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- Monetary reconciliation: The Accounting Chamber revealed violations of about 1.5 trillion rubles
Monetary reconciliation: The Accounting Chamber revealed violations of about 1.5 trillion rubles
According to the results of inspections conducted in 2025, the Accounting Chamber of Russia found about 4,6 thousand different violations and deficiencies. Their total financial volume exceeded 1.5 trillion rubles, the head of the department, Boris Kovalchuk, said in the annual report of the Accounts Chamber on activities for 2025. Izvestia investigated what could be the reason for the reduction of violations related to budget accounting and reporting, as well as what systemic problems in public finance management are revealed by audits of the Accounts Chamber and what measures are proposed to solve them.
Interagency work
The Russian Ministry of Finance, together with the Federal Treasury, is working to reduce violations in budget accounting and reporting, the Finance Ministry told Izvestia. This is due to the methodological support of organizations, the development of recommendations and regulations, as well as the development of digital systems that help identify possible errors in advance. At the same time, internal control and audit are being improved. The audit results of the Accounts Chamber are also used to improve the methodology of public finance management and reduce the risks of violations.
The reduction of violations related to budget accounting and reporting reflects the effectiveness of the Accounts Chamber's cooperation with the Government of the Russian Federation in terms of building systematic work to eliminate such violations in a timely manner, the press service of the Joint venture explained to Izvestia.
The audit of the Accounts Chamber shows a number of systemic problems in the management of public finances. One of the main reasons is poor and insufficiently informed budget expenditure planning. The audit identifies cases when expenses are budgeted without sufficient economic justification, budget allocations are incorrectly formed, registers of expenditure obligations are incorrectly maintained, and public procurement is planned.
To solve these problems, the Accounting Chamber proposes to strengthen control over expenditures, clarify the rules for allocating budget funds and subsidies, establish clearer requirements and performance indicators for government programs, improve cost planning and introduce more transparent mechanisms for managing budget projects. It is also proposed to improve the regulatory framework and the system of control over the use of public funds.
The reduction of violations in the field of budget accounting and reporting is primarily due to the development of internal financial control and digitalization of processes, including the use of digital platforms and a data-centric approach, Ivan Abramov, First Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Economic Policy, told Izvestia. According to him, such tools make it possible to identify and eliminate deficiencies in a timely manner, improve the quality of reporting and performance discipline.
In particular, the Digital Audit platform helps to detect problems already at the stage of preliminary inspections. The Federal Treasury also plays an important role, which keeps records of transactions, authorizes payments and, if necessary, suspends questionable transactions.
Inspections of the Accounts Chamber also reveal systemic problems in the management of public finances. Among them are shortcomings in project planning and management, inefficient use of budget funds and lack of uniform standards.
A significant part of the violations are related to the provision of subsidies and grants to legal entities, public procurement, execution of state tasks, management of state property, as well as budget reporting and budget execution.
— To increase the effectiveness of control, the Accounting Chamber improves audit procedures and applies a risk-based approach, which reduces the time and number of inspections while maintaining their quality, — said Abramov. — The Federation Council is actively cooperating with the agency: in 2025, 38 control measures were carried out on its behalf.
In addition, a working group of the Accounts Chamber and the Federal Treasury has been established to coordinate financial control, exchange data and prevent duplication of checks.
A new level
The decrease in the number of violations in budget accounting and reporting is largely due to the digitalization of the budget system, Associate Professor of Statistics at the State University of Management Tatyana Pershina told Izvestia. In particular, this was facilitated by the development of the Electronic Budget system, automation of accounting operations and the transition to unified accounting standards, which reduced the number of technical errors.
"Improving the control work of the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation also plays an important role," she added. — Audits are increasingly conducted based on a risk-based approach and data analysis, which makes it possible to identify problems in advance and prevent them even before inspections begin.
At the same time, the audit of the Accounts Chamber, according to her, shows that systemic problems remain in the management of public finances. Among them are the low efficiency of the implementation of government programs, violations in public procurement and difficulties in the administration of individual budget revenues. To solve these problems, it is necessary to strengthen the preventive nature of financial control, more actively use digital data analysis tools, improve the system of setting goals in government programs and increase the responsibility of participants in the budget process.
Ideally, inspections of the Accounts Chamber should not so much punish as prevent violations, Andrei Zhukovsky, a leading researcher at the Institute of Regional Economics and Inter-Budgetary Relations at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, told Izvestia. According to him, after each check, a set of recommendations is usually given that help organizations improve their work and avoid problems in the future.
— The decrease in the number of violations is due to the fact that the work of the Accounting Chamber has become more systematic and coordinated. Communication with the audited organizations has improved, digital literacy has increased, interdepartmental data exchange through digital channels is being more actively used, and verification methods are being improved," the expert noted.
The accounting and reporting system in the public sector is gradually being improved, Meri Valishvili, Associate Professor of the Department of State and Municipal Finance at Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, confirmed in an interview with Izvestia. The Treasury budget execution system provides comprehensive verification of documents confirming transactions, and in recent years, the supervisory authorities have been monitoring the use of temporarily available budget funds, which reduces the risk of misuse.
A promising stage in strengthening control is considered to be the introduction of a digital ruble, which will allow tracking the movement of funds from the budget to the final recipients. At the same time, systemic problems of public finance management remain, in particular violations in the field of procurement, deficiencies in capital construction — delays in work and weak claims work with contractors, as well as low efficiency of property and land management of the remaining FSUE.
One of the most persistent difficulties remains the lack of coordination between departments related to the fragmentation of digital systems and the lack of operational data exchange, Natalia Khutorova, associate professor of the Department of Economic Security at the Presidential Academy, told Izvestia. End-to-end monitoring tools, such as regular digital dashboards for budget programs, could partially solve it.
—Additional difficulties are created by the shortage of qualified specialists in the field of financial control and the frequently changing regulatory framework, therefore, a set of measures is needed to increase the efficiency and transparency of the use of budget funds: the development of digital tools, strengthening interdepartmental cooperation, staff training and improving legislation," she noted.
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