Bank accounts: current and current account. What is the difference between a checking account and a current account

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

A bank account is opened by individuals and legal entities in order to accumulate funds and conduct non-cash payments with them. There are established rules for identifying each species. Visually, this is a numerical code consisting of a long combination of numbers. It contains information about the currency in which the account is opened, its type, bank branch where it is serviced, personal number and key.

Types of bank accounts

There are the following account types:

• budget;
• currency;
• frozen;
• insured;
• correspondent;
• cumulative;
• saving;
• transit;
• summary;
• stock;
• loan;
• cheque;
• metallic impersonal;
• oncall;
• general;
• current account
• checking account.

The number of any account in Russia consists of 20 digits. This system was adopted in 1998. The code combination is divided into 5 groups,each of which carries certain information.

What is a checking account?

Settlement account is opened for legal entities and individual entrepreneurs. The opening is preceded by the signing of a banking agreement. Current account main functions:

• Payment for services rendered or goods sold.
• Other non-sales transactions.
• Settlements with counterparties.
• Repayment of tax liabilities.
• Advance tax payments.
• Paying salaries to employees.
• Insurance payments and social contributions.
• Repayment of loans and other financial obligations.

Checking account

This term refers to two types of accounts: an account linked to an individual's card, and an account intended for servicing branches and representative offices of legal entities. A current account is a means of paying for purchases, receiving pensions, salaries, paying off credit and other financial obligations of individuals.

Both individuals and legal entities, an account is opened upon their application. The presence of a bank account for business entities is a mandatory requirement of the law. Opening an account must be initiated during the entity registration process. Current and settlement accounts belonging to legal entities deserve special attention.

Current account of a legal entity

The current account of a legal entity has a mode, which is determined depending on what tasks it will perform. The current account and current account of the company may differ from each other or even be opened in different banks. When opening a representative office, the parent company may apply for a current account to be assigned to it. The mode in such cases is determined automatically.

The functions of the settlement account of the representative office are as follows:

• Expenses associated with maintaining the department.
• Tax and other payments to the state budget.
• Paying wages.
• Insurance premiums for employees.

This is not an exhaustive list. It can be expanded depending on the needs of the organization. Settlement and current bank accounts are usually available to a limited circle of people. It can be a branch manager and an accountant. Eligible persons are specified in the contract. In general, the range of transactions for the current account of the representative office is also quite narrow.

Regulatory framework

One of the important regulatory documents in this field is the Decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR No. 911 as amended on October 8, 1998. This document, among other things, considers the responsibility of the bank for errors made in the course of settlement operations and violation of the terms of the contract.

In particular, liability arises if the bank writes off the wrong amount of money, delaystransaction for a day or more, transfers an incorrect amount or delays the payment of funds in favor of the account holder. The pen alty in all cases is 0.5% of the amount of the error and for each subsequent day until it is eliminated.

Another lever of regulation in the legal field is the law "On banks and banking activities", adopted and practiced since 1996. According to article 31 of this law, in case of detection of erroneous transactions that occurred through the fault of a financial institution, interest is paid on the erroneous amount in favor of the client at the refinancing rate.

In other words, for those cases for which the first document provides for a fine, according to the second document, interest is due. It should be borne in mind that, according to the provisions of the Law “On Banks and Banking Activities”, the amount of liability fixed in the initial contract is not subject to subsequent changes. The current account and settlement account of companies, as well as the procedure for conducting transactions with them, are subject to precisely these rules.

Lawyers believe that this measure, in fact, is a pen alty, despite the fact that the text of the law spelled out as a fine. The fact is that this case entirely fits the legal definition of a pen alty specified in Article 330 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. According to him, a pen alty is a cash payment collected from one of the parties in case of failure to comply with the terms of the contract or the law.

However, the law does not provide for such a factor as damages caused by the erroneous actions of one of the parties. Therefore, it is also impossible to establish a ratio. In such cases, the amount of compensation in practice is counted as a set-off pen alty.

What is the difference between a current account and a current account?

If we talk about the difference between the accounts of the parent company and the representative office, then, apart from a limited range of access, there are no other differences in practice. A more detailed consideration is the difference between settlement and current accounts for legal entities and individual entrepreneurs.

Individual entrepreneurs can theoretically use a personal bank card or account to pay the expenses of the company or their business. But difficulties will arise when these operations are reflected in the accounting documentation.

The current account and the current account differ from each other in several essential parameters, each of which should be considered in more detail.

Interchangeability

Current account in some circumstances can be used as a current one. For example, if you need to buy something or pay for services. Of course, all this will be reflected as transactions in the interests of the company.

However, a current account cannot replace a current account. In particular, it is impossible to make transfers from it to a current account. In the same way, it is impossible to receive funds if it is not an employee card and a current account of the employing company.

In other words, the current account and current account can only replace each other in one direction. However, the current account has a little more opportunities, as they can beused for personal purposes by persons who have legal access to them (the head or his authorized representative).

Interest rates

Banks are interested in making as many transactions as possible through them. Therefore, marketing strategies are often aimed at both individuals and legal entities. One of the common chips is the accrual of interest on the amount of the balance.

If we are talking about a current account of an individual, then there is a very wide range of banking products that provide for interest rates. In addition to them, today almost all bank cards practice returning interest on the amount spent - cashback, which can also be considered a client's profit.

Given the daily need for both types of accounts, one can often meet the question: what is the difference between current and current accounts? Let's look at another distinguishing feature. For example, a checking account is rarely subject to an interest rate.

At the same time, the current account is under the strict control of government agencies. For example, if a company has a debt in taxes or there are unpaid fines or pen alties, then they can easily impose a ban on operations. In some cases, the limit is imposed on the amount of debt, in other cases - on all funds on the balance sheet. But there are legal ways to lift the ban - pay off the debt, notify the tax authority and inform the bank. Usually access is opened no later than the next day.