Đurović: Return NGOs to the Accounting Act and enable legal activity

The NGO-Cooperation to the Goal coalition presented at the session of the Parliamentary Committee for Budget, Economy and Finance an initiative to amend the Bill on Accounting, which is on the agenda of the Parliament. The NGO Coalition proposes an amendment to the Draft Law on Accounting, more precisely Article 1, which refers to the subjects that are the subject of this regulation, and in the hope that non-governmental organizations will again be included in this regulation, Goran Đurović, president of the Governing Board of the NGO-Cooperation to the Goal Coalition, announced today.

"The Act on Amendments to the Law on Accounting and Auditing, which was adopted in June 2011, established the obligation to submit annual financial statements only for legal entities that perform economic activity. Based on these amendments, non-governmental organizations that do not perform economic activity do not have the obligation to submit financial reports to the Tax Administration. These changes to the Law from 2011 were made without consulting non-governmental organizations," Đurović pointed out.

He added that in the Proposal for the Law on Accounting, which is in the Parliament of Montenegro, this solution has been retained and should be changed.

"The current Law as well as the proposal of the Law on Accounting raise the question of whether non-governmental organizations that do not perform economic activity should have business books at all? If non-governmental organizations do not need to have business books, then it is difficult to control their work. The coalition of NGOs sees no reason to separate NGOs from the system of control of legal entities in relation to economic subjects and public administration. The largest number of non-governmental organizations keep business books established in Article 18 of the Draft Law on Accounting in order to be transparent in their work. Also, submitting financial reports is a prerequisite for the use of modest funds from the state and local self-government budgets," said Đurović.

The NGO-cooperation coalition believes that submitting financial reports to the Tax Administration is not too much effort and does not require large additional funds that can be a burden for NGOs.

"The basic motive for our initiative lies in the fact that by submitting financial statements to the Tax Administration, greater transparency is achieved in the work of non-governmental organizations. If our initiative were to be accepted, then in accordance with Article 9 paragraph 5 of the Draft Law on Accounting, on the website of the Tax Administration balance sheets and profit and loss statements of all non-governmental organizations were published.Now that provision of the Law applies only to those organizations that perform economic activity. The issue of accounting in non-profit organizations such as non-governmental organizations, trade unions and religious organizations can be regulated by a special regulation, but until such a regulation is adopted, it is necessary to ensure the obligation to keep business books by applying the same rules for all legal entities.We hope that the proposer will accept our initiative and start the process of amending the Bill on Accounting in order to re-include non-governmental organizations in the circle of entities to which this regulation applies in its entirety," the statement concludes.

The NGO-cooperation to the goal coalition currently gathers 101 non-governmental organizations from Montenegro.