Any social payments, reconstruction of nonprofit institutions and many other activities of national importance are more compensated by national wealth. Its formation and structuring is a difficult and time-consuming process, and we will try to figure it out in this article.
The concept of the federal budget
The federal budget is the fundamental treasury of any state, which is a system of relationships based on imperative funds, which are an integral part of government funds. National financial wealth in the basis of its formation takes the main socio-economic functions of the country, from which the main areas of future income and expenses are highlighted.
In turn, the federal budget of the Russian Federation performs the most important functions in the life support of the state system:
- stimulates social policy;
- regulates economic processes within the country;
- takes part in the redistribution of GDP and national income;
- controls cash flow.
As we can see, this financial instrument has more than enough tasks, therefore the government is thoroughly approaching its formation and structuring, which we will talk about later.
How is the budget accepted?
We all understand that the federal budget is not just the money supply, it is a huge complex mechanism, and each of us is interested in what principles the officials are guided in its adoption.
As a rule, the treasury is approved in four hearings and includes the following series of procedures:
- According to the statistics of key industries, the totals for the previous reporting period are estimated.
- Next, the near-term outlook for the socio-economic development of the state is forecasted.
- Highlights of the upcoming tax and budget policy are highlighted.
- Based on development plans for key areas, a consolidated budget and a consolidated financial balance are projected.
- Further, federal programs for various purposes — target, investment, and defense — are forecasted.
- Agreements of an international nature with any financial obligations are taken into account.
- The accounts of the federal budget for other expenses are taken into account.
- The upcoming program aimed at the implementation of external loans is being considered.
- The proposals on the level of minimum indexation of social benefits are considered.
- The regulatory legal acts are suspended, the financing of which is not provided for in the budget policy for the next year.
Mandatory programs
The draft federal budget as a financial instrument also carries a certain social responsibility to its people, therefore, some mandatory programs still have a place to be, however, each of them is carefully checked for compliance.
To do this, there is an approved legislatively clear algorithm of actions:
- the government is given consideration for justification of the project from a technical and economic point of view, since the state apparatus must be sure of the need to finance a particular procedure from the treasury;
- Further, the social and environmental consequences of the implementation of a particular program are forecasted;
- Guided by the current legislation, the government decides on the direct amount of funding for a particular project;
- other necessary documentation is being prepared.
The principles of the federal budget
Any details related to the formation and disposal of the state treasury are regulated by this regulatory act - the Federal Law on the Federal Budget. A clear prescribed algorithm of actions in the event of a particular situation is extremely important in modern unstable market relations. Since it would be strange and very impractical, after adopting the treasury structure for the current year, to manage funds for social payments in favor of strengthening state defense.
Therefore, each, even of a minor nature, disposal of public funds is regulated by applicable law and is based on the following principles:
- all receipts of financial flows are classified into groups and classes depending on the economic and territorial disposition — this means that some revenues of local budgets remain at the disposal of the district, and vice versa;
- in the event of a deficit due to excessive expenses, the missing funds are covered, also starting from the structural component of this financial instrument.
In general, it is difficult to describe the mechanism for managing the state treasury in several sentences, but then we will try to deal with this complex structure.
The structure of the federal budget
We all understand that only the higher executive bodies are not able to manage the huge complex of cash flows. The federal budget is a financial institution of incomparable proportions, and in world practice there are several generally accepted structures for its regulation:
- banking;
- mixed;
- treasury.
Once upon a time, a banking structure was practiced in the Russian Federation, which allowed fixing the movement of financial flows at the level of payment and was regulated by the Central Bank. But such a system turned out to be imperfect due to the untimely display of information, so it was decided to switch to the treasury department.
Budget management
In addition to the principles of the regulation, the federal law on the federal budget also governs all levels of management of this property.
So, at the first step is the Main Department of the Federal Treasury, which is responsible for balancing all current income and expenses, as well as informing the executive authorities about this.
At the second level is the Treasury Department, which is directly subordinate to the district authorities. The functions of this institution are to inform the higher authorities about the revenues and the execution of orders on expenses on its territory.
The third level of management includes local city and district treasuries, which record the movement of public funds in the allotted area.
Functions of the Central Treasury
All means of the federal budget are somehow accounted for by the Central Treasury, which is entrusted with a number of important functions and tasks:
- distribution of the budget revenues between governing bodies at various levels;
- accounting of any kind of payments, including tax payments, on state accounts;
- the implementation of refunds and offsets of excessively or erroneously transferred funds between treasuries of all levels;
- recalculation of planned indicators taking into account various kinds of deferrals and benefits;
- the establishment of restrictions in a particular financing;
- constant control of expenses with the goal of efficiently managing the state treasury;
- management of all financial flows in the treasury bank accounts.
Sources of income
Who forms the state treasury? Let's get acquainted with the participants of this complex and continuous process:
- Taxpayers - make constant and systematic transfers, replenish the income of local budgets.
- The Central Bank in conjunction with commercial - organize the direct movement of public funds in the accounts.
- The Federal Treasury with its structural divisions - keep track of received finance.
- Executive bodies, including the state inspection, are intermediaries between payers of obligations and the treasury, and regulate their relations.
Thus, we can say that economic entities that have certain obligations to the country are extremely important and irreplaceable participants in this mechanism. But there are also non-tax budget revenues, which include fines, penalties and other penalties that arose in the course of relations with state bodies.
Sources of expenses
The federal spending budget is the result of settlement formations, which are fully dependent on the revenue side. The size of this sector of the state treasury is directly proportional to the socio-economic needs of both the population and the country as a whole. Of course, this does not mean that they are fully satisfied, nevertheless they are taken into account in annual planning. They are distributed according to the following principles:
- industry (formed on the needs of various departments and ministries);
- territorial (area of participation of the country's subjects, that is, the population);
- functional (costs are maintained in accordance with the declared target programs, including social, environmental, scientific and other issues).
Any decisions on government spending are made directly by the Central Treasury and the Ministry of Finance.
Budget balance
Over the past decades, the federal budget of the Russian Federation has not been able to boast of its balance, which, in principle, is normal in world practice - always something exceeds: either income or expenses.
So, in the 90s of the last century, a budget deficit was persistently observed, which means that there were much more needs for socio-economic regulation of the state than income from taxpayers.
However, in recent years the situation has changed exactly the opposite, and at the moment there is a steady surplus of the national treasury.
