In the modern Russian language, several quite significant reforms have taken place in recent years. While in colloquial and literary styles a person can afford to ignore some rules of grammar, in a business style, when drawing up official documents, it is necessary to adhere to the standards formed in various sets of rules and grammatical dictionaries. One of the most pressing questions related to this area of human activity is how “CEO” is spelled in official documents and business correspondence.
Problems with writing
If you carefully study various forums and sites where people seek help in matters of Russian grammar, you can understand that many native speakers have problems writing the phrase “CEO”; they are not sure whether to write it with a capital or with a capital. lowercase letter.
Sometimes people seeking help are confident in a particular spelling of a phrase, but cannot clearly and consistently justify their point of view. All of these problems with how to spell "CEO" can be easily avoided by carefully studying and remembering simple rules for writing official job titles in business documents.
Individual cases
However, there are also some pitfalls in these writing rules. If the highest position is spoken of, but in an unofficial document, then it is acceptable to write the word with a lowercase letter. For example: Emperor of Japan, Chancellor of Germany.
However, the spelling of any positions, including the general director, is possible with a capital letter if we are talking about private organizations or individual departments, where the charter specifically stipulates exactly this spelling. Therefore, with the question of how to spell “general director” correctly, in some cases you can turn to the organization’s charter.
There are also several other pitfalls. When it comes to a signature on an official document, the rules of business style in the modern Russian language recommend writing “CEO” with a capital letter. How the name of this position is written in the document itself is declared using the general rules of the Russian language or regulatory documents of the company or department.
Directors or Directors
How to spell the word director in the plural: directors or directors? Let's explore this question.
What's the rule
According to the rules of modern Russian language, directors and directors are the correct options. But we must take into account that the first option ending in “y” is older than the second option ending in “a”. Now in Russian grammar there is a tendency to replace the outdated version of the word with a more modern form.
Example sentences
- Directors of food supply companies discussed mutually beneficial cooperation.
- The mayor of the city held a meeting, which was attended by directors of enterprises.
- The directors of the holding took part in the election of the chairman of the board of directors.
Regulatory documents and history
All these rules are formulated in the “Rules of Russian Spelling and Punctuation”, issued in 1956 jointly by the USSR Academy of Sciences, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Education. All compilers of grammar dictionaries and school textbooks refer to this normative document as a source, and it is this document that should be followed when you are trying to understand how to spell “CEO”.
Since 1956, the rules for writing the names of official positions in documents have not changed.
Usage examples
Here are some examples of when and how to capitalize “CEO” and use it in a sentence:
- Viktor Ivanovich was appointed to the position of General Director in December 2012.
- Yesterday there was a meeting of the board of directors with the general director.
- The general director calls you into his office.
Pronunciation rules and grammatical properties
The phrase “general director” is stable, therefore it acts as a noun phrase in a sentence and can be the subject.
People in general have much fewer questions about pronunciation rules than about what letter “CEO” is spelled with. In the word “general” the stress falls on the third syllable, and in the word “director” - on the second. On the Internet, if necessary, you can easily find special sites where native speakers pronounce the phrase clearly and legibly.
In colloquial speech you can also often find the abbreviated version “general director” or simply “general director”. In this case, the word acts as a noun of the second declension. The use of this option is unacceptable in the business style of the Russian language, but it is found everywhere in the colloquial style and sometimes in the literary style, when the author deliberately uses vernacular. Judging by information from dictionaries and reference books, this abbreviation option appeared in the nineties of the last century.
Common mistakes
Often, when drafting official documents, employees deliberately ignore the generally accepted rules of the Russian literary language and write the phrase “general director” with a capital letter, even if there are no company regulations that dictate this spelling. This happens, most likely, as an expression of respect for the authorities, however, this practice is rapidly disappearing and today it is less and less common to see this variant of writing this phrase in official documents.
It is worth noting that despite the illiteracy of this approach, the spelling of “general director” with a capital letter does not affect the legal force of the document. However, ignoring the generally accepted rules of the modern Russian language in official company documents can negatively affect its image.
Payments and final settlement
Each person who previously held the post of head of the company is paid monetary compensation upon dismissal, provided that the reason for the termination of cooperation was not due to guilty actions. This rule is regulated by Article 279 of the Labor Code of Russia. At the same time, the amount of payments that a person will receive must be specified in the employment contract. In the absence of such information in the agreement, the amount of payments is determined by the general meeting of founders and is reflected in the minutes.
When determining the amount of cash payment, it is necessary to take into account a number of nuances:
- the person's long-term work in the position he or she occupies;
- what period of time remains before the expiration of the employment contract, if it is urgent;
- the amount of wages that a person could receive if not for the reduction procedure;
- the presence or absence of additional expenses that a person may incur in the event of termination of the employment contract.
It is important to know! Current legislation does not establish a maximum amount of payments that a former director can receive. In this case, the minimum threshold is three times the average wage of a person. The amount of payment may be challenged in court. Besides. If the court decides that the amount of the payment is too large, which will lead to a violation of the interests of the organization or other employees, then it can reduce it.
Often, the founders of a company decide to carry out the procedure for dismissing the director of the enterprise. This procedure is fully regulated by labor legislation. This procedure differs from ordinary layoffs in that the basis for dismissal is not an order, but the minutes of the meeting of the founders. A full settlement must be made with the person with the issuance of wages, money for unused vacation and compensation, the amount of which is determined individually.
Complex cases
Even after you've finally figured out how to spell "CEO," unexpected challenges may still arise due to changes in the organization's leadership team. In this case, it is also important to know how to correctly write wording such as “acting” and “temporarily” in official documents.
When the CEO vacates his position, an acting director is temporarily appointed in his place. In this case, it is very important to distinguish between two options for writing the position of the new manager.
If the general director left his position temporarily, the date of his return to work is known, for example, due to illness, family reasons, or simply went on vacation, then the person replacing him during his absence is called the interim general director.
If the old general director is dismissed from his position, left at his own request, his return is not planned, then another employee is appointed in his place until the appointment of a new general director or, if the position is elective, until the election of a new leader. In this case, the wording “acting general director” is used. It is worth mentioning that the difference between these two expressions is not legally formulated, however, according to the unspoken rules of business style, they should be used this way.
It is normal practice to use the abbreviation “i.o.” and the acronym "interim". An acronym is a type of abbreviation made up of the first letters of all the words of an expression. How to spell “acting general director” is a big problem for many Russian speakers. This acronym is written without periods, always with a lowercase letter (except when it is at the beginning of a sentence).
How to spell “io CEO” is a much simpler question. This is a generally accepted abbreviation in the Russian language, which can be found much more often. Dots are placed between the two letters of the abbreviation; it is written with a lowercase letter.
How to write VRIO correctly in documents?
The absence of an official in an organization is often associated with the appointment of a replacement person authorized to perform his duties. His signature in official documents must be accompanied by the prefix acting. or interim . Next, we’ll look at how to correctly indicate the abbreviation for a boss or director in documents.
Legal basis
Often the absence of one of the employees is associated with the need to entrust his duties to another employee, which adds additional functions to his job responsibilities. Then we are talking about combining positions and is regulated by Art. 60.2 TK.
The legislation establishes the procedure for applying the combination regime, but does not provide the concept of temporary performance of duties. The article discusses the norms for its establishment:
- within the work shift (outside working hours, part-time mode is applied);
- with written consent;
- establishing the timing, volume and content of additional work;
- the ability to cancel the combination mode at any time;
- registration on the basis of an organization order and drawing up an additional agreement to the employment contract.
The same conditions apply to the replacement of company executives. But an employee is appointed to this position based on the order of a higher structure. You can familiarize yourself with the nuances of correct registration in the article - “Order for combining positions in one organization”
Declension by gender
Problems can also arise when using the feminine gender when writing positions, especially CEO; many have problems with the declension of this word. How do you spell "CEO" in the feminine gender? According to the rules of the Russian language, a masculine job title that does not have a feminine pairing, even with a feminine first and last name after it, does not change. However, the predicate in this case is put in the feminine gender.
In colloquial speech you can sometimes find the use of the vernacular “director”, but in business style and official documents the use of this form is unacceptable and is a gross violation of the norms. In general, even in colloquial speech you should avoid such words; they often carry a dismissive, negative connotation.
If you study all the rules, remember them and periodically apply them in practice, you can easily remember how to spell “CEO” and never ask this question again. In official documents, you should always be guided, first of all, by normative documents that formulate the rules of the modern Russian language, and not by your personal feelings and concepts about how this or that word should be written.
You should also carefully study the corporate charter or other regulatory document, especially if you have recently started working in a new organization, in order to avoid unpleasant mistakes when writing the phrase “CEO” and other management positions.
Answer
In accordance with the “Rules of Russian spelling and punctuation” (approved by the USSR Academy of Sciences, the USSR Ministry of Higher Education, the RSFSR Ministry of Education 1956)
§ 95, Note 6: “The names of ranks, titles and positions are written with a lowercase letter, for example: minister, president, marshal, honored scientist, scientific secretary, senator, state councilor, pope, king, shah, khan, pasha.” Note 7: “The names of the highest positions and honorary titles in the USSR - Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Council, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, Hero of Socialist Labor, Hero of the Soviet Union, Marshal of the Soviet Union - are written in capital letters.”
§ 109: “In the texts of official messages and documents, the writing of the names of positions, titles, establishments, etc. with a capital or lowercase letter is determined by special departmental instructions.”
From § 95 of the Rules it follows that the names of positions, except for the highest ones, are written with a lowercase letter. Therefore, such job titles as director, general director, head of department, director of department, head of department, head of department, etc., should be written with a lowercase (small) letter. The same rule applies to writing the position “chief specialist of the company’s office management sector,” in the title of which we write all words with a lowercase letter. In this example, the job title also includes the name of the structural unit (“office management sector”). The Rules establish (§ 106) that a capital letter is used only in the names of organizations (party, government, etc.); the Rules do not provide for the use of a capital letter in the names of structural divisions.
Read related articles:
Although now the practice has become widespread in large organizations to write the names of departments and departments with a capital letter, and their constituent structures (lower-level units) with a small letter. This is not provided for by the rules, but is already considered the norm everywhere. For example: “Head of the Administration Department”, “Head of the Methodology Department of the Department of Economics and Finance”.
You have fixed the name of the position of your manager in your charter. Therefore, the use of a lowercase or capital letter in the title of your manager’s position must be in accordance with the charter of your organization. If the charter does not contain clear instructions, and the text of the charter allows both lowercase and capital writing of the first letter, then follow the rules of the Russian language - write with a lowercase letter.
Details in the System materials:
Answer: How to indicate the names of positions and professions when drawing up the staffing table.
When preparing the staffing table, the employer can use form No. T-3, approved by Decree of the State Statistics Committee of Russia dated January 5, 2004 No. 1, or an independently developed form. In Column 3 of this form you must enter the names of positions (specialties, professions) for the organization's staff units. As a general rule, positions are provided for employees who are primarily engaged in mental work: management, collection, analysis, and processing of information (for example, deputy head of a production department, head of a department). In turn, the concept of “profession” largely refers to employees engaged in the production process and physical labor (builders, electricians, mechanics).
The employer, as a rule, determines the names of positions and professions at his own discretion. For example, the position of the head of an organization may be listed in the staffing table as director, general director, president of the company, etc.
However, if labor legislation relates to the performance of work in certain positions or professions the provision of compensation and benefits (early retirement, additional leave) or establishes any restrictions, then the names of such positions and professions must correspond to qualification reference books. The specified compliance must be observed both in the employment contract with the employee, where his position will be indicated (performing work in the profession), and in the organization’s staffing table. This follows from the provisions of paragraph 3 of part 2 of article 57 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation. Failure to comply with this condition will deprive the employee of the right to receive benefits and compensation.
Read more: What payments are due to a child in the event of the loss of a breadwinner?
Speaking about qualification reference books, first of all you need to use the following:
unified tariff and qualification directories of works and professions of workers by industry.
In addition to the above documents, organizations should also be guided by:
Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Human Resources of the Russian Ministry of Health
There are no trifles in the design of these details, but if they are drawn up incorrectly, there are unpredictable (including legal) consequences. Irina Murnina, an office management consultant, author and presenter of practical seminars, explains how to properly sign a document.
The signature on the document is located below the text or attribute “Appendix” with 3 line spacing. This means: the signature place is almost at the end of the document. But in the “rating of significance” of details it is in one of the very first places, since its presence makes the document a document. Signature (authority to sign) refers to the authority of officials to sign certain documents.
Officials have the right to sign documents within the limits of their official competence, which is usually determined by the constituent documents, regulations of the enterprise (regulations, instructions, orders of the manager on the delegation of the right to sign).
Due to the fact that it is the signature that gives the document legal significance , the design of this detail requires special attention. The signature cannot be separated from the text and printed on a separate sheet. If it does not fit after the text, the last paragraph or several lines must be moved along with the signature. At the same time, you should not forget about page numbering.
If there is only one signature
The “Signature” requisites include:
- job title of the person who signed the document (indicating the name of the organization, if the document is not drawn up on the organization’s letterhead),
- personal signature,
- decryption of signature (initials, surname).
The name of the position is written from the left margin of the document, and the transcript of the signature is given at the level of its last term.
General Director of Tor-Engineering CJSC Personal signature M.A. Demchenko
If the document is drawn up on letterhead , then the name of the organization can be read at the top and there is no need to repeat it after the position. And the signature will look like this:
General Director Personal signature M.A. Demchenko
The title of the position is indicated with a capital letter. The text is assumed to end with a period. But even if the text ends with a table, it never occurs to anyone to write the position of one of the organization’s leaders with a lowercase letter. The job title is indicated strictly according to staffing table . There is such a document, it is stored in the personnel department or in the accounting department; as a rule, clerks are not given copies of it for obvious reasons. In the staffing table, the salary amount is indicated next to each position. Therefore, you should ask for an extract from the staffing table and, when specifying a position, regularly check it.
The organization name may be centered relative to the job title.
A personal signature is at the discretion of the official signing the document, but there is a point of view that in a “civilized” signature one letter of the first name and three surnames should be read. But in practice such signatures are rare. Many managers profess another principle: “the more intricate the signature, the more difficult it is to forge.” Well, it’s quite logical, but sometimes it can be extremely difficult to correlate such a masterpiece of cryptology with the name of a particular person. The transcript of the signature contains the initials before the surname separated by a period, without a space. Asking a manager for a passport is inappropriate, but the decoding is indicated strictly according to the passport and, if the surname includes the letter “e”, then the two dots above are required.
When does the deputy sign?
This is where the real flight of fancy begins, especially if there are several deputies. Please, several options to choose from, and all are incorrect :
First Deputy General Director
1st Deputy General Director
First Deputy General Director
Other options are possible, but the correct (!) will still be:
Read more: Additional leave 8 calendar days Krasnoyarsk
First Deputy General Director
From the point of view of the Russian language, in this example, the position of the first manager “General Director” should be written with a lowercase letter, after all, not “President of the Russian Federation”, but the corporate culture of many organizations, and, often, the level of respect of employees for their leader , requires a capital letter. Yes, by the way, I advise you to avoid reductions in the position of chief accountant : “chief accountant” and even worse “chief accountant” are unacceptable. Still, you need to respect the person who pays your salary, vacation pay, sick leave, etc.
If there are several signatures
When signing a document by several officials, their signatures are placed one below the other in the order of subordination, with 1.5 line spacing.
But the signing of the document comes from the bottom up, i.e., the first to sign the document are the lower-ranking officials.
Director Personal signature L.I. Kiselev
Chief accountant Personal signature I.D. Vilchenko
When a document is signed by several persons holding equal positions, representatives of the same or different organizations, their signatures are placed “in a column” at the same level. Signatures are also placed when drawing up a joint document on behalf of two or more parties, for example, an agreement. The first sheet of the agreement is drawn up not on a form, but on a blank A4 sheet, but in the preamble, this is the first paragraph of the agreement, the parties to the agreement are necessarily listed. For legal entities, indicate the name of the organization and the official (position, surname, initials) acting on behalf of the organization, for individuals - surname, first name, patronymic. The order specified in the preamble is strictly preserved when signing signatures at the end of the agreement, “in a column”, from left to right.
Director of Opal CJSC Director of Sterzhen CJSC
A.P. Silin S.I. Mikheev
In documents drawn up on behalf of the commission, the signature details indicate not the positions of the persons included in the commission, but their responsibilities as part of the commission. However, the members of the commission are indicated in accordance with the positions actually held, in order of subordination. For example, an inspection report based on the results of the commission’s work is signed by:
Chairman of the Commission Personal signature S.I. Nikolaev
Members of the commission Personal signature P.S. Rakhimova
Personal signature of T.I. Korableva
Personal signature of R.Yu. Savelyev
