Professional standard for economist 2020 approved by the government of the Russian Federation

Today's world requires that any large organization have an economist. Such an employee solves many important problems and tasks in the enterprise. In order to clearly imagine what is included in the list of responsibilities of a specialist of this profile and to understand the requirements for this profession, an economic professional standard is actually needed. Although for this profession it still does not exist.

In the article we will look at what is included in the professional standard of an economist, how it can benefit the organization, and also what should be emphasized when employing this specialist, bearing in mind the fact that there is no professional standard for the profession.

What is a professional standard?

In May 2012, Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. 597 “On measures for the implementation of state social policy” was issued. Since that time, professional standards for all kinds of professions began to be developed everywhere in Russia.

The interpretation of the very concept of a professional standard and the requirements for its preparation are presented in Article 195.1 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation. It says that the professional standard is a paper that lists the requirements for a specialist holding a given position. This means:

1. Availability of appropriate education.
2. Work experience in the specialty (including that recorded in the work book).

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Characteristics of professional standards

Based on Art. 195 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, a professional standard is a specialized standard that includes a list of necessary professional characteristics on the basis of which an employee will be able to perform the labor functions assigned to him while occupying a specific position.

This segment of legislation began to be developed back in 2013. However, the standards were regularly adjusted and modified, which led to their final implementation only in 2020.

Starting from 2020, a number of government agencies, as well as positions outlined in the document, must be guided by the professional standard for a specific industry in their activities.

For commercial organizations, professional standards are advisory in nature. They can be used to draw up job descriptions or business agreements with employees. At the same time, it is legal to draw up local standards based on the original text of the standard. To do this, it is necessary to involve a professional lawyer or the manager to do this independently. The main requirement is the consistency of the generated document with labor legislation and the provisions of the Ministry of Labor of the Russian Federation.

The scope of application of such documents is the labor activity of employees of the organization. The text of the standard describes the following requirements for an employee:

• the need to have knowledge and skills appropriate to the position;
• compliance with a specific qualification level.

Professional standards are developed based on the industry of production activity. Thus, professional standards for directors and subordinates are the same. The main differences lie in the correspondence of the two categories of workers (managers and employees) to different qualification levels. For an ordinary employee, this level will be lower than that of a manager. Among other things, this provision also sets higher requirements for managers in terms of experience, knowledge and education.

Requirements for professional skills and abilities

Article 195.1, in addition, defines the list of responsibilities and the scope of issues that an employee must properly resolve in his position. It is worth noting that professional standards were established by government authorities, but at the same time they have exclusively advisory value.

According to the resolution, the adoption of a professional standard in any organization is carried out if it is regulated by law or if this organization, by its own local act, includes a professional standard in its functioning in the form of a mandatory standard.

Develops professional standards for the Ministry of Labor. For economists, the document, as already mentioned, has not yet been developed, so one has to be content with the Qualification Directory of Positions and Job Descriptions.

What to do if the professional standard for an economist has not yet been developed

From January 1, 2020, the use of professional standards has become mandatory, in accordance with the instructions of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

However, professional standards should be applied literally only when it comes to positions for which benefits or some restrictions are established, or compensation payments are provided.

Important!

The Labor Code does not provide for any compensation, benefits or professional restrictions for the professional sphere to which an economist belongs. Accordingly, even if the professional standard for an economist were approved, it would not be necessary to apply it, but only desirable.

In other cases, the use of professional standards is only recommended by labor legislation, since their provisions may be useful in the following cases:

• when addressing issues of employee training and advanced training;
• during certification or recertification;
• when determining the salary for some positions;
• when developing texts of employment contracts and job descriptions;
• when regulating the labor functions of a subordinate.

Is there a difference between the professional standard and the requirements established by the Qualification Handbook?

The qualification directory of positions, ratified by decision of the Ministry of Labor of Russia dated August 21, 1998 N 37, also includes the position of economist. This profession is presented in a number of characteristics in the document. There are such professions as:

• labor economist;
• purchasing economist;
• distribution;
• logistics;
• accounting;
• contractual and claims work.

Unlike the professional standard, the qualification directory provides more superficial regulation. The document examines only three components of the economist profession.

Civil service

For government agencies, in this regard, everything is simpler. If the Ministry of Labor develops and approves such a professional standard, then it will become mandatory for employees of budgetary institutions without any options. In the meantime, personnel departments of government organizations use qualification reference books for positions.

We talked about the register of professional standards from 07/01/2016 in ours. The professional standard contains, among other things, requirements for education, training and practical work experience, and also reveals the content of the labor functions of employees. We will tell you about the requirements for an economist and his work functions in our consultation.

Parameter “Specialist must know”

The qualification directory for positions reflects only general information that an economist should become familiar with. For example, it says that an economic specialist must know perfectly:

• legal acts of the Russian Federation;
• planning materials;
• accounting and analysis of enterprise activities.

The professional standard, in turn, is focused on the area of ​​knowledge in which a specialist must be well versed and competent. Thus, he notes that a financial monitoring specialist must build his activities in accordance with the current legislation of the Russian Federation in the field of combating the legalization of income, as well as the classification of taking money.

Qualification Requirements

The directory of qualifications defines the requirements only for the education received and work experience as an economist. At the same time, the specialty of an economist is divided into two categories, and the specialty of a leading or chief economist according to the document is not included in the list at all.

The professional standard regulates the level of education and experience of the future economist in a less abstract way. For example, both a person who has received a special higher education and a person with at least 3 years of work experience can be employed as the head of a unit for combating the legalization of criminally obtained income.

Qualification is determined by the experience and education of the specialist. The following tariff categories have been established:

• 10 - leading specialist;
• 9 - specialist of the second category;
• 8 - specialist of the first category;
• 7 - employee without qualification category.

For accountants there is still a 6th category - without qualifications, and 10 and 9 have been abolished.

An economist's resume, as a rule, does not contain information about the category. You can determine this yourself using employee data:

• for the first category, higher education and work experience (required in the previous category) of at least 3 years are required;
• for the second - higher education and experience in the same or similar position for at least 3 years;
• without category - higher education without work experience requirements or secondary specialized education and work experience of at least 3 years, or experience in related areas of work - at least 5 years.

Answers to common questions about the professional standard of an economist

Question #1:

Is it possible to hire an employee who has graduated from a university with a degree in economics and has experience working in the economic field as a specialist in the company’s HR department?

Answer:

Yes, economists can perform the functions of a personnel service specialist; their activities can also be regulated by the professional standard of a personnel employee.

Question #2:

Is it possible to apply the professional standard “Statistician”, approved by Order of the Ministry of Labor of the Russian Federation dated September 8, 2015 No. 605n, in relation to the activities of an economist hired by an enterprise?

Answer:

It all depends on what direction the economist chooses. Theoretically, the application of the professional standard you mentioned is possible if it corresponds to the activities of an employee of an economic specialty.

Sep 10, 2019adminlawsexp

Requirements for professional standards

Many expected that in June 2020 the government would approve the professional standard for economists, but this did not happen. So at the moment we can identify a number of existing professional standards that are close to the position of an economist:

• accountant;
• auditor;
• payment systems specialist;
• chief securities market;
• expert in microfinance operations.

In the absence of state requirements for the professional standard of a certain position, the company has the right to develop an act, for example, a job description, based on existing ones. For example, you can use the professional standard of a labor specialist as a basis for drawing up service instructions for a labor economist.

What the legislation says about the application of professional standards

According to Art. 195.3 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, standards are mandatory for application if the Labor Code or other regulations stipulate the requirements for the qualifications that a specialist must have in order to have the right to occupy a certain position.

In Art. 57 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation states that the names of positions in an employment contract must correspond to those specified in professional standards, if, according to the law, work in a certain position, in any profession, specialty provides additional guarantees, compensation, benefits, or there are certain restrictions for it.

In all other cases, the management of the organization has the right to independently decide how appropriate it is to use professional standards.

Thus, for economists, as for many other positions, the standard is recommended, but is not yet a legal requirement for all employers.

Job description

This document is a comprehensive outline of the main functions, rights, duties and responsibilities of a specialist. The main direction of the economist's job description is to outline the range of actions of the specialist performing such work and to delimit the field of his activity in the general set of responsibilities of the company's specialists.

The job description allows you to solve a number of organizational problems of the company, namely:

• distribute work responsibilities evenly among the personnel of the economic planning service;
• helps the employee complete assigned assignments on time and in full;
• allows you to get rid of inconsistency and achieve the holistic functioning of the organization;
• determine the employee’s responsibility;
• stimulate a specialist in the volume and quality of duties performed;
• improve the atmosphere in the work team and avoid conflict situations.

Since, for example, there is no professional standard for a leading economist or assistant accountant, it is advisable for an organization to develop a job description.

The specialty of an economist today combines both those inherent in most areas of economics and individual characteristics characteristic only of a specific area. Therefore, at various enterprises and in different fields of activity, the job description of an economist will look different - this is normal.

For example, an organization’s job description may state that an economist has the right:

1. Receive operational reports and working documentation necessary to carry out their duties.
2. Make effective decisions without going beyond the assigned authority.
3. Plan and present proposals and ideas at meetings aimed at optimizing work processes, including those related to one’s direct activities.
4. Make suggestions to eliminate detected problems in work.

Economist

Job responsibilities. Performs work to implement the economic activities of the enterprise, aimed at increasing the efficiency and profitability of production, the quality of products and the development of new types of products, achieving high final results with the optimal use of material, labor and financial resources. Prepares initial data for drawing up projects for economic, financial, production and commercial activities (business plans) of the enterprise in order to ensure growth in product sales and increase profits. Performs calculations on material, labor and financial costs necessary for the production and sale of products, the development of new types of products, advanced equipment and technology. Carries out an economic analysis of the economic activities of the enterprise and its divisions, identifies production reserves, develops measures to ensure economy, increase production profitability, competitiveness of products, labor productivity, reduce costs of production and sales of products, eliminate losses and unproductive expenses, as well as identify opportunities additional production. Determines the economic efficiency of the organization of labor and production, the introduction of new equipment and technology, rationalization proposals and inventions. Participates in the consideration of developed production and economic plans, carrying out work on resource conservation, in the implementation and improvement of on-farm accounting, improvement of progressive forms of labor organization and management, as well as planning and accounting documentation. Prepares materials for concluding contracts, monitors deadlines for fulfilling contractual obligations.

Professional standard for microfinance operations specialist

A person who has been educated as a financial economist applies for the position of specialist or chief economist in microfinance operations. In his work activity, according to the professional standard, he must perform the following labor functions:

• organization and assistance in the implementation of microloan issuance operations;
• attracting additional funds for the implementation of microfinance activities.

A simple economist can have a secondary education and work experience of at least a year, but a leading specialist must have a higher education in his specialty. The level of qualification generally established in the professional standard for a specialist is equal to five years of work in the specialty, for a leading specialist - 6 years.

Professional standard for economist

Despite the fact that the professional standard of an economist has not been approved, among the many other professional standards of the Register there are several professional standards that were developed for specialists who have work tasks similar to economists.

Important!

The employer can independently choose the job function that best suits his requirements for an employee with an economic specialty. Based on the labor function, it is possible to establish the job title and qualification components.

Professional standard of HR employee

Economists can be hired as a human resources specialist. The professional standard for a personnel employee provides for 8 basic functions, six of which are suitable for specialists in the economic sphere:

• ensuring labor organization and remuneration;
• work on the corporate policy of the enterprise;
• organizing events to train employees and improve the skills of workers;
• personnel assessment and certification;
• personnel search and hiring;
• maintaining personnel documents.

These functions are not burdened with special requirements, and therefore the professional standard is not mandatory for use, but only recommended. None of the functions mentioned require previous work experience prior to employment.

To maintain personnel documents, qualification level 5 and secondary specialized education are sufficient; for other functions – qualification 6. Providing a company with personnel and certifying personnel requires graduating from a university with a bachelor’s degree. Providing compensation, developing corporate policies, and training employees require a specialist or master's degree.

Professional Standard for Financial Control

Economic specialists are capable of performing the functions of an internal auditor on an equal basis with accountants and lawyers.

In this case, the professional standards “Internal Auditor” and “Internal Controller” are applicable. For an economist hired as a financial monitoring specialist, the main responsibility is to track and stop attempts to launder illegal earnings. In this case, 3 generalized labor functions can be applied:

For all the labor functions listed in the table, the Labor Code of the Russian Federation establishes a restriction in the professional standard - reputational admission.

A citizen cannot apply for the position:

• previously dismissed at the initiative of the employer, about which there is a corresponding entry in the work book;
• convicted of economic offenses committed for the purpose of obtaining personal gain.

Since the professional standard has a restriction in the form of reputational clearance, the professional standard is recognized as mandatory for use, not just recommended. Accordingly, the employer who has chosen him to regulate the activities of the hired economist and has recorded his choice in the job description (another local act) is obliged to strictly adhere to all the requirements of the professional standard. Otherwise, the employer will face punishment in the form of an administrative fine.

Professional standard for financial economist

A person who has the specialty of economist-financier is allowed to occupy positions (“specialist”, “leading microfinance specialist”) in which he will need to carry out microfinance operations:

• attract financial support for microfinance procedures;
• plan and issue microloans and perform related operations.

The following table presents the qualification requirements for financial economists:

Professional standard for an economist in planning and implementing financial control

Representatives of the described profession (along with legal and accounting specialists) can implement the financial monitoring necessary to suppress the receipt of material income earned illegally. In the professional standard of an economist there are several labor functions that may be included in his responsibilities; we list them.

Implementation of internal control

This function can only be performed by an economist who has received a higher education. In addition, the economist must pass additional tests, which include retraining or advanced training programs.

To implement a job function, work experience of at least 7 months is required, while the professional standard does not regulate the specific areas in which experience should have been gained (i.e., you can hire either a specialist who has previously worked with internal control or the one who exercised financial control).

Conducting financial investigations

Conducting financial investigations, as a rule, can be entrusted to a financial economist. In this case, the employee must also meet the standard and have a higher education, undergoing advanced training and retraining programs. Work experience - about a year. Skill level - 7.

Each of the duties that a financial investigations specialist performs requires different conditions of employment. For example, it is impossible to accept for such a position persons with a criminal record for offenses in the economic sphere, committed for selfish reasons and for hire.

The good old EKS will help

EKS (Unified Qualification Directory), approved by Resolution No. 37 of the Ministry of Labor of Russia on August 21. 1998, also contains information about job functions and qualification requirements for economists. The EKS identifies the following responsibilities for economic positions:

• economic component of the company's activities;
• increasing the efficiency and profitability of the organization;
• quality control of manufactured products (in production);
• implementation of new directions;
• resource optimization.

The EKS requires such an employee to have a higher education in economics and finance; in this case, prior work experience in the specialty does not matter. If an economist has only secondary specialized education, he must first work on:

• from 3 years as a technician of the 1st category;
• from 5 years in other specialized positions.

ATTENTION!

The employer himself decides whether to follow the EKS or the professional standard in relation to his employees; it is only important to note this point in any local regulatory act. The only case where adherence to the professional standard must be mandatory is the position of chief economist for the professional standard of financial monitoring, since it prescribes certain restrictions to employees, noted in the legislation.

Professional standard for HR specialist

There are many areas of activity where an economist can be involved, another one of which is personnel management. Here it is also advisable to familiarize yourself with the professional standard.

Labor and wage economists may well perform the duties typical of human resource management experts. Thus, economists can be involved:

• to organize the circulation of documents at the enterprise or in specific departments;
• to provide the organization with the necessary personnel;
• to employee certification;
• to create an atmosphere conducive to the professional development of staff;
• to payment of wages;
• to the creation of corporate policies and standards.

To carry out the first function, incomplete vocational education is sufficient, and then it is no longer possible to do without higher education. In order to perform certain functions, it is necessary to complete a specialist or master’s program. There are no specific work experience requirements presented. The level of experience for involving in the circulation of documentation is 6, for other duties of the specialist - 7.

In what cases is it mandatory to use professional standards for deputy directors?

Labor legislation provides for 2 cases in which the professional standard of a deputy must be applied without fail:

1. If this is expressly provided by law.
2. If the work activity of this employee is associated with benefits established by the state, or, on the contrary, restrictions.

If, as an example, we consider the position of deputy director of a school or other educational institution, both points will be relevant. Firstly, education legislation directly provides for the use of professional standards for employees of such institutions. Secondly, work in the education system involves both the provision of benefits (for example, in the form of increased leave and the possibility of earlier retirement) and the imposition of restrictions (a person who has a criminal record under a number of articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation cannot work in the field of education). This means that the deputy director of the school must certainly meet the requirements of one of the professional standards.

Innovations in Russian legislation regarding the formation of professional standards make it possible to simplify the procedure for selecting candidates for specific positions. In particular, professional standards for managers are designed to create the necessary list of requirements for managers in the form of knowledge and skills that will allow them to competently manage the labor process.

Positive aspects of having a professional standard in a company

Even ratified professional standards are only advisory in nature. Perhaps a state professional standard for economists will soon appear. It is precisely because the document has not yet been developed that the question arises: is it necessary to develop a professional standard for an economist in a specific organization where such a specialist is employed?

There are several positive aspects of adopting a professional standard within an individual company. These include the following:

1. When hiring an employer, the employer will have legal grounds for refusing a candidate if the data from the economist’s resume does not meet the requirements specified in the professional standard.
2. In the event of a forced staff reduction, the professional standard can also provide assistance to the owner of the organization.
3. The professional standard will simplify the removal from position of an employee who does not fulfill the duties assigned to him.

True, drawing up a professional standard for a small company may not always be justified, for example, if there is only one economist on staff. In some cases, it is better to define all complaints against him in the job description. The basis for the development of such a document can be a qualification directory of positions and an already ratified professional standard similar in the area of ​​activity.

Of course, private companies can decide on their own whether they need a professional standard, which cannot be said about government organizations. Professional standards for an economist are mandatory in a budget organization.

Leading economist professional standard download

You should not work in this job:

• persons with a criminal record for economic offenses committed for profit;
• for those who have a record of dismissal at the initiative of the employer in their work book.

NOTE! Based on this limitation, this professional standard is mandatory. Thus, if an employer chose this document to regulate the work of his economist and recorded his decision in a job description or other regulatory act, then he will have to adhere to all the requirements specified in the standard, and failure to comply may result in a fine.

Professional standard for personnel employee

An economist can be involved in personnel management.