). In this case, general economic activities are taken into account. The transaction amount is 150,000 rubles.

All these transactions are recorded based on fence sheet. In addition, within the framework of accounting and economic activities, enterprises usually appear following postings:

1. Dt. 20 Kt. 26. General business expenses for the main production activities are reflected. The transaction amount is: 800,000 / 900,000 * 150,000 = 133,333 rubles.
2. Dt. 23 Kt. 26. This posting reflects general business expenses for auxiliary production. Their sum will be the following value: 100,000 / 900,000 * 150,000 = 16,666 rubles.

Event data is displayed and recorded based on accounting certificate.

The account in question is used for generalization of information on expenditure areas for management needs that are not directly related to production activities.

In particular, this account may include reflection next events: management costs, administrative areas, depreciation charges, repair costs.

They are reflected in account 26, and the process of write-off and distribution is carried out to other accounts of the balance sheet.

Traditionally, expenses recorded in this account are subject to write-off to the following directions:

• debit 20 of account called “Main production”;
• 23 account “Auxiliary production”, if it was possible to produce work and goods, as well as provide services on the side;
• debit of account 29 “Service production and farms”, if they also performed work, provided services, manufactured commodity items outsourced;
• Account 90 “Sales” can also take part in the write-off of expenses as semi-fixed services.

Maintaining similar records for this account is carried out for each item in the corresponding estimate.

Closing procedure

In the course of the company's activities, it may be necessary to close this account, for this it is necessary strict adherence to a certain order of events. In the process of writing off these areas, the simplified tax system is used, and the “direct costing” technique is also used.

The amount of expenses is transferred with Kt. 26 on Dt. 90. The account element to which the amount is written off is determined by the organization’s personal accounting policy. In the process of closing this account, the amount is determined as the difference between the debit and credit turnover of the account.

If at the beginning of the month there was a balance of general business transactions, then in the process of closing the account it will not be accounted for, so it is important to avoid carryover balances for these expenses.

Determination of expenditure areas occurs in accordance with the types of activities. Revenue from production, provision of services and performance of work can be used as a base.

If there is no distribution base, the account may not be closed, so the specialist takes these measures manually. The order in which closure occurs is determined personally by the accountant and depends on the specifics of the company’s business operations.

Thus, account 26 plays a special role in the commercial activities of the company and contains important information about it.

Closing account 26 in 1C is presented in this instruction.

The article talks about the purpose and basic methodology for using 26 accounting accounts. It will help you understand typical transactions using 26 accounts.

Accounting accounts

All accounting accounts used by Russian organizations are presented in a standard Chart of Accounts. This document is approved by the Resolution of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation. Its use is mandatory for all entities carrying out economic activities in the country (with the exception of credit and state budget organizations).
To ensure unity of principles for its use, the Ministry of Finance attaches instructions to the Chart of Accounts. Accounting accounts are divided into several main groups (sections of the chart of accounts). Each of the groups is used to summarize information about a certain category of business transactions carried out by the company as part of a business process. For example, there is a group of accounts that is designed to record information about inventories (raw materials, supplies, spare parts, etc.) or production costs.

General running costs

In every company, many processes occur in parallel with production, and they influence it indirectly. These could be the direct implementation of accounting, the purchase of a chair for the director, the renovation of the building in which the board of directors of the enterprise meets, etc. The costs of providing these processes and similar ones are called general business expenses.

Accounting account 26 is an account that accumulates information about costs for management needs not directly related to production. The recommendations for using the chart of accounts contain an open list of such expenses.

Classification of accounting accounts

Accounting accounts are divided into three main groups: active, passive and active-passive. In order to understand whether an accounting account is active or passive, it is necessary to define these concepts.

Active accounts are intended to account for the company's property (assets), passive accounts are used to collect information about the sources of income (financing) of assets. Active-passive are accounts for recording the obligations (debts) of the company and the results of its activities. Any accounting account can be schematically depicted in the form of a table.

Accounting scheme

26 "General business expenses"
Debit			Credit
	Balance at the beginning	0,00		Balance at the beginning	-
date	Transaction amount		date	Transaction amount
	Total by debit (debit turnover)	0,00		Total loan (loan turnover)	0,00
	Closing balance	0,00		Closing balance	-

The "Account Chart" table shows the active account. He cannot have a credit balance (negative result). A liability account cannot have a debit balance. An active-passive account can have both a debit and a credit balance.

General business expenses, at first glance, cannot be attributed to property or to the sources of its formation. The fact is that expenses collected on account 26 after the end of the reporting period (calendar month) are included in the cost of finished products, which is a company asset. Thus, accounting account 26 is an active account.

Accounting entries for the debit of account 26

Any business transaction in accounting is reflected in the debit of one account and the credit of another account. Accountants usually call a posting a record of any fact in the company’s activities. For each account there is a list of typical (most common) transactions. For clarity, information about the main transactions using account 26 is presented in the table below.

Debit	Credit	Contents of operation
26	02	Depreciation of fixed assets not used in production has been calculated
	05	Depreciation of intangible assets accrued
	10	Use of materials for general household needs
	21	Used semi-finished products produced by our own production for general economic needs
	23	The costs of auxiliary production are included in general operating expenses
	29	Included in general operating expenses are the costs of servicing production facilities.
	43	Use of finished products for general business needs
	60	Reflects the debt to the supplier of services provided for general business needs
	68	Accrued taxes and fees included in production costs
	69	Contributions to the Social Insurance Fund and the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation were accrued for the salaries of employees performing general business work
	70	Salaries accrued to employees performing general business work
	71	The amounts of general business expenses incurred by accountable persons are reflected
	76	Reflects the debt of various creditors for services provided for general business needs
	94	The amount of shortfalls was written off for general business expenses, in the pre-austic aisles of natural loss
	96	A reserve has been created for general business expenses
	97	Deferred expenses are included in general business expenses

Accounting entries for loan 26 accounts

Account 26 in accounting. Postings

08	26	General business expenses are taken into account as capital construction costs
20		General business expenses are written off as production expenses
23		General business expenses are written off as general production expenses
28		General business expenses are included in the cost of correcting defects
29		General business expenses are included in overhead costs
76		Loss due to insured events written off
86		Targeted financing funds written off
90		The amount of management costs written off
97		General business expenses are included in the costs of developing new products
99		General business expenses are included in emergency expenses

Analytical accounting of general business expenses

One of the most important tasks of accounting is collecting information about business activities and providing it to company departments that are engaged in analyzing such data and developing coordination decisions aimed at improving and increasing the effectiveness of the business process. The goal of solving this problem is to organize the accounting methodology in such a way that the data used is the most correct and complete.

To make data more informative, there is such a direction as analytical accounting. The system of such accounting allows you to group information according to characteristics that are most suitable for a specific vector of commercial activity.

Accounting account 26 is an account that involves grouping data by cost items. They can be material or transportation costs, labor costs, etc. Each company determines the criteria for classifying costs in account 26 for itself.

General and production expenses

Accounting professionals can easily draw a line between the concepts of general production and general business expenses, but to the average person they may seem similar or even equivalent.
To collect information about such expenses, accounts 25 and 26 are used in accounting.

General business expenses are expenses that are common to each division of the company. And general production expenses will be expenses that belong only to the production unit of the enterprise. For example, the wages of the legal department of a company are general business expenses, and the wages of the mechanical shop employees who maintain production equipment, main and auxiliary production, must be classified as general production expenses.

Practice using 26 accounts

So, you have read a very short excursion "26 Accounting for Dummies". The information presented is only a small part of the knowledge that is necessary for the error-free application of 26 counts in practice. In order to consolidate the knowledge, I will give several practical examples.

Accounting account 26 is, for example, the following correspondence:

• D26/K60. Services were provided by a third party to renovate the premises of the commercial department.
• D26/K10. The use of office supplies by office employees is reflected.
• D26/K69. Contributions to the Pension Fund and the Social Insurance Fund were accrued for the salaries of employees of the purchasing department, etc.

We analyzed an example with an organization in which all costs were reflected only in account 20.01. Therefore, we were only able to see how the program is configured and works from the point of view of using and closing account 20.

Today we will discuss such concepts as direct (reflected in accounts 20, 23) and indirect costs (in accounts 25,26). I'll tell you a little accounting theory. We’ll also talk about where to set up accounting for these indirect and direct costs in 1C BP 3.0, as well as the features of closing indirect costs. All this will be considered using the example of an organization engaged in production activities, so let’s talk a little about production.

Let me remind you that the site already has a number of articles that are devoted to the issue of closing a month in the 1C BUKH 3.0 program:

A little theory

As I already said, production costs can be divided into two large groups: direct and indirect. Essentially this is a classification of costs. by the method of their inclusion in the cost manufactured products. Therefore, this classification, for the most part, is relevant for accounting of industrial organizations. Let's talk in more detail about each of these two groups.

Direct costs- These are expenses that can be clearly attributed to the production of a certain type of product. That is why direct expense accounts 20 and 23 in the chart of accounts in 1C they have a subaccount “Nomenclature group”. Such costs can be directly written off to the cost of production of a specific “Nomenclature Group”. These include the costs of raw materials, materials and components, wages and insurance premiums for workers who produce these products.

Indirect costs- These are expenses that relate to the production of several types of products at once. In the 1C chart of accounts indirect cost accounts 25 and 26 do not have subconto "Nomenclature group". Therefore, they cannot be included directly in the cost of a specific type of product - “Nomenclature group”. Such costs include, for example, the cost of paying wages and paying insurance premiums for management personnel.

As I already said, indirect expenses are collected on accounts 25 “General production expenses” and 26 “General expenses”. They cannot be written off immediately as cost, I also wrote about this. In accounting, there are two options for closing such accounts. The first is the write-off of amounts to the main production to account 20. Moreover, since account 20 has three subcontracts (Division, Cost Item and Nomenclature Group), and indirect expense accounts have only two (Division and Cost Item), then when writing off the amount will be distributed between “nomenclature groups” according to certain rules. I’ll write about where and how this is set a little later. Second– writing off indirect expenses to account 90 “Sales” ( direct costing). Read about how to choose a specific option for writing off indirect expenses in 1C BP 3.0 in the article below.

Let me summarize briefly. When closing the month, indirect expenses are written off first, i.e. 25 and 26 accounts (possibly by distributing direct expenses to accounts), and then direct expenses into the cost price of a specific “Nomenclature Group”.

Accounting for direct expenses in 1C ACCOUNTING 3.0

To begin with, I want to discuss the example that we will consider in this article. There is a production organization where two types of products are assembled, i.e. two “Nomenclature groups”: “Tables” and “Chairs/Armchairs”. Two workers are involved in the production of each type of product. Accordingly, we will take into account the costs of paying wages to such employees on account 20.01 “Main production”, according to the corresponding nomenclature group. To implement this in 1C BP 3.0, you must first create two separate methods for accounting for wages (section of the main menu “Salary and Personnel” -> “Methods for accounting for wages”).

Now these accounting methods must be assigned to each employee. This could be done in the employee details on the tab "Payments and cost accounting", but for some reason the program does not see this setting. Most likely this is a program error, perhaps it will be fixed soon (the release on the basis of which the article was written: 3.0.37.36). In this regard, I created separate types of calculations for employees involved in the production of tables and in the production of chairs. And already in the settings of these types of calculations in the field "Method of reflection" indicate the appropriate method. This is how we had to get out of this situation.

As a result, when calculating wages (document "Payroll") expenses for wages and insurance premiums for production workers will be charged to account 20.01 for the corresponding nomenclature groups.

Now let's talk about the material costs of raw materials written off for production. I reflect the fact of write-off in a document "Production report for the shift" on the “Materials” tab. At the same time, I indicate separately what materials were spent for the “Tables” product group and for the “Chairs/Armchairs” product group.

Accounting for indirect costs in 1C ACCOUNTING 3.0

It is worth noting that no additional settings are required to reflect salary contributions on account 26. This is due to the fact that the program is by default configured to account for labor costs on account 26. Even the accounting method is set to “Reflect accruals by default.” This can be seen in “Salary Accounting Settings” (section of the main menu “Salaries and Personnel”).

Thus, the costs of remuneration and payment of insurance premiums for two employees will be reflected in account 26.

Accounting policy ACC 3.0: direct and indirect expenses

Now let's talk about what "Accounting Policy" BP 3.0 has settings related to accounting for direct and indirect costs in the program. Of course, it is more logical to first set up the Accounting Policy, and only then reflect costs. But in this article, I decided to first show by example how to keep track of direct and indirect expenses, so that you have the opportunity to more freely navigate these concepts by the time you consider the “Accounting Policy” settings.

Let's start with a bookmark "Expenses". Firstly, this tab must have a checkmark checked "Output" since we are talking about production. Secondly, you need to pay attention to the window that opens when you press the button "Indirect costs". In this window, you should select the method of closing Indirect expenses (in our example, these are expenses on account 26). I would like to note right away that this setting is related to closing indirect expense accounts in accounting. There is a separate setting for indirect expenses in tax accounting, which we will talk about a little later. So there are two options here:

• In cost of sales (direct costing)– in this case, indirect costs will be written off from account 26 to the debit of account 90.08.1 “Administrative expenses for activities with the main taxation system”;
• – in this case, account 26 is closed to the direct costs account 20.01, and then the 20th account will be closed to account 40 “Output of products (works, services)”;

The first option is quite transparent, so we'd better choose the second, which is a little more complicated.

If we have chosen the option “In the cost of products, works, services”, then here it is necessary set a rule, for which the amounts from the accounts of indirect expenses, i.e. in our case, from account 26 (let me remind you, the amounts on it are not divided into specific item groups) will be distributed between item groups on account 20.01. To do this, click on the link “Methods for allocating indirect costs”. The options here are quite varied. I will establish the most easy-to-understand distribution option, where “Payment” is used as the distribution base. I’ll explain what this means below using specific numbers from our example.

Setting up accounting for direct and indirect expenses in NU

Accordingly, expense items that are not indicated in this list, are considered indirect. In NU they are written off to account 90.08.1 “Administrative expenses for activities with the main taxation system.”

Separately, I note that in the Tax Accounting of the program, the attribution of one or another expense to direct or indirect costs depends solely on the register “Methods for determining direct production costs in NU.” I would also like to draw your attention to the fact that the register is initially full. It is necessary, if necessary, to make changes taking into account your specifics. For our example, we will leave exactly the original option for filling out the register.

Regular operation of closing the month “Closing accounts 20, 23, 25, 26”: accounting

Now we come to the key issue of this article, for the sake of which everything was started “Closing accounts 20, 23, 25, 26”. Closing is performed as part of the sequential execution of routine operations at the end of the month. Let's close and analyze the transactions.

Let's first discuss account 26. Let me remind you that in accounting we have established that indirect costs, i.e. account 26 is closed on account 20.01 (selected the option “ In the cost of products, works, services"). At the same time, it was established that the basis of distribution between item groups of account 20 would be “Payment”. Let's see how account 26 with the cost item “Payment” was closed.

I used red lines to combine the general subcontos (“Division” and “Cost Item”) for accounts 26 and 20.01 for clarity. Account 26 does not have a subcontract “Nomenclature group”, therefore the entire amount under the cost item “Payment” in the “Main division” division was distributed to account 20.01 between two item groups “Tables” and “Chairs/armchairs”. The following distribution proportion was formed:

“Tables” / “Chairs chairs” = 21,759.04 / 21,240.96 = 1.02439…

This proportion is determined based on our setup, in which we have set the distribution base to be “Payroll”. Let's create SALT for account 20.01, for the cost item “Payment” and see what the amount was for the item group “Tables” and for the group “Chairs and chairs”:

From the report it is clear that “Payment” for the nomenclature “Tables” is 42,000, and for the nomenclature “Chairs and chairs” 41,000. This ratio actually amounts to a coefficient of 1.02439... = 42,000 / 41,000. Using this coefficient, the program distributes expenses from account 26 by item groups of account 20.01.

Now, regarding the account 20.01. In our example, it is closed to account 40 “Output of products (works, services)” for the corresponding Nomenclature groups.

Regular operation of closing the month “Closing accounts 20, 23, 25, 26”: tax accounting

Now let's pay attention to how the closure of tax accounts occurred. Let's look at closing account 26. Costs for the cost item “Payment” of account 26 were completely closed to account 20.01, the same cost item (! IN TAX ACCOUNTING!). But the cost items “Insurance premiums” and “Contributions to the Social Insurance Fund from NS and PZ” 26 accounts are closed to account 90.08.01 “Administrative expenses for activities with the main taxation system”. This is due to the fact that in the accounting policy in the register “Methods for determining direct costs” These cost items were not indicated and therefore the program at NU considers such expenses to be indirect and closes them to account 90.08.01.

Account 20.01 in Tax Accounting is completely closed to account 40.

That's all for today.

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Accounting is a difficult profession. It requires attentiveness and concentration. This makes a person quickly get tired and make mistakes in calculations. To reduce the burden on accountants, Russian programmers created a platform - "1C: Enterprise", which includes the section "1C: Accounting". This program helps automate the tax and accounting accounts of any company or private enterprise.

Closing account 26 in 1C

Experienced users know the interface of the platform, but those who are new to it may have questions. They will be associated with the closure of account 26 in 1C 8.3. This is a business general expense account that must be closed monthly. This is where the problems begin. To get rid of them, you need to follow certain recommendations.

Including general business expenses in the cost of sales

First of all, you need to go to the Main tab and select the Accounting Policy section. Here you will see how the company's total business expenses are distributed. They may be included in the cost of sales or the cost of products, works and services. In the first case, closing account 26 1C will be considered as indirect expenses.

To do this, you need to select the desired option and in the Operations tab find the Month Closing function. After these steps, all accounts for the month will be closed. Among them you will find the desired 26 and see its display. To do this, right-click on the section Closing accounts 20, 23, 25, 26 and select Show transactions. Please note that the accounting amount is the same as the tax accounting amount.

Including total costs in the cost of production

We considered closing the monthly account 26 1C in the cost of sales, but if an organization is engaged in manufacturing and wants to know the full price of the issue, then it must be closed in the cost of products, works and services. Go back to the Operations tab again and check the box next to the desired parameter.

In this case, account 26 is closed as a debit to account 20 (“Main production”). This is where closure problems arise. This operation will not be performed because you have not configured the accounting policy.

To avoid this situation, you need to return to the Accounting Policies tab and click Methods for allocating indirect expenses. Here we set up each item group, that is, the distribution base. Select the cost period and base. It will depend on what indicators you have each month. For example, wages for workers in production. But you can do it much easier by choosing the Direct costs base. Then all costs of account 20, that is, the main production, will be taken into account. This is what we need!

Let's go back a step earlier and again close the month of account 26. Having looked at its entries, we see that the general expenses for business affairs are included not as indirect costs 90.08.1., but as the cost of production of account 20. But now we have lost the amount for tax accounting, since the tax for the main production is always indirect.

If you look below, you can see the generated transaction for account 26 to debit 90.08.1. only for tax accounting - accounting is omitted. This is the difference between including costs 26 in production costs and sales costs.

This feature must be taken into account when generating reports.

Every enterprise, regardless of its field of activity, inevitably has a need for expenses. You need to pay rent, pay salaries to employees, buy cleaning equipment. To streamline and control this process, account 26 was created, which is called “General business expenses”.

Every day, company management is faced with management costs that have nothing to do with production, sales or revenue-generating services. The question arises of how to take them into account correctly. Accounting 26 makes it easy to do this. First, all general business expenses are taken into account in this account, and then written off to the debit of accounts 90 “Sales”, 20 “Main production”, 29 “Service of production and economy” or 08 “Investment in non-current assets”, depending on the direction of the main activity of the enterprise.

Money is leaving

The most active users of account 26 are organizations related to the provision of services: dealers, brokers, forwarders, agents. It can include all expenses and be credited to sales accounting.

Trading companies rarely turn to account 26 in their activities. It is easier for them to assign account 44 “Sales expenses” for their business expenses. They attribute all costs to him.

Organizations engaged in agriculture distribute their general business expenses at the close of the reporting period once a month or quarterly by type of production. The exception is the cost of feed, seeds, raw materials for semi-finished products and materials. At the end of the year they are subject to adjustment to the level of actual costs. Also, if the company’s accounting policy allows this, they can be written off to the debit of account 90 “Sales”.

Construction companies, as well as house-building factories, mechanization departments, factories for the production of building materials 26 use accounting accounts to account for the costs of servicing workers, the costs of organizing work on construction sites, and maintaining administrative and economic personnel. General business expenses at the end of the month are written off to the debit of account 20.4 “Costs of construction and installation work.” Factories and house-building plants distribute them according to the types of services provided and products produced. And the mechanization departments are proportionally divided between the services provided to third parties and the construction and installation work performed.

Note! In budget accounting, the purpose of account 26 will be completely different. There it will be off-balance sheet. Budgetary institutions take into account property transferred for free use in accordance with Order of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation No. 157N dated December 1, 2010.

Construction

Account characteristics

What activities can be classified as general business expenses:

• cash payments to employees of the administrative and economic apparatus who do not bring direct income to the company: directorate, accounting department, secretariat. Account 26 reflects wages, bonuses, vacation pay and other incentives paid by the company;
• insurance premiums paid by the company from the earnings of employees of the administrative and economic apparatus, subject to payment to the budget of the Russian Federation;
• depreciation of intangible assets and fixed assets acquired for the needs of the administrative and economic apparatus;
• rent, except for profit-generating premises: production workshops, retail premises, etc.;
• costs of repairing operating systems not related to production activities;
• expenses associated with the provision of consulting and information services;
• costs of materials that will be used for management needs;
• entertainment expenses;
• staff development;
• security of premises;
• recruitment;
• subscription to periodicals;
• software;
• telecommunications, communications, internet;
• business trips of administrative and economic staff.

To account for general business costs, enterprises use a full or partial journal-order form. They reflect information on payroll, consumption of materials, the total amount of wear and tear on the operating system, enter transcript sheets containing various financial expenses, etc.

Note! Payment for services rendered for the maintenance of general business personnel is all 26 accounts.

Education

Closing

To determine active or passive account 26, you need to pay attention to how costs are reflected on it. They are distributed as a debit and written off as a credit to the cost accounts for the main production. Thus, account 26 in the accounting department is active. It closes monthly. All balances are transferred to the cost of production. The balance at the end of the period should be zero.

There are two ways to form costs:

• At actual cost (full).
• Direct costing or at reduced cost.

An enterprise can use only one method in its activities, which must be fixed in its accounting policies. It will not be possible to change it. Closing the account 26 will depend on the chosen method.

If the organization uses the formation method at actual cost, then in this case general business expenses will be closed to account 20 “Main production”. If the company has service or auxiliary workshops that provide services to third parties, then the costs must be divided between accounts 23 “Auxiliary production” and 29 “Service production and facilities”. The procedure for writing off and distributing general business cost bases must also be reflected in the accounting policy. The accounting entry in this case will look like this:

Dt20 (23, 29) - Kt26

How to close the 26th account if the company has chosen the direct costing method. Everything is very simple. General business expenses when working at a reduced cost will be taken into account in account 90.2 “Cost of sales”. Wiring sample:

Dt90.2 - Kt26

In accounting, problems sometimes arise with writing off general business expenses. Why is account 26 not closed? Most likely he has an opening balance, which he shouldn't have. There are several reasons that, by eliminating them, can solve this impossible question:

1. First of all, you need to check the accounting policy settings in the accounting program. It should indicate the method of cost formation at the enterprise, as well as information on how general business costs are distributed.
2. The second possible reason may be incorrect analytical accounting for general business expenses. You should check the correctness of the distribution of costs by type of item, as well as by division of the company. Most likely, an error will be discovered in the details of the operations performed.

Accountant closes the month

What to do if there was no revenue during the reporting month. There is also a way out. You need to create a sale for 1 kopeck and send it to a fake counterparty. After this, you can close general business expenses from account 26 to account 20 “Main production”. After this, all that remains is to manually reverse the extra penny at the end of the year.

An example of how to close account 26 manually by posting:

Dt26 - Kt02 - depreciation on fixed assets has been accrued.

Dt26 - Kt10 - inventories are written off.

Dt26 - Kt70 - wages accrued to the administrative and economic apparatus.

Dt26 - Kt68 (69) - insurance payments have been calculated.

Dt20 (21, 29, 90) - Kt26 - costs have been written off.

Important! If general business expenses are taken into account in tax accounting as indirect, then temporary differences invariably arise. They must also be written off by postings.

Subaccounts

All operations on account 26 are regulated by PBU (Accounting Regulations) 10/99. Analytical accounting is maintained by divisions to which expenses were allocated and by type of cost item. Account 26 is posted in analytics through subaccounts, because subaccounts are not provided for it in accounting.

How does account 26 correspond with other accounts?

It corresponds with other accounts in the chart of accounts, both in debit and credit. Basic debit entries:

Dt26
Dt26

Correspondence with loan accounting accounts:

Kt26

Postings

Which entries are most often used in accounting when writing off general business expenses:

• Calculation of depreciation of fixed assets for administrative and economic needs - Dt26 - Kt02.
• Costs associated with OS repairs by the organization itself or with the involvement of third-party specialists - Dt26 - Kt10 (60, 76).
• Depreciation was accrued for intangible assets (intangible assets) for administrative and economic needs - Dt26 - Kt05.
• The costs of renting premises that are not commercial or industrial are reflected - Dt26 - Kt76 (60).
• Costs for auditing, information, consulting services - Dt26 - Kt76 (60).
• Expenses for training employees of the administrative and economic apparatus - Dt26 - Kt76 (60).
• Taxes written off - Dt26 - Kt68.
• Salary of administrative and economic personnel - Dt26 - Kt70.
• Insurance premiums - Dt26 - Kt69.
• Conducting official receptions, business meetings and negotiations, transport support - Dt26 - Kt71 (60, 76).

As can be seen from the example entries, all general business expenses are reflected on Dt26, and according to Kt26 they are written off to cost and sales.

A business meeting

Posting examples

You can consider how to close account 26 for the cost of one type of product: Svistok LLC produces stainless steel teapots at actual cost. Direct expenses are reflected on account 20 “Main production”, indirect expenses on account 26 “General business expenses”. The company's accounting policy reflects that all business costs are written off to the cost of production. Distribution is carried out at planned cost.

In July 2019, direct expenses amounted to 85,000 rubles:

• salary of production workers - 19,000 rubles;
• insurance premiums - 6,000 rubles;
• material costs - 60,000 rubles.

Indirect costs amounted to 18,000 rubles:

• salary of administrative and economic personnel - 15,000 rubles;

What entries will the accountant make:

date	Dt	CT	Amount, rub.	Wiring description
Output
15.07.2019	43	40	89 000	Production of products at planned cost
15.07.2019	20	10	60 000	Materials written off
31.07.2019	20	70	19 000	Salary accrued
31.07.2019	70	68	2 500	Personal income tax withheld
31.07.2019	20	69	3 500	insurance premiums accrued
31.07.2019	26	70	15 000	Salary accrued
31.07.2019	70	68	2 000	Personal income tax withheld
31.07.2019	20	69	1 000	Insurance premiums accrued
Closing the month
31.07.2019	20	26	15 000	Closing account 26 (salary)
31.07.2019	20	26	1 000
31.07.2019	40	20	98 500	Write-off of the actual cost of finished products (22,500 (Labor) + 60,000 (Material costs) + 16,000 (General expenses)
31.07.2019	43	40	19 000

The second example shows how to calculate and write off costs when account 26 is closed using the direct costing method: Polymer LLC is engaged in the production of products. Direct expenses are reflected on account 20 “Main production”, indirect expenses on account 26 “General business expenses”. The company's accounting policy reflects that all general business costs are written off to the cost of production. Distribution is carried out using the direct costing method.

In June 201, direct expenses amounted to 90,000 rubles:

• salary of production workers - 25,000 rubles;
• insurance premiums - 7,500 rubles;
• material costs - 57,500 rubles.

Indirect costs amounted to 14,000 rubles:

• salary of administrative and economic personnel - 11,000 rubles;
• insurance premiums - 3,000 rubles.

date	Dt	CT	Amount, rub.	Wiring description
Output
15.06.2019	43	40	95 000	Release of finished products at planned cost
15.06.2019	20	10	57 500	Materials written off
Payroll for production workers
31.06.2019	20	70	25 000	Salary accrued
31.06.2019	70	68	3 000	Personal income tax withheld
31.06.2019	20	69	4 500	insurance premiums accrued
Calculation of salaries for administrative and economic employees
31.06.2019	26	70	11 000	Salary accrued
31.06.2019	70	68	1 500	Personal income tax withheld
31.06.2019	20	69	1 500	Insurance premiums accrued
Closing the month
31.06.2019	90.08	26	11 000	Closing account 26 (salary)
31.06.2019	90.08	26	1 500	Closing account 26 (insurance premiums)
31.06.2019	40	20	99 500	Write-off of the actual cost of production (29,500 (Labor) + 57,500 (Material costs) + 12,500 (General expenses)
31.06.2019	43	40	5 000	Adjustment of product cost to actual value

Production growth

General business expenses directly affect income tax and can significantly reduce it. Therefore, Federal Tax Service inspectors carefully check the correctness of the entries and the reasonableness of the costs. They must be confirmed by relevant documents. Errors in accounting can lead to penalties, as stated in Article 120 and Article 122 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.