Financial Journal

p. 9-24

Authors: Boris I. Alekhin

Robert J. Barro developed a theory in which the government borrows to smooth the tax rate over time and thus reduce welfare losses due to changes in the tax rate. Any positive model of fiscal policy must use tax smoothing as a benchmark. Is this so in Russia? The author of the present paper has used a sample of official data on tax and non-tax revenues and expenditures of the Russian government for 2000–2019 (79 quarterly observations) to test the tax smoothing hypothesis (TSH) by performing random walk, unit root, cointegration and Granger causality tests. The overall tax rate and permanent expenditures are found to be cointegrated only if structural breaks in the data are accounted for, and permanent expenditures Granger-cause the overall tax rate. An auxiliary finding is that the tax rate based on revenues from oil and gas exports are not found to be cointegrated with permanent expenditures, and permanent expenditures do not Granger-cause this rate. These results are interpreted as evidence in support of TSH, because (rephrasing Barro) the finding that a particular category of taxation is not cointegrated with permanent expenditures would not invalidate the central thesis. Overall, the Russian government seems has pursued tax smoothing. Permanent changes in expenditures were followed by tax rate revisions with transitory fiscal imbalances covered by combination of borrowed funds and oil and gas revenues. Lower level of cointegration seems to show that the Russian economy has incurred losses due to incomplete and inconsistent tax smoothing.

p. 39-56

Authors: Mariya A. Shchepeleva

Topicality. After the global financial crisis of 2008–2009, research on the impact of financial variables on the real sector has intensified. According to the theory of monetary transmission, a change in the short-term interest rate affects the volume of investment in both direct and indirect ways, through a change in the balance sheet indicators of creditors (bank lending channel) and borrowers (balance sheet channel of monetary transmission). Analysis of various transmission channels provides relevant information for the regulator, allowing for a more accurate estimation of monetary policy’s consequences. This paper aims to assess the extent to which the balance sheet channel was at work in Russia throughout 2010–2017. By applying both micro- (panel dataset) and macroapproaches (time series), we establish that there are certain signs of the balance sheet channel in the Russian economy, though it is not fully compatible with the traditional transmission chain. Our analysis provides evidence that there is a statistically significant link between short-term interest rate and investment. Still, we do not find robust empirical support for the remaining linkages in the transmission chain. Further research is needed to provide more precise quantitative estimates of the linkages within the balance sheet channel and compare its significance with other channels of monetary policy transmission.

p. 69-95

Authors: Natalia S. Matveeva

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.

p. 111-119

Authors: Makar I. Kudelich

Due to the growing needs of compensation and protection of insured persons’ rights, improving the mechanisms of legal regulation of subrogation are becoming particularly urgent. The purpose of this article is to identify and systematize currently existing basic theoretical and scientific legal problems of subrogation. The results of the study include proposals for legal framework improvement regarding problems associated with the insurance of civil liability and the risk of losses from business activities, with the assignment and offset of claims in subrogation, with the ratio of the size of the insurance payment and subrogation claims as well as subrogation and reinsurance. In addition, the findings can be used to improve the norms of Russian civil law in order to eliminate the conflict of rules related to persons responsible for losses and persons responsible for the occurrence of an insured event, as well as to establish a ban on the use of subrogation in relation to the insured and his relatives.