Outgoing correspondence: registration logs, accounting, samples, filling rules

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

In any sphere of the national economy, there is a paperwork that includes many functions. Among them, accounting for incoming and outgoing correspondence is one of the main ones. There is not a single enterprise functioning in isolation from other organizations. Be sure to communicate and cooperate with customers, suppliers, financial and other institutions. Therefore, the production process cannot do without correspondence. Who handles the registration of incoming and outgoing letters? How to properly account for them? Who needs it and why? We will consider these issues in the article.

Categories of correspondence. Features of outgoing documentation

There are a great many forms and types of documents, but they all fall into only two main categories:

• Sending (outgoing mail).
• Received (incoming mail).

Let's look at the meaning of each category.

Correspondence, called outgoing, can be sent to the following recipients:

• Higher authorities.
• Subordinatesorganizations.
• Partner enterprises.
• Departments, workshops and other structural divisions of the enterprise.

What documents are sent to higher authorities?

Practically every enterprise is subordinate to any organizations (district, departmental, regional, as well as ministries). Outgoing correspondence sent to these institutions may be reports, reports, plans for the month, quarter, year, responses to requests. As a rule, it is issued on approved standard forms or on ordinary sheets with the company's logo.

Documents for Downline Organizations

Not all, but many enterprises cooperate with organizations that are subordinate to them. It can be executive bodies, branches, small firms and others. The correspondence sent by him may be directives, orders, notices, regulations, instructions, training materials. It is also issued on letterheads or ordinary sheets with the company logo. In addition, instructions and training materials may take the form of brochures and manuals, but they must be accompanied by instructions on standard forms or cover letters with seals and signatures. If there are none, then the manuals and brochures themselves must have the seal of the sending enterprise and the signatures of responsible persons.

Documentation for partner firms

As a rule, in this case we are talking about suppliers, distributors and customers. The correspondence he sends is orders, notices ofreceipt of goods, claims, brochures, notifications about changes in any terms of an agreement or contract, business proposals.

It should be noted that advertising materials, price lists, congratulations, invitations, for example, to a presentation do not need to be registered.

Documentation within the same organization

This type of outgoing correspondence takes place at enterprises where there are 2 or more departments, workshops, divisions. In such cases, the leadership issues orders, resolutions, guidelines, instructions and similar documents, which are sent to departments and workshops. Then for managers and administration such correspondence will be outgoing, and for a workshop or department - incoming.

Journal design rules

Regardless of where the document is sent, it must be accounted for. To do this, there are logs for registering outgoing correspondence. In a time when computers and the Internet did not exist, such journals were kept by hand. They could be arbitrary. A common notebook, accounting book, notepad could be used. Most importantly, the magazine had to have stitched sheets so that they could not be torn out. In addition, they needed to be numbered. The title page of the journal indicated the date when it was started. Previously, it was required to stitch the pages with threads, seal their ends with a sheet of paper, on which it was necessary to put the seal and signature of the responsible person. Also on this sheet was put down the total number of numbered pages. Corrections were not allowed.

Now the stitching of the magazine with threads is saved whenregistration of especially important documents of financial or legal value.

Pages in the magazine are numbered in most businesses.

When the last line of the journal is filled, the date of its end is put down. It is stored from 3 to 5 years. It depends on the type of correspondence registered in it. Court orders, financial accounts, long-term contracts, and the like are considered particularly important. You can dispose of the journal only if each of the documents recorded in it has lost its legal force.

Computer help

In this age of computer technology, it is difficult to find a clerk who traces the log of incoming and outgoing correspondence by hand. Now there is a certain program that allows you to print forms or keep records on a computer. To use it, you need to have:

• Computer with MS Office, MS Excel programs.
• Printer.
• Scanner.
• Computer email.
• A stamp like this: “Entrance. No. _, "_" _20_" It can be typed manually or purchased ready-made.

Next, you need to go into the program, download the required form and start working with it. You can print the form, make a lot of photocopies, sew them. You will get a journal in which you will need to make notes by hand. You can not print, register directly on your computer. As a rule, this is how documents are kept for which you do not need to sign.

How many magazines do you need?

More oftenIn total, enterprises maintain one log of outgoing correspondence. However, some organizations with many partners and other recipients may have several of these magazines, such as:

• For registration of correspondence sent to third parties and for documents within the enterprise.
• For letters sent to domestic and foreign companies.
• For documents intended for certain organizations (for example, the central office, the ministry, and so on) and everyone else. This is done for the convenience of document management, but any journal is drawn up according to a single standard.

In addition, some organizations have separate journals for each type of documentation. For example, to register outgoing orders, accounting orders, notifications, manuals, customer complaints, protocols, and so on. To account for such documents, forms with other columns may be used.

How to keep journal entries

It should be said that the forms of forms are approximately the same for accounting for all types of outgoing correspondence. A sample showing what the design should look like is given in our article.

At the top of each page there is a "header" with columns:

• The serial number of the record, it was also affixed to the document.
• Departure date.
• Document title (e.g. "Progress Report").
• Summary (literally a couple of sentences, you can also put down the document number).
• Name of the institution where correspondence is sent.
• Signature of responsible registrant.
• Departure method (regular or e-mail, fax). This item has been added with the advent of new technologies. Previously, it was not in the correspondence logs.
• If a response to a request or an execution report is sent, the log should indicate the number of the document on the basis of which the sent letter was created. It is also necessary to indicate the data about the performer (name, position).
• Number of copies. Sometimes a column is allocated separately, in which the number of pages in a copy is indicated.
• Note. Information that is not included in the previous columns is indicated here.

If the outgoing document is not a response to a request or a report, dashes are put in the columns on execution and the responsible person.

In our time, the content and filling of the log of outgoing correspondence have not changed. Sample shown above.

Incoming mail

Letters and documents can be received by the enterprise from the following sources:

1. Higher authorities.
2. Subordinates.
3. Partner firms.
4. Other institutions not listed above (police, banks, courts, private citizens, etc.).
5. Within an enterprise, incoming correspondence may come from the administration or another structural unit, for example, from the accounting department.

Above weconsidered what papers can constitute correspondence from the organizations indicated in the first three paragraphs.

Documents from other institutions can be a subpoena to an employee, a writ of execution, a court decision, a lawsuit, a complaint or a statement from a private person, and so on.

The papers representing the workflow within the enterprise can be very different: management orders, orders, instructions, regulations, standards, safety regulations, notices, and so on.

Working with incoming documents

It is necessary to keep records not only of outgoing correspondence, but also of incoming. The journal, where letters received by the enterprise are registered, is drawn up according to the same rules as for sent documents.

The difference is in the "cap" on the forms. It should contain the following columns:

• Ordinal number. It is also affixed to the document.
• Date received.
• Organization that sent the document.
• How it was received (by fax, e-mail or regular mail).
• Document name.
• Number of copies.
• Where the document was sent (workshop, department or folder name).

A sample of one of the forms of the journal of incoming correspondence is presented below.

If the incoming document is an order or a methodological instruction of the management received by the workshop (department) for execution, the registration log must indicate who is the responsible person, and also affixperformance note, date and artist's signature.

Who keeps the records?

Any responsible person appointed by the head can register incoming and outgoing correspondence. In this case, this type of labor activity must be included in his job description or approved by order of the head of the enterprise. As a rule, office work in organizations is handled by a secretary. In addition, an employee of the office or an administrator (in small companies) can perform the registration of correspondence. In some organizations, correspondence is handled by two employees - the compiler and the secretary.

Shops and departments also keep records of incoming and outgoing documentation. This is done by an employee who is charged with this type of activity by order of the management.

How should I properly record incoming documentation?

Registration of incoming and outgoing correspondence is not a difficult task, but a responsible one. All documents received by the enterprise are subject to accounting. If they came from organizations, they must be stamped and signed by the head. Sometimes the signature of responsible persons is also required, for example, the chief accountant, if this is an invoice issued to the enterprise. Letters from individuals, such as explanatory or claims, can only bear the signature of the person who compiled this document.

In most enterprises, all incoming correspondence must be reviewed by the manager in order to keep abreast of production processes. Himselfdecides what to do with the documents received - to accept for execution, to familiarize the persons involved with the information, or simply to file the paper into a folder. Therefore, the secretary, having registered the incoming correspondence in the journal, provides it to the head. He puts a mark on each document to which department it should be sent.

Based on this "verdict", the secretary in the register of incoming correspondence notes in the appropriate column the further "fate" of each letter. For example, a new regulation on the calculation of the premium can be sent to the accounting department, safety guidelines to the technical department, and a claim from citizen Ivanov to the product quality control department. This completes the work of the secretary with the incoming documentation.

How do I keep track of outgoing mail?

Above, we examined what papers may relate to this type of documentation. In some organizations, individual requests must be answered by an assistant secretary or compiler. According to GOST R 6.30-2003.12, such a document is drawn up on a special form or on a blank sheet with the company's logo. Any business letter sent to an organization or individual must be stamped and signed by the manager. As a rule, the secretary must make a photocopy of the document, which must be filed in the correct folder.

Outgoing correspondence is registered in the corresponding journal. The secretary must check whether all the necessary seals and signatures, details of his company andthe organization for which the document was drawn up, put on it the number corresponding to the one under which it is entered in the journal, the date of departure, the name of the folder in which the copy is filed. If the correspondence being sent is a response to an incoming letter, you must also put down the number under which it was registered. Documents must be sent on the day indicated in the registration log.

Why do we need correspondence accounting?

Some people who are far from production believe that scrupulous registration of incoming and outgoing correspondence is extra work, the so-called paperwork. In fact, correspondence accounting performs the following functions:

• Organizes workflow.
• Ensures timely response to incoming signals.
• Streamlines the exchange of information within production.
• Guarantees the effective participation of the company in foreign economic life.
• Helps you quickly find the document you need.

The importance of this work is obvious, so you need to approach its implementation responsibly.