Accountant

It is generally accepted that the terms accountant and accountant mean the same profession and are synonymous pairs of the type pilot / pilot or plane / airplane , where the first word is of pure Russian origin, and the second is borrowed from foreign languages, in this case from ( German Buchhalter from buch - book, halter - holder) during the reforms of Peter the Great . However, contrary to popular belief, these terms are not synonymous.

If we draw analogies with medicine, then the accountant is a doctor , and the accountant is a paramedic . Ordinary accountants correlated with accountants in much the same way as ordinary cooks correlate with a chef, or ordinary ward nurses with an older nurse. That is, the functions performed are almost the same, but the accountant, in contrast to the ordinary accountant, has higher qualifications, is more "universal".

The term “ bookkeeper” was introduced into the Russian language by Fyodor Venediktovich Jezersky ^[1] , the inventor of “Russian triple bookkeeping” and the publisher of the Journal of the Society of Bookkeepers, who insisted on using Russian words in accounting instead of borrowed terminology. So, for example, Yezersky proposed the following substitutions: “accounting” - “bookkeeping”, “asset” - “funds”, “liability” - “repayment”, “credit” - “expense”, “balance” - “balance” and so on further ^[1] .

The word stuck, however, it began to mean not an accountant at all, but an employee performing auxiliary accounting functions.

According to the “Dictionary of accounting terms” ^[2] , the accountant, as compared to the accountant, already has a circle of professional functions. Its functions are limited mainly to recording transactions in the journal and making entries in the accounting register.

According to the “Big Accounting Dictionary” ^{[3], the} accountant is an accountant whose job responsibilities include performing, under the direct supervision of an accountant, the work of filling out accounting registers and tables based on data from primary documents (requirements for materials, work order, etc.). The accountant also performs the registration of accounting entries and posting them to the accounts, makes simple calculations for individual areas of accounting, accepts and monitors the correctness of processing of primary documents, prepares them for accounting processing, as well as for the preparation of established accounting statements. Participates in the implementation of measures aimed at strengthening economic accounting.

The collective farm accountant and collective farm bookkeeper were different qualifications of the same profession. The accountant, performing primary accounting, was subordinate to the so-called instructor-accountant. The duties of the instructor-accountant included conducting on the collective farms current checks of the state of accounting and financial work and documentary checks of the entire financial condition of the collective farm, as well as instructing accountants and assistance in organizing their work. ^[four]

Agricultural bodies are obliged to provide practical assistance to collective farms in the registration and bookkeeping. For this purpose, the posts of instructors-accountants have been established in MTS, the responsibility of which is to conduct on-farm collective checks of the status of accounting and financial work and documentary checks of the entire financial condition of the collective farm. Inspectors of the branches of the State Bank and Agricultural Bank in the districts, as well as audit commissions of collective farms are involved in this work. Instructors-accountants instruct accountants (accountants) of collective farms on the procedure for maintaining C, provide assistance in supplying collective farms with books and forms of accounting documentation, and help organize the training and professional development of accountants for collective farms. The responsibility of instructors and accountants also lies in assisting the collective farms in the proper setting of financial work.

If the collective farm was large, then the board did not hire a bookkeeper, but a full-fledged accountant.

Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov in his interview with Rossiyskaya Gazeta dated July 01, 2015 clearly indicates that accountants and bookkeepers are different professions ^[5] :

The collective farm accountant, bookkeeper and the offended chairman sat down together and quickly passed a sentence.

The following professions, separated by commas, are indicated in the qualifications list of professional schools of collective farm accountants: instructor-accountant, collective farm accountant, collective farm accountant.

• Accountant and accountant: who is who? // Journal "Budget Accounting" No. 2 of 02.20.2007
• Library of agronomy. Accountancy // Article from the Agricultural Encyclopedia. T. 4. M.: State publishing house of agricultural literature, 1955. S. 670.

• Accounting
• Accountant