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The chairwoman of the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation, Tatyana Golikova, gave an interview to Russian Business Consulting (RBK) during which a broad range of issues was raised.
In particular she weighed in on shifting to a one-year budget. She expressed confidence that it would be a temporary measure for just one year and would provide greater certainty as for budget construction and its implementation. “But here comes the problem: the position of the Government on medium and long-term contracts that financed by the budget is still unknown”, - she declared.
Golikova pointed out that the number of remaining unused funds that had been allocated to specific projects (208 billion rubles as of January 1, 2015) is a monitor for poor planning and insufficient control over institutions that had been in charge of completing projects they had been given money for. It chiefly concerns the social sphere: the people have not been provided with certain services.
Another topic raised was management of accounts receivable where there is an upward trend. As of January 1, 2015 the accounts receivable amounted to 3.8 trillion rubles of which 2.7 trillion are advances issued for construction and equipment. The advances issued to carry out works that have not been completed.
In 2014 over 9 thousand construction projects were not completed with the total cost of almost 2 trillion rubles. Certainly, there is an element of corruption, - Golikova said.
She also added that the Ministry of Finance and Federal Treasury would be responsible for the audit of the debts to the budget. The Accounts Chamber will also help the two institutions that are entrusted to pay under contracts.
The Accounts Chamber has a large and spacious audit plan: audit the implementation of the government anti-crisis plan and audit the use of the Russian National Wealth Fund’s resources. The Russian Railways, the Russian Direct Investment Fund and others are subjects to audit. She told that the money allocated for certain projects should definitely be used, not just be placed on deposit. Golikova is in favor of changing the existing mechanisms of allocation of resources.
She stressed that many companies have been provided with budgetary allocations which they did not use. Such companies should not hope to get them again the next year.
Golikova declared that the Ministry of Finance would have to draw attention to the financial and economic feasibility of contributions into companies’ share capital. In nearly 100% of cases, the Ministry of Finance failed to do so. She said it had taken place due to lobbying on the part of sectoral ministries. She further remarked that at the end of the year there would be audit results of the Vostochny Cosmodrome, resources for which had been allocated from the anti-crisis fund. Violations in an amount of 263 billion rubles have been detected in total for 2014: 35% of violations are related to Roscosmos. Rusnano and Skolkovo will also be audited.
“The fact that we find these violations excellently illustrates the effectiveness of audit”, - she said.
Earlier, the Russian Accounts Chamber’s activity was mostly about detecting violations after they had taken place when the resources had already been misspent. Now the organization’s work is to ensure a preliminary control, identify risks where violations are possible if certain measures are not undertaken.
The Russian Accounts Chamber wants to increase penalties for violations in the budget sphere. “There is a problem, nevertheless: decision to impose penalties is made by the Russian Accounts Chamber, but the decision to levy penalties is made by the Russian Finance control service. On many occasions, the Service refused to do so”, - she declared.
In conclusion, Golikova informed that according to a recently adopted legislation the decision to levy a penalty would be made by magistrates. “As for the amount of penalties, they would not be increased in tens of times as the penalties are levied on officials who pay from their own revenues”, - she told.