HISTORY OF THE ESTABLISHMENT OF FINANCIAL CONTROL OVER LOCAL FINANCE

Abstract

The article examines the historical stages of the formation and development of financial control over local finances in Ukraine. The origins of financial control since the times of Kyivan Rus are investigated, the role of “Ruska Pravda” in the formation of the first legal principles of financial control is characterized. Particular attention is paid to the functioning of treasury chambers, control departments and state control bodies during the period of the Russian Empire, starting from the 18th century. The transformations of the financial control system in the conditions of imperial, Soviet and independent Ukrainian statehood are analyzed. The key regulatory legal acts that regulated financial control at different stages of history are identified – from the “Temporary Regulation on Control Institutions” (1866) to the Budget Code of Ukraine. It is proposed to define the following historical stages of the formation of financial control over local finances in Ukraine: 1) the Old Russian stage (X–XIII centuries) – primary forms of financial control, when the financial system was based on in-kind taxes and fees, and financial control was carried out through the princely administration, in particular through the “princely treasury”; 2) the pre-reform period (XIII century – until 1864) – financial control at the local level was weak, carried out through the governor’s office, the main attention was focused on collecting taxes and ensuring revenues to the empire’s budget; 3) the period of the zemstvo reform (1864–1917) – the creation of zemstvos – local self-government bodies with the right to draw up local budgets, the emergence of the first institutions of financial control at the local level; 4) the Soviet centralized stage (1918–1990) – complete centralization of finances, local budgets were integrated into the national budgets; 5) the beginning of independent financial control (1991–2000) – the formation of the legal foundations of local self-government, the emergence of a regulatory framework for local financial control, the formation of financial powers of local authorities; 6) codification and systematization of regulatory and legal acts regulating financial control (2001–2010); 7) the stage of decentralization and digital transformation (2010 – to date) – the activation of local self-government, digitalization of budget processes, the introduction of public control tools.