New Regulation on the Account Books and Records to be Kept by Sports Clubs (“Regulation”) entered into force by being published in the Official Gazette dated 07.09.2022 and numbered 31946.

It has brought very detailed regulations regarding the account books, records, and documents to be kept by sports clubs and higher organizations within the scope of the Regulation. In this information note, the essential points of the Regulation shall be evaluated.
The purpose of the Regulation is to regulate the procedures and principles regarding the books and records to be kept by sports clubs and higher organizations. In this context, the sports club; private law legal entities that have registered with the Ministry in order to participate in the activities of the Ministry and the sports federations, and the higher organization refers to the federations with legal personality formed by sports clubs and sports joint stock companies and their confederations formed by these federations.
Although the provisions of the Regulation are based on sports clubs, it is stated in the 25th article of the Regulation that these provisions shall also be applied to higher organizations by analogy. These persons are obliged to keep account books that clearly show their economic and financial situations, debt and credit relations, and the results obtained in each accounting period in an examination to be carried out within a reasonable time by third-party experts.

  • Sports clubs keep account books on a business account or balance sheet basis. However, sports clubs with a commercial enterprise, affiliate, subsidiary or sports joint stock company and/or have a public benefit status are required to keep books on the basis of a balance sheet. Also, all kinds of income and expenses related to sports activities of such sports clubs are reported in the consolidated financial statements. Account books to be kept on the basis of the balance sheet; while it is in the form of resolution book, member registry book, document registry book, journal book, general ledger and inventory book, books to be kept on a business basis; resolution book, member registry book, document registry book, business account book, fixture book, and debit book. Sports clubs that keep records on a balance sheet basis should also prepare financial statements. For sports clubs that keep records on the basis of business, an Operating Account Statement shall be prepared at the end of the year (31 December) in accordance with the business account book/other books and records to classify income and expense transactions.
  • A spelling or recording cannot be drawn or altered in such a way that its previous content cannot be determined. Changes that are not clear whether they were made during registration or later shall not be made; Except for the part of the resolution book left for signature at the end of the page, the lines of the account books cannot be left blank without being drawn and cannot be skipped. Inbound account books and book pages cannot be removed from the binding; the certified or continuous form sheets cannot be out of order or torn.
  •  Account books and other necessary records shall be kept in Turkish entirely, accurately, on time, and regularly. As a rule, transactions shall be recorded in the account books daily. There are two exceptions to this situation in Article 9 of the Regulation:

o    The transactions must be recorded in a period that does not disrupt the accounting order and security in accordance with the volume and requirements of the business. Such records can not be delayed more than ten days.

o    In sports clubs that keep their records based on documents bearing the signature and initials of authorized supervisors, such as accounting receipts and payroll, recording the transactions in these shall also be deemed to be recorded in the book. However, these records shall not allow transactions to be posted to the main books more than forty-five days later. If the sports club books are requested for audit purposes, it is obligatory to process the records before the forty-five-day period expires.

  •  Sports clubs shall have their commercial books certified in this Regulation in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Tax Procedure Law No. 213 and the Turkish Commercial Code No. 6102. Except for the books to be kept in the electronic environment, the other books written in the Regulation are certified by the provincial directorate or notary before they are used. The use of these books shall continue until the pages are finished, and no interim approval of the books shall be made.
  •  Revenues of sports clubs are collected with proof of receipt. Format, printing and control, storage, and use principles of the evidence of receipt are arranged in detail among articles 18-21. Sports club expenses shall be made with expenditure documents such as invoices, retail sales and self-employment receipts.
  •  Resolution and member registry books, awards, certificates, medal information, and similar records of continuous quality; Accounts and documents that will be kept by sports clubs, without prejudice to the periods specified in special laws; other records and documents are kept for ten years in accordance with the number and date order in the books in which they are recorded. Due to the importance given to the relevant books and documents in the Regulation, some special responsibilities have been imposed on sports club managers regarding their protection and what to do in case of damage.
  •  The person or persons who will collect income on behalf of the sports club shall be selected by the decision of the board of directors. The decision includes the authorization period. The board of directors mostly limits the duration of the authorization certificates to the term of office of the board of directors. In cases such as the expiration of the authorization certificate or the resignation of the person on whose behalf the authorization certificate has been issued, their death, termination of their job or this duty, if it is determined that the sports club has automatically terminated or revocation, the authorization certificates given shall be submitted to the sports club board of directors within one week. The revenue collection authority can be revoked at any time with the board of directors’ decision.
  •  Persons authorized to collect income on behalf of the sports club shall deposit the collected money into the bank account of the sports club within fifteen working days. Suppose the collected money is above the required payment amount through banks and financial institutions or the Post and Telegraph Organization Corporation pursuant to the relevant provisions of the Law No. 213. In that case, it shall be deposited into the bank account of the sports club within two working days at the latest. The amount of money that can be kept in the safe of the sports club shall be determined by taking into account the needs of the board of directors. This Regulation, which consists of 28 articles and 7 annexes showing the formal features of the elements to be kept, entered into force on the date of its publication. Even so, with a transitional provision, it was regulated that the books, records, and documents subject to approval, which sports clubs first used before the Regulation came into force, can continue to be used until the remaining pages are finished.

You can access the Regulation from this link.

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Authors: Bilge Derinbay, Bengisu Çakırca

Contact: bilge.derinbay@nsn-law.com

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