One of the forms of economic activity is a production cooperative. An organization is created with the aim of making a profit as a result of the labor activities of artel members. In the process of work, means of production that are in shared ownership are used.

Creation of an artel

In order to create an organization called a production cooperative, you must have at least five citizens interested in its creation. At the same time they develop strategy and direction of development activities. Members of the artel can be people of different nationalities and legal entities. Moreover, each member of the artel must be over 16 years old.

What distinguishes a production cooperative from other forms of business associations is that they have joint property and joint financial responsibility for the results of the work. The property belongs to the members of the artel in accordance with the number of shares made by each member.

A production cooperative is a labor collective that has a legal entity and a charter, which reflects all areas of activity and organizational issues. The first step in creating an artel is its registration with the tax authority. In this case, the following documents must be presented:

• application in the prescribed form;
• passport details of all founders;
• articles of association;
• the taxation system used;
• the exact address;
• documents for a legal entity, if one is part of the founders.

When creating an artel, one should be guided by the laws “On Production Cooperatives” dated May 8, 1996 No. 41 Federal Law and “On State Registration of Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs.”

The main features of the creation of an artel are voluntariness when each participant joins it and the availability of documents on the direction of activity and interaction within the team, the charter.

Each member of the artel bears financial liability with his property, which is called subsidiary. At the same time, all profits are distributed among shareholders after paying taxes and leaving a reserve for the development of the enterprise according to shares.

The number of artel members has no limit, but the management system changes depending on their number.

Features of the cooperative form of management

A production cooperative is created as a unique composition. This is the only way of economic activity so far, when capital and persons are combined, who, through labor activity, will make a profit by combining their labor and capital. They are connected to each other both as shareholders, due to which production arose, and as workers, therefore, when voting, everyone has one vote.

The structure is created self-governing and combines capital and labor, property and labor activity. Moreover, the share can be contributed both in cash and in material form in terms of money. At the same time, upon leaving the artel, the share is not taken back, it is transferred to one of the members of the cooperative, and only its monetary value is reimbursed, which does not allow the destruction of the material base created initially.

However, this form of ownership in the Russian Federation is not widely used due to its subsidiary responsibility for the activities of the enterprise.

The highest governing body of the artel is the general meeting, where, regardless of the number of shares, each member of the cooperative has one vote. The meeting is considered to have taken place if at least half of the members of the artel are present. The decision is considered adopted if at least two-thirds of the votes vote for it. The following issues are resolved at the meeting:

• direction of work;
• admission and exclusion of artel members;
• amounts of share contributions;
• elections of the head, supervisory board, executive bodies and audit council;
• approval of the annual report and performance results;
• Decision to dissolve or join an association.

Since the members of the cooperative have subsidiary liability for debts, the activities of the enterprise are under the constant control of ordinary members of the artel. At the same time, any shareholder can become the initiator of the general meeting if he has compelling reasons to challenge the activities of the executive bodies that act on behalf of the artel.

If the cooperative is small, up to 10 members, then everyone who is entrusted with this can solve organizational and economic issues. But in the future a leader is selected from among the team, who receives the right to sign and acts on behalf of the artel in all instances. In this case, the remaining members can perform these functions by proxy.

If the artel has more than 50 members, a supervisory board and executive body are created and a chairman is elected. All of them must be members of a production cooperative and perform their duties by decision of the general meeting with partial or complete release from their main work.

It is important for the activity of the enterprise to have an audit commission, which is selected from the members of the cooperative. When hearing the annual report on the results of the financial and economic activities of the enterprise, the report of the audit commission will also be mandatory.

When electing governing bodies, it is necessary to delineate the responsibilities of each body. That's why participation of one cooperative member in two commissions is unacceptable, since only mutual control will help the cooperative comply with legal norms and develop.

If the agenda is to transform the production cooperative into another business partnership, the decision must be made unanimously.

Labor activity of the enterprise

The purpose of creating a cooperative is to make a profit from economic activities. Therefore, the cooperative should have a larger number of members engaged in labor activities. The charter always contains a clause stating how many members of a cooperative can only have a share and not engage in activities. Usually this is a quarter of the entire payroll.

A production cooperative can declare its activities in any industry. In some cases required to obtain a license for some types of products. The cooperative is a legal entity, has bank details and can enter into commodity-money relations with both enterprises and individuals.

A cooperative can have up to 30% of the total number of hired workers and enter into contracts with them for the production of work. The cooperative can act as a contractor, subcontractor and participate in auctions to obtain an order.

Labor relations in the team

The established cooperative, as it expands, can consist of several groups that ensure the activities of the enterprise:

• shareholders working in production;
• hired workers;
• passive shareholders;
• administrative and executive apparatus consisting of shareholders.

The rights of hired workers are exercised by concluding a collective labor agreement with them, which provides for all the guarantees of the Labor Code. This includes social health care, working hours, the right to vacation and other social guarantees. Hired workers can make up up to 30% of the total number of cooperatives.

For cooperative members who are subject to the charter, social guarantees must be no less than those prescribed by law. Them benefits and payments for labor may be expanded be significantly higher than that of a hired worker. However, labor protection requirements and sanitary and hygienic standards at the enterprise must be observed in the same way as in unitary enterprises.

Passive shareholders in a production cooperative make up no more than 25% of the total number of the team. They support the activities of the cooperative financially. The administrative-executive apparatus receives wages established for each individual at the general meeting of shareholders.

Members of the cooperative must pay an annual contribution to the cooperative fund and in every possible way maintain production efficiency, because they are the owners. The annual share contribution is established at the general meeting of shareholders and is mandatory.

Creating a mutual fund

Upon joining the cooperative, each member of the association pays a share. He can be:

• cash contribution;
• securities;
• property;
• property right.

Subsequently, any type of contribution is recalculated in monetary terms. An independent appraiser is called in to evaluate contributed property worth more than 25,000 rubles. The initial mutual fund can be of any amount, since The responsibility of the artel founders is subsidiary, that is, additional liability for debts. Therefore, the share capital can be anything and grow with the development of the enterprise.

Profit distribution

Based on the results of work for the year, the profit of the cooperative is distributed at the general meeting of shareholders. Profit is the amount of money after paying all taxes and mandatory deductions. Half of the amount is allocated for distribution among shares. The other part is provided for expanding activities, increasing the mutual fund, on which the reliable operation of the enterprise and its expansion depend. The larger the mutual fund, the more confidently the cooperative develops and the greater the profit will be in the next period.

When distributing dividends, the contribution of each member of the artel to production is taken into account and, in addition to the main contribution to the shares, additional amounts are paid. In some production cooperatives hired workers are also paid dividends, if so provided by the charter.

Conclusion

A production cooperative is an advanced form of entrepreneurial activity, where each owner is a participant in the labor process and is interested in the results of labor. The state should encourage the development of this form of ownership as self-regulating and least susceptible to corruption.

The features of a production cooperative are:

1. qualitative composition of participants: a cooperative is a voluntary association of citizens (more precisely, individuals);
2. the legal basis for participation is the presence of membership in the cooperative, which presupposes acts of admission and exclusion from the cooperative as the basis for the emergence and termination of participation rights;
3. personal labor participation of all members of the cooperative in its core activities. The purpose of joining a cooperative is joint production or other economic activities. This feature presupposes, and sometimes makes it mandatory, participation in only one cooperative;
4. consolidation of property by paying the same property share contribution for everyone;
5. cooperative (democratic) principle of cooperative management according to the principle of one participant - one vote;
6. distribution of profits depending on the degree of personal participation, and not on invested funds (shares).

These signs indicate the presence of close property and non-property ties between members of the cooperative, who are essentially comrades connected by common production and other economic activities. It is no coincidence that cooperatives also have other names - cooperative partnerships and artels. Making a profit for them is a means of satisfying the needs of the members of the cooperative. The social component in them is therefore no less important than the commercial one.

Cooperatives, however, share common features with both partnerships and business entities. What they have in common with the former is personal participation in the affairs of the founders (participants) of the cooperative, the absence of strict requirements for initial capital, with the latter - a variable composition of participants (as a rule, an open composition of members), pre-established governing bodies.

Participants (members) of the cooperative. Participants of a cooperative are considered to be citizens who founded the cooperative or were accepted into its membership. At the same time, citizens of the Russian Federation who have reached the age of 16 years can be members of the cooperative who have made the share contribution established by the charter of the cooperative. Foreign citizens and stateless persons can be members of the cooperative on an equal basis with citizens of the Russian Federation.

The number of founders (members) of the cooperative must be at least 5.

The size of a mutual fund is not regulated by law, but is established by the charter of the cooperative. This circumstance is caused by the fact that the members of the cooperative have responsibility for the obligations of the cooperative, which makes the cooperative somewhat similar to a business partnership.

The mutual fund must be fully formed (paid) within a year from the date of state registration of the cooperative. At the time of registration, the law requires each member of the cooperative to pay at least 10% of the share contribution.

The charter of the cooperative must provide for the liability of a member of the cooperative for violation of his obligation to make a share contribution (clause 2 of article 10 of the Federal Law on production cooperatives).

The mutual fund is not identified with the specific property of the cooperative, but only correlates with a certain part of the value of its net assets. Starting from the second year after registration, a decrease in those by the end of each year below the level of the mutual fund imposes on the cooperative the obligation to announce a decrease in the size of the mutual fund and register this reduction in the prescribed manner (clause 4 of article 10 of the Federal Law on production cooperatives, clause 9 of art. 35 Federal Law on agricultural cooperation).

The cooperative is allowed to establish a special regime of indivisible funds for certain types of its property. In accordance with the instructions of the charter of the cooperative, a certain part of the property owned by the cooperative may be assigned to indivisible funds used for the purposes determined by the charter. This property is distributed into shares and is not taken into account when making cooperative payments and distributions. This property is not subject to foreclosure for the obligations of a member of the cooperative.

In agricultural cooperatives, the charter may determine a list of property items classified as an indivisible fund. Such a list, indicating the balance sheet value, may include buildings, structures, structures, machinery, equipment, farm animals, seeds, fodder and other property of the cooperative, which during the period of existence of the cooperative are not subject to division into shares of members of the cooperative and associated members of the cooperative or to be issued in kind upon termination of membership in the cooperative (clause 5.1 of Article 34 of the Federal Law on agricultural cooperation).

The decision on the formation of indivisible funds is made by the members of the cooperative unanimously, unless otherwise provided by the charter of the cooperative.

Special funds of funds can be created in cooperatives - a reserve fund (which, in turn, is also indivisible - Article 6, paragraph 6 of Article 34 of the Federal Law on agricultural cooperation) and other funds (Clause 2 of Article 11 of the Federal Law on production cooperatives , clause 4 of article 34 of the Federal Law on agricultural cooperation).

Cooperative profit distributed among its members in accordance with their labor participation, unless a different order is provided by law and the charter of the cooperative (clause 4 of article 109 of the Civil Code). In accordance with the Federal Law on production cooperatives (Article 12), profit is distributed among members of the cooperative in accordance with their personal labor and (or) other participation, the size of the share contribution, and among members of the cooperative who do not take personal labor participation in the activities of the cooperative, according to the size their share contribution. By decision of the general meeting of members of the cooperative, part of the profit of the cooperative may be distributed among its employees. The part of the cooperative's profit, distributed among the members of the cooperative in proportion to the size of their share contributions, should not exceed 50% of the cooperative's profit to be distributed among the members of the cooperative.

The profit of an agricultural cooperative is distributed according to special rules (Article 36 of the Federal Law on Agricultural Cooperation). Cooperative payments from it are made in the following proportion: no less than 70% of the amount of cooperative payments is sent to replenish the incremental share of the cooperative member, and the remainder is paid to the cooperative member. The funds from the incremented shares are spent primarily on the creation and expansion of production and other funds of the cooperative (with the exception of the indivisible fund of the cooperative). At the expense of these funds, the incremented shares are also repaid, but not earlier than three years after their formation, provided that the necessary funds are available in the cooperative and subject to the formation of the appropriate funds provided for by the charter of the cooperative (Clause 4 of Article 35 of the Federal Law on Agricultural Cooperation).

The independent property liability of a cooperative in a certain sense resembles the liability of a business partnership, although, of course, it is far from identical to it. A cooperative, like any other legal entity, is responsible for its obligations primarily with its property, and primarily with cash. Collection of debts of an agricultural cooperative in the absence of funds sufficient to repay the debt may be applied to the property belonging to it, with the exception of property classified in the prescribed manner as indivisible funds, working horses and livestock, productive and breeding livestock and poultry, animals , kept for growing and fattening, agricultural machinery and vehicles (except for cars), seed and fodder funds.

However, along with the liability that the cooperative bears within the limits of its property, the Civil Code provides for additional (subsidiary) liability of the members of the cooperative for its obligations. The amount and procedure for such liability are regulated by laws on cooperatives and the charter of the cooperative. The Federal Law on Cooperatives does not add anything to this provision of the Civil Code, leaving the founders and members of the cooperative to independently decide this issue. In an agricultural cooperative, members bear subsidiary liability for the obligations of the cooperative in the amount provided for by its charter, but not less than 5% of their share (Clause 2 of Article 37 of the Federal Law on Agricultural Cooperation).

The cooperative is not responsible for the obligations of its members. Foreclosure of a share of a member of a production cooperative for the cooperative member's own debts is permitted only if there is insufficient other property to cover such debts in the manner prescribed by law and the charter of the cooperative. Collection of debts of a member of a cooperative cannot be applied to the indivisible funds of the cooperative (clause 5 of Article 111 of the Civil Code).

Brand name of the cooperative must contain its name and the words “production cooperative” or “artel” (clause 3 of article 107 of the Civil Code).

The word “cooperative” evokes different emotions in everyone - in the 90s, some invested money profitably, while others simply squandered it without receiving anything in return. For some, the concept of a production cooperative is generally unclear, what features and disadvantages it has, who can take part in it and what documents are needed for this. Today we will tell you about the requirements for participants in a production cooperative, their composition and the essence of the organization.

What is a production cooperative

Another name for PC is an artel, the main criterion of which is the association of citizens on a voluntary basis. This can be production, trade or other economic activities carried out in various ways.

The presence of share contributions is a common practice, but personal labor participation is also allowed. Moreover, a member of the cooperative can be not only an individual, but also a legal entity, but this must be reflected in the constituent documents of the PC.

This video will tell you what a production cooperative is:

Types of organization

In many regions of the country, an association of citizens engaged in the production of agricultural products is widespread. The simplest example of an agricultural PC (agricultural production cooperative) can be the union of two rural families - one makes hay, the other takes care of a cow, and the milk is divided according to the efforts and resources invested. Although legally the PC cannot have only two members.

Most often, agricultural cooperatives are a kind of self-employment that allows you to combine efforts and means to achieve common goals. A voluntary association of citizens allows them to buy expensive agricultural equipment, receive loans on favorable terms, and ensure more rational harvesting and sale of crops.

Characteristic signs

Any form of organization has its own characteristics. The production cooperative exhibits the following signs:

1. Participation in the PC is entirely voluntary.
2. Each participant owns a part of the enterprise.
3. Any member of the PC has the right to vote at the general meeting.
4. The founders of a PC create it for a specific activity.
5. Members of the PC are required to take material or personal participation in the activities.

Like any form of ownership, a PC has a number of certain disadvantages and advantages. The presence of a properly drawn up plan for carrying out activities and competent management can almost completely eliminate the disadvantages, leaving only the advantages.

Advantages and disadvantages

Any PC participant can sell their share - this is a big advantage over, it is much more difficult to realize in monetary terms. Also an undoubted advantage is the ability to achieve goals more quickly through the consolidation of efforts and funds. Often, joining forces is the only way to realize what is planned.

The main disadvantage of a production cooperative is liability for personal property. A legal entity organized in the form is responsible only for the property of the company, without affecting the personal funds of the owners. In a cooperative, if debts arise as a result of economic activities, the debts must be repaid by the participants in the amount of the proportionality of the shares.

Another factor can be attributed to the very generality of the matter - if the chairman of the production cooperative is illiterately chosen by the participants of the production cooperative, a certain lack of ownership of the activity may appear.

Features of controls

According to the legislation of the Russian Federation, a cooperative cannot contain less than 5 individual members. These are not necessarily Russian citizens - foreigners and stateless people are allowed to participate in the cooperative. It is the members of the cooperative who constitute the most important governing body - the general meeting of participants. They have the right to choose executive bodies: board, chairman, etc.

The executive bodies govern the PC, making decisions within their competence, without affecting issues resolved exclusively by the general meeting. The chairman and other members of the PC board may be deprived of their powers at any time by decision of the general meeting of participants.

We will discuss the founders and the minimum number (number of members) of participants included in a production cooperative, their composition, responsibility for obligations, rights and obligations below.

PC members

The first thing every PC participant should know is that all its members are required to bear subsidiary liability. In simple words - the more you invest, the higher the responsibility. If a cooperative has debts, its members are liable for them with their personal property.

If a legal entity is part of a production cooperative, it is also liable for its property in shares proportional to its shareholdings.

Constituent documents

The only document in a production cooperative is the Charter. Its points should not contradict the legislative and regulatory acts of the Russian Federation.

Guided by the charter, orders and other documents are issued to ensure effective activities.

Authorized capital

The minimum value of the authorized capital is not defined by law - the participants determine it themselves, based on the necessary funds for the activity. In this case, it is possible to deposit not only money, but also property required for the normal functioning of the PC. Contributions of funds in the form of property exceeding 25,000 rubles must occur after an independent assessment.

The only requirement for the authorized capital is for each participant to contribute a 10 percent share of their share before the official registration of the PC. By the time the documents are completed, members must independently determine the size of the authorized capital and organize the collection of funds and property for at least 10% of the total amount. Cooperative members are required to contribute the remaining funds within a year from the date of registration.

A production cooperative unites citizens on a voluntary basis. Depending on the organization's charter, legal entities may be included in it. Like any organization, a production cooperative has its own characteristic features, a minimum number of participants, and is subordinate to the governing bodies in compliance with the provisions of the constituent documents.

This video will tell you which cooperative is better to choose for yourself:

(artel) is a voluntary association of citizens on the basis of membership for joint production or other economic activities based on their personal labor and other participation and the association of property shares by its members (participants).

The law and constituent documents of a cooperative may provide for participation in its activities. The main activities are production, processing, marketing of industrial, agricultural and other products, performance of work, trade, consumer services. Legal entities, being members of a production cooperative, can participate in its activities by performing any work or services.

Members of a cooperative bear subsidiary liability for its obligations in the amount and in the manner prescribed by the laws on production cooperatives. The corporate name of a cooperative must contain its name and the words “production cooperative” or “artel”. The legal status of production cooperatives, the rights and obligations of their members are regulated by Art. 107-112 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation and Federal Law of May 8, 1996 No. 41-FZ “On Production Cooperatives”. The specifics of the creation and activities of agricultural cooperatives (production, processing, servicing agricultural producers) are established by the Law on Agricultural Cooperation.

The founding document of a production cooperative is the charter, approved by the general meeting of its members.

In a production cooperative, an authorized capital is not created, and the property owned by it is divided into shares of its members. The charter may establish that a certain part of the owned property constitutes indivisible funds used for the purposes determined by the charter of the cooperative. A member of a cooperative is obliged to pay at least 10% of the share contribution by the time of registration of the cooperative, and the rest - within a year from the date of registration. The profit of the cooperative is distributed among its members in accordance with their labor participation, unless a different procedure is provided by law and the charter of the cooperative. The property remaining after the liquidation of the cooperative and satisfaction of the claims of its creditors is distributed in the same manner (Article 109 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).

A member of a cooperative has the right to leave the cooperative at his own discretion, and he must be paid the value of the share or given property corresponding to his share. A member of the cooperative may be expelled from the cooperative by decision of the general meeting in case of failure to fulfill or improper performance of the duties assigned to him by the charter, as well as in other cases provided for by law and the charter of the cooperative.

If it is necessary to foreclose on the share of a cooperative member for his personal debts and if there is a lack of his property, it is allowed to foreclose on his share in the manner prescribed by law and the charter (Article 111 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).

Supreme governing body of the cooperative- general meeting of its members. In a cooperative with more than fifty members, a supervisory board may be created, which exercises control over the activities of the executive bodies of the cooperative. The last ones are the board and (or) the chairman of the cooperative. The executive bodies carry out the current management of the cooperative's activities. Only members of the cooperative can be members of the supervisory board and board of the cooperative, as well as the chairman of the cooperative. A member of a cooperative cannot simultaneously be a member of the supervisory board and a member of the board or chairman of the cooperative. A member of the supervisory board or executive body may be expelled from the cooperative by decision of the general meeting in connection with his membership in a similar cooperative. The exclusive competence of the general meeting of members of the cooperative includes: changing the charter of the cooperative; the formation of a supervisory board and termination of the powers of its members, as well as the formation and termination of powers of the executive bodies of the cooperative; admission and exclusion of members of the cooperative, approval of annual reports and balance sheets of the cooperative and distribution of its profits and losses; decision on reorganization and liquidation of the cooperative.

By unanimous decision of its members, a production cooperative can be transformed into a business partnership or society.

Agricultural cooperation and its social effectiveness

Cooperation

Throughout its existence cooperation A more effective organizational form of self-support and mutual assistance of agricultural producers has not appeared in the world, allowing one to combine the advantages of individual farming with large-scale production, which has a technical and economic advantage, as well as competitiveness in the market.

Cooperative forms of activity form an integral part of the economic life of most countries. According to available estimates, Agricultural cooperation has received the greatest development.

Russia has its own experience in developing agricultural cooperation. Having started later than other countries (at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries), cooperation developed so rapidly that by the beginning of the First World War, Russia was considered one of the leading countries in the development of agricultural cooperation.

After the October Revolution, cooperation was prohibited, but in 1921 it was allowed again and during the period it received a second rapid development. In 1926-1927, a management system for agricultural cooperation at all levels was formed.

Then a course was set for the complete collectivization of agriculture; for more than 70 years it was doomed to an ineffective existence under the complete dominance of state forms of ownership and the administrative-command system of production management. Thus, twice in its history Russian cooperation was the best in the world. It is characteristic to note that these short periods of development of agricultural cooperation occurred during periods of intense revival of market relations in the country.

Production cooperatives remain the most numerous organizational and legal form of agricultural producers. In Part 1 of Art. 107 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, a production cooperative is defined as “a voluntary association of citizens on the basis of membership for joint production or other economic activities (production, processing, marketing of industrial, agricultural and other products, performance of work, trade, consumer services, provision of other services), based on their personal labor and other participation and association of property share contributions by its members (participants).

Distinctive features of a production cooperative

The choice of this organizational and legal form by agricultural enterprises is explained by the search for more effective business models, which makes it necessary to study the conditions for their effective operation and develop management methods in order to identify the positive and negative aspects of the activities of this form of production organization.

Compared to other forms of management, an agricultural production cooperative has its own distinctive features.

In a production cooperative that most fully meets the specifics of agricultural production, there is complete combination of employee and owner in one person, since one of the main conditions for membership in a cooperative is labor participation of its main members in production activities.

Each worker independently decides whether to join a production cooperative. The decision to admit a new member of the cooperative is made by the general meeting. Each member of the cooperative makes a mandatory share, the amount of which must be specified in the charter. A compulsory share gives the right to a casting vote at a meeting. In this case, each member of the cooperative has one vote. Individuals and legal entities who contributed a share, but did not take part in the activities of the cooperative, receive the status of associate members and do not have a casting vote at the meeting.

In addition to cash deposits, the obligatory share may be accepted property shares, land shares and other contributions, in respect of which a monetary valuation is carried out. The production cooperative forms indivisible (reserve) fund in the amount of 10% of the total mutual fund, which can be used by decision of the meeting in emergency cases. If the employee’s property share exceeds the mandatory share, then its balance minus the latter is credited to additional share contribution.

Number of members production cooperative not limited to, which makes it possible to organize a fairly large production, and this allows for the improvement of the organization and. However, due to the possibility of its members freely leaving the cooperative with their property, this form does not ensure the sustainability of large-scale production. When leaving the cooperative, members receive the value of their share contribution and a plot of land under the conditions determined by the charter and agreement.

Cooperative formations in the agro-industrial complex make it possible to effectively organize, reduce, guarantee the sale of manufactured products, and provide material protection to commodity producers.

Functions and tasks of cooperation

The main task of a production cooperative— meeting the needs of its participants in the most effective, economic way. Another possible criterion for the effectiveness of a production cooperative is social efficiency, i.e. the ability of cooperation to satisfy the urgent social needs of its members. Recognizing the importance of cooperative forms of management in solving social problems of village residents, in our opinion, we can highlight a number of social functions of cooperation that provide:

• eliminating social isolation of participants;
• the principle of “one for all and all for one” (solidarity, responsibility, self-help through mutual benefit);
• self-expression of the individual (formation of an active life position, value guidelines, creativity, comprehension of one’s activities);
• education and upbringing (creating the spiritual well-being of the individual);
• openness of the community (open membership, the principle of political and religious neutrality);
• social protection (loans and benefits for social needs);
• increased needs, better living and working conditions;
• creation of new jobs;
• creation of social infrastructure.

The ability of cooperation to solve social problems and create high social activity of rural residents creates optimal prerequisites for increasing the economic efficiency of the cooperative form of farming in rural areas.

The activities of cooperatives as economic entities are influenced by internal and external factors, the lines of influence of which are often contradictory. Internal ones are the activities of the members of the cooperative, and external ones are the market competitive environment and the institution of the state. These factors represent their own interests, the lack of coordination of which leads to a distortion of the cooperative form of management.

Components of the mechanism of efficiency of cooperation as a form of management

The organizational and economic structure of any form of cooperation must contain structures that would create and ensure the functioning of a mechanism for coordinating these interests, thereby ensuring their effective operation. These include state institutions, the competitive environment, shareholders and hired personnel. The interaction between the mechanism and the effectiveness of cooperation as a form of management is reflected in Table 1.

Table 1

Unprofitability of agricultural cooperatives

One of the reasons for the unprofitability of agricultural production cooperatives is the difficulty of marketing agricultural products, high prices for technical equipment, fertilizers, fuel and lubricants, and other resources. These difficulties, which are the main obstacle to the development of production, are experienced equally by all agricultural producers, regardless of the organizational and legal forms of enterprises, since between them there are intermediaries, marketing, processing, supply and other monopolistic enterprises. A way out of this situation is the creation of cooperative enterprises and organizations, both for processing and marketing of products, and for logistics and maintenance. The effectiveness of this path is convincingly demonstrated by foreign practice.

The problems of financing and lending production are no less acute at present. In the field of agricultural credit services, commercial banks reign supreme, setting interest rates on loans that are unaffordable for producers.

The most rational way to solve these problems is continuation of the unification of agricultural producers into specialized cooperatives: for processing, storage, transportation; marketing of agricultural raw materials and processed products; logistics; credit and financial services; insurance services.

There should be one criterion for assessing this - increase in product production, reduction of its cost and increase in profitability, and this is possible with the active and comprehensive support of the state to create start-up capital for cooperatives.

Producer cooperatives are created (established) and carry out their activities in accordance with the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, Federal Law of May 8, 1996 No. 41-FZ “On Production Cooperatives” and other federal laws.

Production cooperative (artel) recognizes a voluntary association of citizens on the basis of membership for joint production or other economic activities (production, processing, marketing of industrial, agricultural and other products, work, trade, consumer services, provision of other services), based on their personal labor and other participation and association its members (participants) of property share contributions (clause 1 of Article 107 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).

Article 2 of the Federal Law “On Production Cooperatives” states that this law regulates relations arising during the formation, activities and termination of activities of cooperatives engaged in production, processing, marketing of industrial and other products, trade, construction, household and other types of services, extraction of minerals and other natural resources, collection and processing of secondary raw materials, carrying out research and development work, as well as providing medical, legal, marketing and other types of services not prohibited by law, i.e. Federal law clearly establishes the scope (subject) of the activities of production cooperatives. It should be noted that in Russia the process of establishing entrepreneurship actually began with the development of cooperatives and rental relations.

Features of the development and implementation of the activities of production agricultural cooperatives are established by the Federal Law of December 8, 1996 No. 198-FZ “On Agricultural Cooperation”, which determines that agricultural cooperative- an organization created by agricultural producers on the basis of voluntary membership for joint production or other economic activities based on the pooling of their property shares in order to satisfy the material and other needs of the members of the cooperative.

Production cooperative(hereinafter referred to as the cooperative) is formed solely by the decision of its founders. The number of members of the cooperative should not be less than 5 people. Members (participants) of a cooperative can be citizens of the Russian Federation, foreign citizens, and stateless persons. The number of cooperative members who have made a share contribution and participate in its activities, but do not take personal labor participation in its activities, cannot exceed 25% of the number of cooperative members who take personal labor participation in the cooperative’s activities.

A member of a cooperative is obliged to make a share contribution to the property of the cooperative. The share contribution of a member of a cooperative can be money, securities, other property, including property rights, as well as other objects of civil rights that have a monetary value. Land plots and other natural resources can be a share contribution to the extent that their circulation is permitted by laws on land and natural resources. The amount of the share contribution is established by the charter of the cooperative. By the time of state registration of the cooperative, a member of the cooperative is required to make at least 10% of the share contribution. The rest is paid within a year from the date of state registration of the cooperative.

Share contributions form the cooperative's mutual fund, which determines the minimum size of the cooperative's property, which guarantees the interests of its creditors. The mutual fund must be fully formed during the first year of operation of the cooperative. The property of the cooperative is formed from the share contributions of the members of the cooperative, provided for by its charter, profits from its own activities, loans, property donated by individuals and legal entities, and other sources permitted by law.

The founding document of the cooperative is charter, approved by the general meeting of members of the cooperative.

The charter must contain the following information:

The corporate name of the cooperative and the words “production cooperative” or “artel”;

Location of the cooperative;

Conditions on the amount of share contributions of members of the cooperative;

On the composition and procedure for making share contributions by members of the cooperative and on their responsibility for violation of obligations to make these contributions;

On the nature and procedure for labor and other participation of members of the cooperative in its activities and their responsibility for violation of obligations regarding personal labor and other participation;

On the procedure for distributing profits and losses of the cooperative;

On the amount and conditions of subsidiary liability of the cooperative for its debts;

On the composition and competence of the management bodies of the cooperative and the procedure for their decision-making, including on issues on which decisions are made unanimously or by a qualified majority of votes;

On the procedure for paying the value of a share or issuing the corresponding property to a person who has ceased membership in the cooperative;

On the procedure for new members to join the cooperative;

On the procedure for leaving the cooperative;

On the grounds and procedure for exclusion from members of the cooperative;

On the procedure for the formation of cooperative property;

On the list of branches and representative offices of the cooperative;

On the procedure for reorganization and liquidation of a cooperative.

The charter of a cooperative may contain other information necessary for its activities that does not contradict the law. For example, on the formation of an indivisible fund of a cooperative and its other funds, on the assignment to the exclusive competence of the general meeting of members of the cooperative of other issues of activity, in addition to those established by the Federal Law (Article 15), etc.

The highest governing body of the cooperative is general meeting its members, who have the right to consider and make decisions on any issue of the formation and activities of the cooperative. The general meeting of members of the cooperative is competent to make decisions if more than 50% of the total number of members of the cooperative are present at this meeting. Each member of the cooperative, regardless of the size of its share, has one vote when making decisions by the general meeting of members of the cooperative. The regular meeting of the cooperative is held at least once a year, but no later than three months after the end of the financial year.

In a cooperative with more than 50 members, a supervisory board may be created, the members of which can only be members of the cooperative. The Supervisory Board exercises control over the activities of the executive bodies of the cooperative. A member of the supervisory board cannot simultaneously be a member of the board of the cooperative or its chairman. Members of the supervisory board of a cooperative do not have the right to act on behalf of the cooperative.

The executive bodies of the cooperative include the board and (or) the chairman of the cooperative. In a cooperative with more than 10 members, the general meeting elects from among the members of the cooperative governing body, which manages the activities of the cooperative during the period between general meetings of its members. The competence of the board of the cooperative includes issues that are not within the exclusive competence of the general meeting of members of the cooperative and the supervisory board of the cooperative. The board of the cooperative is headed by the chairman of the cooperative, who is elected by the general meeting from among the members of the cooperative. The powers of the chairman of the cooperative are established by the charter. The executive bodies of the cooperative are accountable to the supervisory board of the cooperative and the general meeting of members of the cooperative.

To control the financial and economic activities of the cooperative, the general meeting of members of the cooperative elects an audit commission consisting of at least 3 members of the cooperative or an auditor if the number of members of the cooperative is less than 20. The audit commission (auditor) of the cooperative checks the financial condition of the cooperative based on the results of work for the financial year, carries out an audit of the financial and economic activities of the cooperative on behalf of the general meeting of members of the cooperative, the supervisory board of the cooperative or at the request of at least 10% of the members of the cooperative, as well as on its own initiative.

The cooperative may be voluntarily reorganized in the form of merger, accession, division, separation or transformation by decision of the general meeting of members of the cooperative. A cooperative may be liquidated by decision of the general meeting of the cooperative, including due to the expiration of the period for which it was created, the achievement of the purpose for which it was created, or by a court decision. A cooperative may be liquidated by a court decision if it carries out activities without proper permission (license), or if it carries out activities prohibited by law, or in case of repeated and gross violations of the law, as well as other legal acts. In accordance with the established procedure, the cooperative is liquidated due to its recognition as insolvent (bankrupt) in accordance with the Federal Law “On Insolvency (Bankruptcy)”.