Bank statement

The bank produces a statement for each account. It shows the date, amount and purpose of each transaction, the counterparty, bank charges, and the balance at the start and end of the period. For accounting, it is confirmation of the movement of money.

Where it is used in foreign trade

From the statement, a company sees when a payment to a supplier was debited and when proceeds arrived. A foreign currency account statement shows currency being credited, sold or bought. The bank uses data on the movement of money in currency control, and the tax authorities and auditors request statements during inspections.

The statement and a payment through an agent

When an importer pays a supplier directly, the statement shows a transfer to the supplier. When the payment goes through an agent, the importer’s statement shows a rouble transaction under the agency agreement, not a transfer to the supplier. What happened to the money next is shown by the agent’s documents: the agent’s report and completion certificate and the confirmation of the transfer to the beneficiary. So accounting and inspections need the full set, not the statement alone.

What to watch for

The payment purpose should refer to the agreement and the invoice. Then the transaction is easy to link to the contract. Keep the statement for the period in which the payment went through together with the contract, the invoice and the agent’s report. If the statement does not match your records, ask the bank for an explanation right away, not at the quarter-end close.

In a deal through a broker, the documents for each payment are collected in one package: the agency agreement, the payment order, the payment confirmation, the agent’s report and completion certificate, and the currency control documents. You add your own bank’s statement to it yourself.