Improvement of the external municipal financial control system in the context of public authority reform

Abstract

The subject. The implementation of external municipal financial control cannot be called fully competent in Russia. Many practical problems are currently being addressed mainly through the transfer of powers to implement external financial control to a higher level. Amendment to Art. 131–133 of the Russian Federation's Constitution in terms of clarifying the powers of local self-government and incorporating it into public authority, predetermines subsequent amendments to the legislation on local self-government, which can be aimed, among other things, at improving the system of external municipal financial control. The aim of the article is to confirm or disprove the following hypothesis. The reform of public authority will lead to a change in the system of external municipal financial control. Therefore it is possible to propose ways to improve the activities of municipal auditing and accounting authorities on the basis of constitutional novels and the analysis of the existing problems of implementing external municipal financial control. The methodology. The authors apply general scientific methods of comparative, logical and statistical research. The study is based on the analysis of academic literature, statistical data about the practice of the auditing and accounting bodies of municipalities. Russian judicial practice is also analyzed. The main results, scope of application. The organization of a modern system of external municipal financial control shows that it actually works only at the level of urban districts and municipal regions, and that is not always effective. Municipal control and accounting bodies are not created in settlements and the authority to exercise external financial control is transferred either to the level of the municipal district or to the level of the region of the Russian Federation. Conclusion. The municipal auditing and accounting body should retain the authority to exercise control without transferring it to the level of the constituent entity of the Russian Federation. However, at the same time, its role should be strengthened by increasing its status (for example, fixing at the federal level the criteria for the number of employees of the control and accounting body, financial support guarantees).