Home – Home – Jornals – ECO journal (ECOnomics and industrial Engineering) 2018 number 9

In the interview with the well-known auditor, Deputy Chairman of theCommission on the Methodology of the Board of Control and Accounting Bodies at the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation, Azat Valeyev examines the issuesof improving the organization of external and internal financial control in the state and municipal sectors. The author reveals a number of paradoxical contradictions in the activities of audit bodies, suggests ways to solve some urgent problems, based on international and rich experience in the field of state audit.

This article examines the problems of the Russian public procurement system based on the analysis of assessments from a mass survey of both customers andsuppliers. It is shown that despite a significant change in legislation, most of theproblems that were noted by researchers and practitioners 7-8 years ago remain including price dumping, regulatory collisions and low competition in public bids. The paper analyses the differences in assessments of these problems with respect to the respondents’ experience and other factors. We also claim that one of the reasons for the lack of positive developments in the perception of procurement regulation isthat the changes in the legislation were based on the interests of government agencies and did not take into account the needs and opinions of immediate participants of procurement process. On this basis we formulate proposals for conducting regular monitoring of opinions and assessments of ordinary customers and suppliers.

The article considers the development of practices of initiative budgeting inRussia at the regional level. The key institutional barriers for self-organization are shown. With regard to development practices in the region, it is noted that processes in the sphere of openness of budget data and initiative budgeting are more likely at the stage of “informing”, whereas for the success of the system, a transition to the stage of involvement and co-production is necessary.

The article considers the existing peculiarities of the allocation of “direct”expenditures from the State budget, that underpin the balance of colliding financial flows in Russian regions (also in the light of account the population) and thus real donor regions are identified. It determines the region’s participation rate in the State (federal) and territorial budgeting, shows stark regional disparities in terms of taxes concentration and the share of financial assistance in their incomes.

This article is devoted to a problem of the timber products’ competitivenessin Russian regions. The greatest differences among regions are revealed in trade products with high value added.Nevertheless, several common features in foreigntrade for low, medium and high-processed timber commodities are also found among four groups of Russian regions. The main trends of the development of the forest sector are described. It is shown that benefits for exporters caused by fluctuations in currency exchange rates do not contribute to the development of productionwith high value added. Following problems restrict the development of Russianforest industry: a shortage of infrastructure and staff, difficult situation in a lot of companies, deforestation, disregard to global trends in the timber industry. Finally, measures of the state support for the timber sector with respect to revealed regional differences are proposed. In addition, five general principles of the state policy of competitiveness management are defined.

The article is devoted to the forecast of car fleet trends in various scenarios of the diffusion of the car-sharing phenomenon and automated driving technologies.The description of scenarios, tools of variant scenario forecast calculations, as well as their results for the European Union and China are given. They demonstrate thatin the 25-30 years perspective, these social and technological innovations can have a significant impact on the trajectory of car ownership and total car fleet. Under the influence of new factors, trends in these indicators will be described by a curvethat has a «peak», i.e. the maximum value, after which it will be observed not the stabilization of the achieved levels, as in the framework of the traditional approach formotorization processes modeling using S-shaped functions, but a grand-scale decline.

The article describes modern situation in the film industry of Russia, taking into account the main problems for it development. It touches upon the features ofmotion picture project realization considering their cash flows allocation schemes.Scientific works of domestic and foreign scientists in the field of film production and movie financing is the ground of the research. The consequences of a possible deal between the largest film companies Walt Disney and 20 Century Fox for Russiancinema have been studied. The analysis of the situation in the industry was carried out by using the dynamics of the box office and market concentration, as well as the ranking method. In order to support domestic film production, the following steps were proposed: quoting of foreign distributors share in the market, maximizationof investment attractiveness based on the openness of information about the project using the proposed method, introduction of the cinema-theatrical rent’s limiting value for foreign distributors.

Shifts in the global landscape entailed a critical look at the existing currency composition of international settlements. But global vehicle currencies are those thathave a set of properties minimizing transaction costs. Here, not much has changed since the appearance of the earliest theories (Swoboda, 1968). A great deal of workhas been done to create a system of settlements by offshore yuan, but it is still a currency isolated from the onshore renminbi. China’s ambitions on vehicle role ofyuan are overestimated. The country settles imports by national currency, being ready to open selectively its financial market in this favor.Quest for an alternative to the dollar as a vehicle currency seems not to be a productive agenda but «underutilization» of a number of currencies is a problem. The ruble remains underutilized but with its current 15-30 percent weight in exportreceipts and import payouts there is no simple answer to the question whether competition could push it up further. However, considerations of a different kind arebecoming significant. These are integrating role of Russia in the region of Eurasia and risks arising with geopolitical tensions. The SDAC’s integrated regional paymentsystem SIRESS seems like a good example regional network, while Chinese DomesticForeign Currency Payment System gives an example of increased security of foreign currency transfers inside the economy.

The paper is devoted to the incentive system for strategic development ofthe organization of higher education. The author introduced the system of rating evaluation of higher school faculty staff, departments and faculties in the Altai state university. For efficient contract performance the author has proposed and successfully implemented the new type of hierarchical game, mechanism designmodel and the auction theory. This incentive system at ASU has identified the limit opportunities of the faculty staff for reaching KPI by using direct game, in whichto tell the truth about abilities is optimal for each player. The sum of values for all effective contracts of the faculty staff allowed increasing an influence for strategic development of the University. The implementation of the incentive system at ASUhas become one of the main tools that allowed to provide a serious breakthrough in the development of the University for just a few years and to raise the its level to leading universities of Russia.

The article reveals the negative consequences of the First world war and theCivil war on the state of small and artisanal industry in Siberia, assesses its role in the economic recovery in the NEP period. It is proved that the methods of directstate regulation of small private and cooperative industry did not contribute to the awakening of business activity and deformed the historical course of cooperative construction. The nationalization of small enterprises aimed at the elimination of private property, was not accompanied by an increase in the efficiency of its use. The development and implementation of a pragmatic course on the use of artisanal industry in the saturation of the commodity market was hampered by the rudimentsof ideology and methods of military communism management. With regard to the handicraft industry and trade cooperation, they remained until 1924. Only after the introduction of a favorable tax climate in early 1925 and the establishment of an adequate system of management, it was possible to achieve a high socio-economic effect, in a timely manner to ensure a sharp increase in the production of goods and the level of employment of the population. In 1926/27 small and artisanal industries in Siberia began to produce more than half of the gross industrial output and to process two-thirds of agricultural and one-third of industrial raw materials. The endof the recovery period was thus a peak in the development of handicraft sector. In the future, despite the absolute growth, its importance began to decline steadily dueto the deployment of a large industrial structure.

Contemplated are the key areas of legislative support to implement the tasksof scientific and technological and socioeconomic development of the Russian regions posited by the President of Russia in his Message to the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation and his Order No 204 dated 7 May 2018. The areasabove involve: 1) support of the regional component of specific National Projects (Programs) provided for scientific and technological and socioeconomic breakthrough development of the Russian regions considering systemic impact on the projects above on such development; 2) mainstreaming of the National Projects within the framework of the Spatial Development Strategy of Russia by 2030, which needs radical improvements using support of the legislative assemblies of the entities of the Russian Federation and the Council of Legislators at the Federation Councilof theFederal Assembly of the Russian Federation actively assisted by research and expert community; 3) support provided by legislators to the community above primarily via re-establishment in Russia of the national spatial research centerresponsible for system integration and coordination of the studies conducted by the core research organizations/