In March 2016 the Federal law of Russian Federation as of 09.03.2016 №64-FZ “Concerning the Introduction of Amendments to Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Violations” came into force.

The amendments refer to the clauses concerning illegal gratification on behalf of the legal entity. The dispositions of the statute are now practiced in cases when the transfer or promise of money and valuables took place abroad. The responsibility occurs if these actions were stacked against interests of Russia as well as in cases contemplated by the international treaty of Russia if the violator wasn’t brought to criminal or administrative responsibility in the foreign country.

The lawbreakers might be fined under administrative procedures. The penalties amount to:

• in case of small bribery (less than 1 million RUB) – up to three-fold amount of remuneration but no fewer than 1 million RUB;
• in case of major bribery (from 1 to 20 million RUB) – up to thirty-fold amount of remuneration but no fewer than 20 million RUB;
• in case of grand bribery (more than 20 million RUB) – up to hundred-fold amount of remuneration but no fewer than 100 million RUB;

The fine sanctions are as well extended to foreign legal entities.

The law introduces the administrative responsibility for violation of contracts concluded on unorganized tenders such as: repurchase agreements, contracts being derivative financial instruments or other contracts provided by the statutory acts of the Central Bank of Russia or federal laws. The responsibility is also contemplated for filing of incomplete or unreliable information, violation of procedure and terms of filing of such information on aforementioned contracts or general agreement to repository or the Bank of Russia. The violation is punishable by an administrative fine for public officials ranging from 20 to 30 th RUB, and for legal entities – from 300 to 500 th RUB.

The administrative responsibility of repositories is significantly strengthened. This is relevant to such actions as improper refusal or avoidance of making entry on the aforementioned agreements; making of such entry without causes contemplated by federal laws or statutory acts of the Central Bank of Russia; non-fulfilment or improper fulfilment of the duty to file information from the list of agreements, including to the Central Bank of Russia; illegal acquisition, use or disclosure of information or data from the list of agreements. Such violations are fraught with fines – for public officials ranging from 30 to 50 th RUB, for legal entities – from 700 th to 1 million RUB.

Information agency Credinform has prepared the ranking of the largest law consulting firms in Russia.

The largest companies by revenue volume for the last available in the Statistical register period (2014) were taken for the ranking. They were ranked in the descending order of net profit ratio.

Net profit ratio (%) is calculated as a ratio of net profit (loss) to revenue from sale. The ratio shows to what extent company’s sales were profitable.

There is no standard indicator value, therefore it is recommended to compare companies belonging to one industry or the change of ratio in the course of time by a specific enterprise. The negative value of indicator gives evidence to availability of the net profit. The bigger indicator value shows the bigger operating efficiency of an enterprise.

In order to get the fullest and fairest view of the company’s situation, it is necessary to pay attention not only to the values of financial ratios, but also to all the submitted financial and nonfinancial data.

Limited Liability Company McKinsey & Company CIS, the Top-10 leader by revenue for 2014, is placed on the fourth spot of the ranking. Share of this company in Top-10 total revenue volume amounted to 39 %. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION has the highest net profit ratio 85,52%. The lowest and the most negative value -115,53% belongs to IFC Asset Management Company, which corresponds to the significant loss of the company for 2014. This is the only company in the Top-10 having satisfactory solvency index Globas-i®. It means that the solvency level of the company doesn’t guarantee full and timely repayment of debt obligations. The rest nine companies were given the prime and high solvency index Globas-i®, which gives evidence to their ability to meet debt obligations timely and full.

        Figure 1. Net profit ratio, revenue from sale of the largest law consulting firms (Top-10)

The total revenue volume of the Top-10 companies for 2014 amounted to 17,4 billion RUB, which is by 14% greater than the same indicator for 2013. At the same time the revenue of three companies decreased in comparison with the previous year. Only two companies - LAW FIRM GORODISSKY & PARTNERS LTD and JOINT STOCK COMPANY BDO UNICON BUSINESS SOLUTIONS showed the increase of net profit ratio value in 2014 in relation to 2013. The average indicator value in the Top-10 in 2013-2014 amounted to 19,85% and 14,68% respectively. It reflects the trend of efficiency decline of conducting this business due to total economic situation in the country.

Nine companies from the Top-10 are registered in Moscow. It bears evidence to the high centralization of law consulting services business in one region of the country. It is confirmed by the Federal State Statistics Service of Russia (Rosstat) data by the related type of activity – provision of auditing services (Table 2).