Reserves as a Terminological System of Economic Analysis

Abstract

Socio-economic conditions of functioning of economic entities are determined by changes in the internal and external environment, limited and inaccessible resources, multidirectional requests of participants in economic relations. This leads to the need to introduce tools for more cost-effective and efficient management of activities in the short and long term. The purpose of the study is a comprehensive study of such tools for improving the efficiency of an economic entity as the search, identification, mobilization and implementation of reserves. The author used such scientific methods as analysis, synthesis, comparison, as well as systematic and logical approaches. Based on the analysis, the following results were obtained: the concept of «reserves» is defined as a polysemic term widely used in both economic and other scientific fields; a set of characteristics of reserves is justified in relation to the tools for improving the efficiency of an economic entity. It is also proved that at present reserves should be considered as a means of ensuring the reliability of the system’s functioning, under the condition of a deep and comprehensive study of its activities, highlighting its phenomenological features as the basis of the policy of searching, identifying, and implementing reserves. The continuity of analytical work in the field of improving the efficiency of economic entities of various types is substantiated. The leading role of the works of the professor at the Moscow Financial Institute (in the present century — the Financial University) S.B. Barnholz in the methodological justification and practical implementation of the search, identification and mobilization of reserves is reflected. The possibility of further development of the ideas and experience of the Soviet period during the construction of an economic entity’s performance management system is shown. Approaches to the classification of reserves as socio-economic instruments for improving the quality of the functioning of the economic system are substantiated. The key directions of developing a methodology for searching, identifying and mobilizing reserves are highlighted, for which it is proposed to use a standardization tool. The value of its application to analytical procedures is revealed both to improve the efficiency of the functioning of an economic entity and to improve communication with internal and external stakeholders.