State Financial Control: International Experience

Financial control is a major part of the financial management system. Its increasing importance in the contemporary world is reflected in the Lima Declaration of Guidelines on Auditing Precepts, according to which financial control is an integral component of public finance management. The relevance of the topic is also associated with the strengthening of the role of financial control in developed countries and the search for ways to increase the effectiveness of its implementation. The article aims to identify the main development trends of state financial control in advanced countries and to analyze the standardization process. Despite the fact that the system of state financial control is based on different principles in different countries, depending on the prevailing historical, economic and regulatory traditions of a particular country, further directions for the development of this sphere are determined by general trends toward decentralization of control and the standardization of control activities. In addition, the current level of development of state financial control in the Russian Federation and the possibility of adapting international experience in our country in order to increase the effectiveness of financial control are described. In this article, the analysis of foreign experience has been carried out at three levels: general control over public finance; government and parliamentary control; and internal control and internal audit as special areas of financial control. In regards to standardization, the standards of external state control have been found to be formed and approved by the national control and accounting bodies of the country, taking into account the requirements of INTOSAI standards. At the same time, national standards include legally established features of the state financial control organization in a given country as well as the national practice of conducting state audit. Requirements for the organization and implementation of internal financial control can be set by supreme audit bodies or ministries of finance, whereas requirements to organize and carry out internal financial audit are often provided by law.