INSTITUTIONAL MECHANISMS OF STATE FINANCIAL CONTROL: AN ANALYSIS OF THE PRACTICES OF THE SVERDLOVSK REGION TREASURY

Abstract

In the context of growing demands for the effectiveness and transparency of public expenditures, the institutional design of public financial control becomes a key factor for the sustainability of regional public finance systems. The purpose of this article is to provide a comprehensive analysis of the institutional mechanisms of public financial control using the Federal Treasury Administration for Sverdlovsk Region as an example, since this authority is the core actor in preliminary and current control of budget operations at the regional level. The study clarifies the notion of public financial control as a combination of legal, organisational and technological instruments that ensure budget discipline and prevent misuse of public funds. Within an institutional framework, the paper examines the legal foundations of treasury activities, their position in the allocation of powers between the federal level, the constituent entity of the Russian Federation and municipalities, as well as the role of digital platforms of the budget process in transforming control procedures. The empirical part is based on an analysis of aggregated open data on the dynamics of treasury operations, the structure of budget discipline violations and performance indicators of control procedures in Sverdlovsk Region during the period of active digitalisation of the budget process. Model quantitative estimates are constructed to assess the contribution of treasury control to the prevention of budget violations, the acceleration of payment processing and the shift of emphasis from formal verification of details to risk-oriented analysis of operations. The results show that the combination of stronger preliminary control, electronic document management and analytical modules increases the share of prevented violations while reducing the workload imposed on participants of the budget process. The article concludes that further institutional adjustment of interaction between treasury authorities, regional external audit bodies and local self-government is required in order to build an integrated multi-level system of budgetary accountability.