Every legal entity operating in Uzbekistan is required to maintain accounting records. The rules are set out in Law No. ЗРУ-404 of 13 April 2016 "On Accounting" and a body of supporting legislation. This guide covers the core concepts, organisational requirements, reporting obligations, and the penalties for getting it wrong.
01Legislative Framework
- Budget Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan
- Civil Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan
- Criminal Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan
- Tax Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan
- Law No. ЗРУ-404 of 13 April 2016 "On Accounting"
- Law No. ЗРУ-580 of 5 November 2019 "On Banks and Banking Activity"
- Law No. ЗРУ-582 of 11 November 2019 "On the Central Bank of the Republic of Uzbekistan"
- Presidential Resolution No. PP-419 of 10 November 2022 "On measures to optimise reporting and archival document storage procedures"
02What Is Accounting?
Under Uzbek law, accounting is defined as an ordered system for collecting, registering, and summarising accounting information through continuous, documented recording of all business operations, and the preparation of financial and other reports on that basis.
All accounting is conducted using the double-entry method: every business operation is recorded simultaneously in equal amounts on at least two accounts — a debit and a credit. The accountant records where money came from, where it went, how it arose, and what result it produced. The three core principles of accounting are continuity, reliability, and comparability of indicators.
03Primary Accounting Documents
Every business operation must be supported by a primary accounting document. These documents are the foundation of the accounting system and record the fact that an operation took place or authorise it to proceed.
Typical business operations include: procurement (receipt of raw materials, payment to suppliers, introduction of materials into production); sales (distribution costs, receipt of revenue, sale of goods); and production (payroll, depreciation of fixed assets, acceptance of contractor work, payment to contractors).
Every primary document must contain the following mandatory details:
- Name of the accounting entity
- Document name, number, date, and place of preparation
- Description and quantitative measurement of the business operation (in both physical units and monetary terms)
- Job titles and signatures of the persons who carried out the operation, with name and initials
Primary documents may be prepared and submitted in electronic form. Payment terminal receipts for purchases made with corporate bank cards are also recognised as primary documents. The persons who prepare and sign primary documents bear personal responsibility for their timeliness, accuracy, and completeness.
04Who Must Keep Accounts
Accounting subjects include: state authorities and management bodies; and all legal entities registered in Uzbekistan, including their subsidiaries, representative offices, branches, and other structural subdivisions — whether located inside or outside Uzbekistan.
05Objects of Accounting
The objects of accounting are: assets; liabilities; equity; reserves; income; expenses; profit; losses; and business operations. All objects are subject to both synthetic accounting (aggregated by economic category, as required by law) and analytical accounting (detailed records maintained by the entity itself according to its own needs).
06Organising Accounting in a Company
The head of the entity (the director) is responsible for organising accounting and reporting. The director may:
- Establish an in-house accounting function headed by a chief accountant
- Engage an external accountant under a services agreement
- Delegate accounting to a specialised firm (audit organisation, tax consultancy, or accounting firm) under contract
- Personally maintain the accounts
The director must ensure: development of the accounting policy and internal control system; complete and reliable accounting records; safekeeping of accounting documents; preparation and publication of financial statements; timely tax and other financial reporting; and prompt settlement of obligations.
The chief accountant reports directly to the director. Instructions from the chief accountant on documentary formalities are binding on all employees. Where disputes arise between the director and the chief accountant over a particular operation, the director may issue a written instruction to proceed — but the director alone bears responsibility for the consequences.
Chief accountant qualification requirements
For entities subject to mandatory audit, the chief accountant must: hold a higher education degree; and have at least 3 years of relevant work experience in the last 5 years (if the degree is in economics) or at least 7 years in the last 10 years (if the degree is in another field). The director of such entities must also ensure the chief accountant completes annual professional development training.
07Simplified Accounting for Small Enterprises
Small enterprises (defined as organisations with an average annual headcount of 6 to 270 employees, depending on sector) may voluntarily adopt simplified accounting rules under NSBU No. 20. The director retains the same options for organising accounting as described above.
Small enterprises develop their own accounting policy based on their business needs and may adapt standard accounting registers to their specific activities. The following requirements remain mandatory regardless of simplified status:
- Double-entry methodology
- Consistency between analytical and synthetic records
- Continuous recording of all operations in registers on the basis of primary documents
- Accumulation and systematisation of data for management, control, analysis, and financial reporting
08Financial Statements
Financial statements are a systematised presentation of an entity's financial position at the reporting date, and its financial results and cash flows for the reporting period. The reporting period is the calendar year from 1 January to 31 December; the reporting date is 31 December.
Annual financial statements consist of:
- Balance sheet — reflects the entity's asset position
- Income statement — reports profit and loss
- Cash flow statement — records all cash receipts and payments for the period, and opening and closing balances
- Statement of changes in equity
- Notes, calculations, and explanatory disclosures
Financial statements are prepared on a cumulative basis from the start of the reporting year. Entities must consolidate the balance sheets of any representative offices, branches, and other structural subdivisions that maintain separate accounts.
09Regulation
The Ministry of Economy and Finance of the Republic of Uzbekistan regulates accounting and financial reporting, including developing and approving accounting standards, approving financial statement forms, conducting external quality control of audit organisations, and maintaining the Register of Audit Organisations and the Register of Auditors.
Accounting for budget organisations and state-targeted funds is regulated by budget legislation and supervised by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. Accounting for banks and other credit organisations is regulated by the Central Bank of the Republic of Uzbekistan, which sets the applicable rules and allows banks to apply IFRS.
10Recent Reform: Reduced Reporting Obligations
Presidential Resolution No. PP-419 (November 2022) introduced significant simplifications:
- The requirement to store and transfer to state or private archives payroll records and related tax documents (for income accrued after 1 January 2022) has been abolished.
- Financial, tax, and statistical reports submitted electronically from 1 January 2022 onwards, and documents processed electronically through tax authority systems, no longer need to be archived.
- From 1 January 2023, entities are no longer required to submit quarterly financial reports to tax and statistical authorities.
- Entities paying turnover tax are no longer required to submit annual financial reports to the tax authorities.
- From 1 May 2023, businesses whose founders are Uzbek residents may open bank accounts remotely; and utility and telecoms contracts may be executed electronically.
- From 1 January 2023, nine forms of statistical reporting have been abolished, including forms on exchange activity, labour conditions, wage distribution, commercial bank activity, and insurance organisations.
- Private archives providing electronic archiving services no longer require a licence — notification to the competent authority is sufficient.
11Penalties for Non-Compliance
Failure by the head of an accounting entity or the accounting function to fulfil their statutory obligations — including failure to ensure the accuracy and reliability of accounting data and financial statements, or failure to conduct inventory of assets and liabilities — constitutes an administrative offence:
- First offence: fine of 3 to 7 times the base calculation value (approximately USD 103 – USD 240) imposed on officials.
- Repeat offence within one year: fine of 7 to 10 times the base calculation value (approximately USD 240 – USD 340) imposed on officials.
12How Advizen Can Help
Setting up an accounting function, choosing between in-house and outsourced models, drafting accounting policies, and ensuring compliance with reporting obligations requires careful attention to Uzbekistan's regulatory framework. Advizen advises clients on the organisation of accounting, the selection of the appropriate accounting model, compliance with reporting deadlines, and responses to regulatory inquiries.