The Criminal Framework for Falsifying Business Records in Georgia
The accuracy of accounting records is a distinct object of criminal-law protection in Georgia. Two provisions form the legal basis of this page. Article 204-1 of the Criminal Code governs the breach of accounting rules — the creation or use of accounting documents containing incorrect or incomplete information. Article 206 establishes liability for breach of the rules of keeping the accounting books during insolvency. The first norm is general and reaches every person who carries out accounting; the second is special and operates only in the context of insolvency. The detailed accounting and audit standards are set by separate legislation; what these two articles define are the boundaries of criminal liability, and it is those boundaries that this page sets out — element by element, sanction by sanction. If you are an accountant, a finance manager or an executive responsible for the records, the material below maps directly onto your risk profile.
Breach of Accounting Rules — Article 204-1
Under the first part of Article 204-1, it is a crime for the person carrying out accounting to create or use an accounting document containing incorrect or incomplete information, or to enter a tax document, for the purpose of obtaining any saving or advantage for oneself or another, influencing trading, or concealing such activity. The sanction at this level is a fine. The second part aggravates liability where the same act was committed more than once or caused significant damage — imprisonment for a term of up to one year. Three elements stand at the centre of the composition. The special subject: only the person who carries out the accounting. The forms of conduct: creation of the document, its use, or the entering of a tax document. And the purpose: a saving or advantage, influence on trading, or concealment of the activity. It is the purpose element that separates an ordinary accounting error from a crime — a distinction on which entire cases turn.