Primary Accounting
Accounting, Primary
the initial recording of facts, events, and processes and the compilation of data cards and other documents for statistical, bookkeeping, and operational records. V. I. Lenin stressed that “widespread, general, universal accounting and control—the accounting and control of the amount of labor performed and of the distribution of products —is the essence of socialist transformation, once the political rule of the proletariat has been established and secured” (Poln. sobr. soch., 5th ed., vol. 35, pp. 199–200).
The Central Statistical Board (CSB) of the USSR has overall charge of matters of primary accounting. It audits the records, sees that the work is organized correctly, and works out standardized forms. The various ministries and departments organize and check primary accounting at enterprises, organizations, and institutions. The main concerns of primary accounting are reflected in standardized interdepartmental forms and a rational system of indexes. These forms and indexes are approved by the CSB and are mandatory for all enterprises, organizations, and institutions, regardless of departmental affiliation. Included are forms for keeping records on personnel, fixed capital, raw and processed materials, capital construction, automotive transport, procurement of agricultural products, and rationalization and invention. For other matters, the CSB develops and issues standardized forms that the ministries and departments use as guides. In approving primary accounting forms for their subordinate enterprises, organizations, and institutions, the ministries and departments must proceed from considerations of the special features of the operations of these subordinates. Among the forms developed in this manner are forms for keeping records on industrial and agricultural output, on the operation of rail, water, and other types of transportation of nonconsumptive use, on the activity of enterprises and organizations that provide housing and municipal services, and on public-service enterprises.
By using primary accounting and following the rules established for proper recordkeeping, accounting documents are produced correctly and on time. The analysis of accounting and report data, the timeliness of steps to develop production, and the preservation of state and public property all depend on the quality of primary accounting.
T. V. VOLKOV