Financial monitoring in the budget sphere: essence and directions of improvement

The article is devoted to the development of financial monitoring in the public sector. The purpose of this work is to study the essence of the concept of financial monitoring in the budget sphere, and to propose measures to improve it. To achieve this goal, the author reveals the methodological support of financial management in the budget sphere through the study of financial indicators used by public sector organizations in the organization of accounting and budget reporting taking into account the stages of the budget process and the most common budget risks. The concept of “financial monitoring” is considered in various aspects, and the author ’s concept of financial monitoring in the budget sphere in broad and narrow senses is given. Due to the lack of a legal definition of financial monitoring in the budget sphere and the lack of scientific approaches, an attempt is made to study the issues of its essence as a scientific category. Based on the analysis of financial monitoring in the budget sphere for 2019 (on the example of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia), the directions for improving the studied sphere are proposed with their systematization by stages of the budget process taking into account the risk-oriented approach. The article considers the contents of the financial monitoring in the public sector expressed in the observation, analysis and evaluation, timely response to ongoing subjects of financial monitoring activity in terms of the execution of budget authority, including: income forming (administration), distribution (redistribution) and use of financial, material and other public resources; assessment of the effectiveness of management decisions being made and have already been made regarding financial management, completeness, reliability and timeliness of accounting and budget reporting; prevention of violations in the budget sphere. The most important goals of financial monitoring in the budget sphere are emphasized: continuous systematic monitoring of the implementation of decisions on the administration of revenues and execution of budget expenditures, timely correction of existing problems in financial management in the budget sphere and development of proposals for their optimization within a single socio-economic system by applying a risk-based approach. The research shows that an effective system of financial monitoring in the budget sphere as one of the types of financial control is a guarantee of increasing the efficiency of budget revenue generation, use (distribution and / or redistribution) of public finances, ensuring transparency of the budget process at all stages of its implementation, as well as preventing corruption and other abuses in the budget sphere. The results of the research can be used by specialists in the field of financial management in the budget sphere in practical activities, as well as in the educational activities of higher education institutions - in the theoretical part.