Financial Journal

p. 27-42

Authors: Evgeny N. Timushev

The article discusses the federal tools to expand the relative (to the regional level) financial capacity of local budgets in Russia’s budgetary system. Local fiscal decentralization is generally viewed as favorable to local and regional economic development. Reversing the trend of diminishing local powers at the regional level enables unique growth-friendly actions inside broader fiscal policy measures. It has been established that the Ministry of Finance has the ability to shape the fiscal incentives of regional peers toward increasing local decentralization The likelihood of regional authorities taking appropriate actions can be increased if the federal intergovernmental policy measures already planned are implemented, specifically, equalization transfers, balancing grants and earmarked transfers (“subsidies”) are expanded, and the mechanisms of their allocation are upgraded. From the methodological perspective, the “share of local budgets in region-wide total collected tax revenues” has been found to be an unreliable indicator of local fiscal decentralization.

p. 57-69

Authors: Makar I. Kudelich

Over the past years, the Russian Federation has taken a number of measures aimed at developing existing legislation in order to create attractive, stable and transparent conditions for private investment in projects with state participation, on the one hand, and to reduce the financial burden on the budget system, on the other. Currently, the tools to provide investors with special legal regimes for carrying out economic activities (such as special economic zones, territories of priority social and economic development, industrial technology parks, clusters and industrial parks, special tax regimes, territorial development zones etc.) are sufficiently implemented in the system of Russian legislation and economic practice. However, it should be recognized that there are significant gaps in the use of internationally recognized instruments to assist investors in the framework of contractual relations. In other words, today, regarding supporting the implementation of investment projects with state participation, only the necessary institutional, but not contractual environment has been formed, the latter being an indispensable requirement for attracting private (including foreign) investors. In this regard, the article considers one of the key elements of the international practice in supporting the implementation of investment projects with state participation — a direct agreement with senior creditors, and also contains a comparative legal analysis of such practice with the Russian system of legal regulation. The article concludes that it is necessary to expand the possibilities of using direct agreements in investment projects with state participation in Russia, and formulates proposals to bring their provisions in line with the best international standards.

p. 83-95

Authors: Igor A. Yakovlev, Svetlana I. Nikulina

According to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, inclusive green growth is considered to be the pathway to sustainable development. The transition to a resource-efficient green economy is especially challenging for developing countries due to a huge funding gap to implement the Agenda. Governments can play a proactive role in this process by incorporating sustainability factors into national financial systems to channel capital flows into green projects. Indonesia has greatly advanced toward a more sustainable financial system. Its experience in this sphere is especially valuable for the Russian Federation, which is currently shaping its policy of financing sustainable development. The study aims to identify the key facets of Indonesia’s strategy for sustainable finance. The authors outline the major aspects of Indonesia’s action plan and examine its regulatory framework for sustainable finance, including the domestic green bond market. They also analyze Russia’s current initiatives to promote sustainable finance at the national level. The authors come to the conclusion that the Indonesian strategy for sustainable finance is distinguished by specific objectives and principles of sustainable finance closely tied to national development priorities; a clear-cut action plan with time-bound measures to create a conducive environment for sustainable finance; a comprehensive regulatory framework embracing the entire financial sector; a phased approach to the transition to sustainable financing; and strong regulatory support for financial institutions during the transition period.

p. 108-125

Authors: Nurilya K. Kuchukova, Lyazzat A. Talimova

The article is devoted to the study of investment opportunities of Kazakhstan for accelerated technological modernization of the economy, since in the new global reality, active innovative industrialization of the country is the most important priority of the new model of economic growth in the framework of the fourth industrial revolution. The article discusses ways to solve the problem of the lack of sufficient financial resources for a quality update of fixed assets of the industry. For the Republic of Kazakhstan, the most attractive sources of financing for industrial and innovative activities are foreign investments, the development of a guarantee system that will expand the possibilities of bank lending, as well as the use of syndicated lending and venture investment mechanisms. In addition, an important way to attract portfolio foreign investment in the country along with direct foreign investment is to develop the stock market, in particular, the Astana International Financial Center, which will facilitate the entry of large institutional and private investors into the Kazakhstani market. It is concluded that in order to attract potential investors to the Kazakhstan market, it is necessary first of all to reduce taxes, because currently the total tax rate in Kazakhstan is high. Along with this, it is necessary to introduce incentive incentives specifically for investment in the manufacturing sector, since at present the bulk of investments are in the extractive industry.

p. 21-36

Authors: Boris I. Alekhin

Sustainability of Russia’s fiscal policy in 1999–2018 was explored by applying Bohn’s test to 20 annual observations and 79 quarterly observations. Budget policy is sustainable as long as primary surpluses positively and significantly respond to changes in the debt-GDP ratio. The test revealed that in both samples the fiscal reaction is positive and significant for total and external debt ratios, and negative and significant for domestic debt ratio. So, overall Russia’s fiscal policy was sustainable in 1999–2018. Large revenues from oil and gas exports secured a modest budget surplus, on average, over the period, thus reducing the demand for borrowed funds and producing a very low domestic debt ratio. As Bohn notes, “an inefficiently low level of public debt” may explain why the test fails in certain economies.

p. 50-63

Authors: Victoria V. Priobrazhenskaya

Professional competency transformation in the digital economy development process is inextricably linked with the future profession configuration. The situation is complicated by uncertain profession prospects due to conflicting forecasts and the lack of comprehensive system solutions in this area. The research objective is to analyze the accounting development prospects based on the general neoclassical structural concept and to outline the directions for competencies development in each area of accounting: theory, practice, and methodology. To study the accounting profession prospects in terms of relevant digital economy options, we used the epistemology and science philosophy methodology, the concepts of economic theory, and political economy provisions. The main result is the provision on the rising value of accounting competencies influenced by the widespread use of digital technologies. This conclusion is based on the following factors. Descriptive methodology is consolidated at the national and international levels, as a result of which the value of professional judgment increases. Digital technologies reduce routine work and stimulate the development of creative accounting activities. This entails growth in professional judgment competence, which extends to the entire neoclassical scientific organization triad. In the theoretical scope, digital technologies stimulate competencies in the form of developed knowledge, providing a holistic view of economic relation patterns, and explaining the methods, techniques and rules for accounting process implementation. In the practical field, digitization produces digital skills development. Exemption from the routine accounting practice leads to labor process restructuring and an increase in the intellectual component and value of mental abilities. In the methodology field, knowledge at the junction of fundamental theoretical accounting issues with a simultaneous confident understanding of the digital economy functioning (as a whole and across its individual elements) is supposed to be in demand. The proposed systematic approach removes uncertainty and opens up accounting prospects, makes it possible to outline the directions of relevant specialist training in the field of mental digital economy reflection, and contributes to enhancing the accounting profession’s prestige.

p. 74-89

Authors: Anton I. Votinov, Samvel S. Lazaryan, Vyacheslav N. Ovchinnikov

The purpose of this study was to identify the factors of income inequality in Russia using RLMSdata (2009–2016). In this paper inequality refers to differentiation in equivalent household income, adjusted for the cost of the consumer basket in the regions of Russia. To solve the problem, we used regression decomposition of the inequality index. According to the results, such factors as “the share of children in households”, “the size of households” and “the share of non-working adults” had the largest positive contribution to the inequality index. The “region of residence” factor, which is usually considered as the key factor of inequality in Russia, had an equalizing effect. This is due to the fact that we analyzed differentiation in the standard of living. Indeed, we calculated the dependent variable of income, adjusted for the cost of the consumer basket in the relevant region. Thus, the level of inequality was not affected by the regional attribute, but rather by the differentiation of other significant factors of the regions. The obtained results can be used for a deeper study of the causes of changes in inequality.

p. 104-118

Authors: Ivan A. Belarev, Elena B. Starodubtseva

Nowadays, innovative business is looking for new ways of raising capital for its financing. More traditional sources of financing are not always available, or are quite expensive due to the high risk involved. However, they are being replaced by new financing instruments. One of these is the issuing of tokens, which are then placed on the stock exchange, thereby attracting the necessary capital in exchange for cryptocurrency. Despite the fact that ICO has appeared relatively recently, it has made it possible to attract a significant amount of money exceeding the volume of venture financing, which is a more traditional instrument of financing for innovative business. The purpose of this article is to analyze this financing instrument, and to identify problems and prospects for its development in the short term. The essence of the instrument in question has some similarities with IPO, although, in contradistinction to IPO, investors of ICO do not receive the right to participate in capital and the right to receive dividends. Entrepreneurs are also free from debt obligations. Herewith, the process of issuing tokens is accompanied by a kind of prospectus, and the offering takes place both on the stock exchange and on the over-the-counter market. The short period of existence of this instrument leads to a number of problems, among which the most significant one is the absence of unified regulation in terms of recognition and classification of tokens, licensing, evaluation, auditing etc. However, in the coming years, the demand for this form of financing will be increasing, as shown by econometric analysis.

p. 24-35

Authors: Lyudmila A. Kormishkina, Lyudmila P. Koroleva

The relevance of the study is caused by the fact that since 2013, the proportion of low-income families with two or more children has been growing against the background of reductions in fertility in the Russian Federation. The hypothesis of the study is based on the assumption that with growing excessive inequality and poverty of the population, the maternity capital loses the function of stimulating fertility and becomes the only way for low-income families with children to improve their financial situation. The objective of the study is to substantiate the need to improve the state of redistributive policies through providing the maternity capital for each newborn starting with the first child to reduce large family poverty and the reproduction of poverty in the next generations, and to improve the quality of social resources through maintaining the assigned purpose of the maternity capital (housing, education, and health). The article analyzes the actual expenditure of the State under the Maternity Capital Program for 2007–2017 and the projected expenditure with regard to the introduction of additional measures to support families with children from 2019. An estimate of the necessary expenses for paying the maternity capital for each child from the National Wealth Fund is given. For wealthy families, it has been proposed to use an indirect negative tax. The authors give recommendations for improving the procedure of providing the maternity capital for reducing the reproduction of poverty through guaranteeing minimum start conditions for each child. The implementation of the proposed conceptual approach should be carried out in conjunction with reforming the system of taxation of income and individual property, and changing the provision of the maternity capital and targeted social support for families based on an assessment of their needs.

p. 50-59

Authors: Galina E. Besstremyannaya

The paper contrasts the drivers of mergers and acquisitions in Russia and other countries. Using the results of CEO surveys and surveys of the participants of the M&A markets in Russia and globally, the author compares the most prevalent strategies for company growth and restructuring. The paper points to economic evidence that insufficient development of competition and various issues in corporate finance may be linked to a relatively low predominance of M&A deals in Russia. In particular, this relates to the lack of deals, aimed at acquiring assets of the target. At the same time, the data for the Russian M&A market in 2014–2018 indicates relatively high competition in the information technology, and a growth in the number and the total value of M&A deals in this sector. Additionally, the overall Russian M&A market demonstrates a decrease in the average deal value, and there is a steady fall in the share of the oil and gas sector.

p. 75-87

Authors: Elizaveta V. Anufrieva

A trend toward growing influence of macroeconomics on financial markets has been observed in the last few years. Publications of statistical information relative to macroeconomy can easily affect the prices of commodities and their derivatives on financial markets. As there is little research dedicated to developing countries’ markets, the subject of this study is the Russian financial market. The goal of this analysis is to estimate whether there is an impact of macroeconomic factors on the return of indices traded at Moscow Exchange. The length of the study period is 129 months, and a total of 12 macroeconomic variables (6 of them are related to the Russian economy and 6 to the world economy) are selected to explain the return of 4 indices. The chosen method of this study is principal component analysis. It is implemented for three groups of macroeconomic factors: domestic, foreign, and both factor groups at once. The results suggest that, indeed, there is some influence of macroeconomics on the return of indices traded at Moscow Exchange. More than 10% of all changes in return can be attributed to factors connected to the Russian economy. The explanatory power of all constructed models is also quite high.

p. 102-115

Authors: Nataliya G. Filatova

Development of the long-term investment market is a condition for the formation of the main factors of economic growth and successful implementation of long-term infrastructure projects in modern Russia. The role of bank lending for long-term investment projects is to increase against the background of the consequences of the economic crisis and budget deficit. The article presents bank performance indicators for financing of long-term investment (infrastructure) projects. The author draws a conclusion on the dominant position of banks with state participation in long-term lending. The article considers the factors affecting the tendency of banks to long-term lending. The author also analyzes the practical experience of large domestic banks’ participation in financing of long-term investment projects. Problems and credit risks of long-term investment projects are identified. In conclusion, the author formulates recommendations on the directions and tools to improve the system for assessing the credit risks of investment projects in commercial banks. It is recommended to supplement this system with indicators of the structure of long-term investments, profitability of permanent capital and stability of the loaner’s efficient operation, as well as to ensure additional consideration of risk factors. The author defines the measures to expand the practice of syndicated lending, improving the mechanism providing state guarantees, and developing tools for cooperation between the bank and the loaner as promising areas for the development of long-term loans.

p. 22-37

Authors: Mikhail V. Milchakov

2019 marked the start of an active phase of national projects implementation in Russia. The author uses official quantitative data from open sources to examine the features of federal support allocation among Russian regions for national project execution. The methodology and legal framework of federal transfer allocation for national project accomplishment are analyzed. The research shows that in many aspects the regime of grant financing in national projects has a number of advantages and preferences in comparison with the “standard” schemes and approaches. The author proposes formalized approaches to assess the potential impact of federal financial support for national projects on the regional budgets. The article contains recommendations for implementation of wide-purpose grant for national projects funding based on their consolidation and suggestions for optimization of administrative procedures. The author concludes that the allocation of intergovernmental transfers for national projects among regions in general reflects the fiscal capacities of regions and meets the differentiation in budget costs among them. At the same time, some regions increased the revenue base on a larger scale due to the implementation of national projects. On the other hand, it is possible to determine a group of regions with the deficit of current federal aid and preconditions for additional support.

p. 55-63

Authors: Yulia S. Evlakhova

After reviewing of the concept of systemically important financial institutions (SIFIs) and identifying such global and national companies, the authors present the first investigation of Russian systemically important banks’ behavior before and after the publication of the list of systemically important financial institutions. The authors’ method is based on assessment of operational risks during two periods (Jan 1, 2013 — Jan 1, 2015 and Jan 1, 2016 — Jan 1, 2018). The analysis results show that the level of Russian banks’ risks decreased after the publication of the list of systemically important financial institutions, and thus Russian systemically important banks’ behavior did not coincide with the behavior of global and foreign institutions. The authors explain this discrepancy with the fact that the macroeconomic situation affected banking risks more than the publication of the list of systemically important financial institutions did. The authors conclude with a suggestion to continue the investigation of Russian systemically important banks’ behavior by expanding the risk types. These and other new results would influence the regulatory regime for systemically important financial institutions.

p. 75-90

Authors: Elena A. Fedorova, Aleksei E. Nikolaev, Yuliya S. Shirokova, Fedor Yu. Fedorov

This research evaluates the efficiency of exporting and importing companies with FDI. In their study, the authors set up a hypothesis that companies with export and import activities are the most efficient. They are followed by only importing companies and then by companies that only export; the least efficient are fully domestically-owned firms which do not participate in international trade. Another hypothesis is dedicated to the assessment of influence of imposed sanctions on importing companies’ productivity. As a research methodology, the return on assets (ROA) index for companies with FDI in comparison with national enterprises is used to test the first hypothesis. Moreover, for the same purpose the authors apply the classic approach of the DEA method as well as DEA with the regard for spillover effects from FDI. The second hypothesis is examined with the help of the Malmquist index for importing and exporting firms. The empirical database consists of approximately 170,000 records of more than 33,000 Russian enterprises, taking into account to which of the six major sectors of the Russian economy they belong. As a result of the study, the authors conclude that companies with FDI are characterized with a higher level of efficiency compared to companies without foreign capital. Furthermore, international companies are more efficient than enterprises which do not take part in international trade. Concerning the second hypothesis, the authors establish that the sanctions have a negative impact on importing companies’ efficiency, which is especially evident in comparison with growing productivity of exporting firms. This trend could be explained by decreasing FDI inflows into the country and also import restrictions by imposed sanctions, which adversely affect importing companies’ efficiency.

p. 106-116

Authors: Anna V. Agapova, Irina A. Gokinaeva, Alina A. Meleshkina

Development of electronic customs is currently a relevant area of work for both the Eurasian Economic Commission and the Federal Customs Service (FCS) of Russia. It relates to the introduction of a “single window” mechanism, one of the blocks of which is electronic customs. The need of customs audit implementation in the work of customs services in the EAEU countries emphasizes its development being part of the block of electronic customs. However, the introduction of customs audit is restrained by uncertainty in its understanding. The article analyses the existing customs audit application practice for customs control of goods abroad. It is determined that in all researched countries customs audit is understood as a form of customs control. In the study, the authors develop possible approaches to implementation of customs audit in the activities of the Russian Federal Customs Service, namely a form of customs control (based on the experience of foreign countries), a subject type of business activity, and a special type of state control. Possible negative consequences of customs audit introduction in each case are analyzed. In addition, the authors prove that introducing a new form of customs control (customs audit) would be inexpedient. The results of the experiment on customs audit application conducted by the FCS of Russia are also analyzed in the article. The analysis reveals a lack of considerable positive results confirming the validity of introduction of customs audit as a business activity. The authors establish that the best decision at the moment would be the creation of a separate public authority engaged in customs audit. This would allow the workload of customs authorities in goods post-clearance control to be redistributed, and would ensure a wide use of authentic audit reports made by officials in categorizing the participants of foreign trade activities and granting them various simplifications and preferences. It would also expand the necessary cooperation between authorities and participants of foreign trade activities, realizing the principles of the single window system, and could eventually help replace the desk customs inspection.

p. 22-36

Authors: Andrey V. Korytin, Tatiana A. Malinina

Various and ambiguous changes in business personal property taxation in Russia in 2013–2018 demonstrate the relevance of a careful analysis of this problem, including the international experience context. The article considers business property tax characteristics in the OECD and BRICS by means of the comprehensive tax law analysis with regard to these countries. The authors emphasise the experience of the countries, which treat (or treated earlier) elements of the personal property taxation. In these cases the authors consider tax design in detail and establish that only in Russia, Japan and the US personal property tax is widely treated. Furthermore, there is a global trend towards taxation of the only real property. Thus the planned business personal property tax abandonment in Russia is not just a tax exemption, it is a transition to the generally accepted and reasonable tax standard.

p. 51-64

Authors: Vladimir V. Vagin, Natalia A. Shapovalova, Nadezhda V. Gavrilova

The article presents an approach to monitoring of the initiative budgeting practices implementation. Within this monitoring the data is collected from the regional authorities and used in the framework of the Procedure for Interaction between the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation and the financial authorities of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation on the formation of the Report on Best Practices for Initiative Budgeting Development in the Subjects of the Russian Federation and Municipalities. Today this monitoring is the only federal source of data on how initiative budgeting practices are developed in Russia, therefore it solves the problems of not only studying, but also scaling the best practices of initiative budgeting in the country. The article describes the evolution of monitoring since 2015, its methodology, quantitative and qualitative indicators, characteristics and objectives of the transition from monitoring to evaluation of the effectiveness of such practices. In this study the authors analyze the data for 2017, create the typology of practices of subjects of the Russian Federation in the context of the applied citizen participation mechanisms, identify the most popular types of public infrastructure projects chosen by citizens. Furthermore, the article defines the problems associated with monitoring, in particular the inability to verify the real participation of citizens through the desk research methods.

p. 81-95

Authors: Sergey M. Ivashchenko

There are trends (deterministic and stochastic) in the most macroeconomic time series. Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium (DSGE) models have to take into account these data features. Data detrending is one of the popular approaches that imply exogenous (to the model) decomposition of time series into cycle and trend components, and dropping of the last one. The aim of the paper is to analyze the consequences of such approach. This paper shows that the methods described above distort the model, save some specific conditions. If one of the following conditions remains, then detrending disturbs the model unsystematically. Trend is eliminated from each time series separately. One variable has different nonlinear transformation than the other (example: one variable is in-logs while the other in-levels). Correlation of trend divergence (i.e. difference between trends of one and another variable) with exogenous shocks is incorrect (correct correlation can be nonzero). If trends are dropped from the model, then detrending distorts the model systematically. The author presents numerical results of detrending analysis and creates DSGE model. Then the model was estimated on multiple arrays of simulated data with different detrending schemes including the absence of detrending. Data detrending leads to 1.5–3 times higher errors of parameters estimation. More flexible detrending scheme leads to worse results (HP filter produces the worst result). However, if trend is eliminated from the data and DSGE model without trend is used then estimation errors increases additionally by 4–10 times.

p. 109-121

Authors: Vladimir N. Alekseev, Nikolay N. Sharkov

Objective of the article is to form approaches to development of financial infrastructure informationalregulative system in terms of global competition challenges and to define prior mode of its functioning. The article explores financial infrastructure informational-regulative system. In the framework of the research based on Russian and foreign authors’ researches, the analysis of various functioning modes of financial infrastructure informational-regulative is given with implementation of statistical, logical, comparative and retrospective analysis methods. The authors form the approaches to development of financial infrastructure informational-regulative system and propose the models of informational communication between regulators and financial infrastructure subjects. In addition, the authors analyze the main functioning modes of financial infrastructure informational-regulative system and determine the optimal mode. The article presents the set of financial security criteria and indicators of financial security of Russia and defines the limits for indicators. The Russian Federation financial security level assessment is performed based on its financial infrastructure compliance with financial security criteria and indicators. Authors conclude that development and implementation of financial infrastructure informational-regulative system could allow Russian regulators, legislators and law executors to respond relevantly on global competition challenges and manage risks arising from globalization of financial processes.