Finance represents economic relations related to the accumulation, distribution and use of centralized and decentralized funds Money in order for the state to fulfill its functions and the task of providing conditions for expanded reproduction.

Consequently, the financial activity of the state is the activity of the state in the formation, distribution and use of centralized and decentralized funds of funds, ensuring its uninterrupted functioning and development.

Centralized finance refers to economic relations associated with the formation and use of funds accumulated in the state budget system and government extra-budgetary funds.

In other words, centralized funds of funds, or centralized finance, include those funds of the state that come to its disposal as a ruling entity. Such funds include: firstly, funds accumulated in the state budget system; secondly, extra-budgetary centralized funds of the state; Thirdly, state insurance; fourthly, state, including bank, credit.

Decentralized finance refers to monetary relations that mediate the circulation of funds of enterprises. That is, decentralized finance includes the finances of enterprises and organizations of all forms of ownership, formed both through own resources, and budgetary allocations, as well as sectoral and intersectoral extra-budgetary funds.

Finance is an integral part of monetary relations, therefore the role and significance of finance depend primarily on the place of monetary relations in economic relations.

Finance is an economic instrument for the distribution and redistribution of gross domestic product (GDP) and national income, it is an instrument for controlling the formation and use of funds.

Main purpose finance - through the formation of cash income and funds, to ensure not only the needs of the state and enterprises in funds, but also control over spending financial resources.

Finance expresses monetary relations arising between the following entities:

1. enterprises in the process of acquiring inventory, selling products and services;
2. enterprises and higher organizations when creating centralized funds of funds and their distribution;
3. by the state and citizens when they make taxes and voluntary payments;
4. enterprises, citizens and extra-budgetary funds when making payments and receiving resources;
5. individual parts of the budget system;
6. insurance organizations, enterprises and the population when paying insurance premiums and compensating for damage.

Finance also expresses monetary relations that mediate the circulation of enterprise funds.

The role of the state in the accumulation, regulation, distribution and use of centralized and decentralized funds especially increases during the transition period to a market economic system. As for centralized funds, in relation to them the state acts as a ruling entity and can provide its income through a compulsory system - taxes, duties, various fees, issuing money, etc.

Another thing - decentralized funds. Regarding them government regulation expressed in a completely different way. And there should be a completely different attitude towards the finances of private entrepreneurs, since private finances - their fortunes and dynamics - are subject to laws market economy.

Any financial activity of the state is associated with expenses and income. In the event that expenses exceed income, the state is forced to look for additional sources of funds to cover the necessary expenses - banking or state loan, release into circulation valuable papers and so on. Therefore, it is the state of finances that reflects the processes taking place in the state, not only in the field of economics and social processes, but in the fields of politics, demography, ecology, etc.

No redistribution financial resources It is impossible to hold almost any event in the state. In other words, the holding of any events in the state is connected with its financial activities. And that is why those are necessary legal basis, which would regulate the conduct financial activities state, since it is carried out, naturally, in legal form.

Without the participation of finance, national income, which is the main material source of monetary income and funds, cannot be distributed. Taking into account the volume of national income and its individual parts - the consumption fund and the accumulation fund - the proportions of economic development and its structure are determined. Finance, influencing production, distribution and consumption, is objective in nature.

As already mentioned, the state of finances reflects and determines the state of the country’s economy.

Basics condition for the growth of financial resources- increase in national income. Finance and financial resources are not identical concepts. Financial resources themselves do not define the essence of finance, do not reveal their internal content and social purpose. Finance largely depends on the financial policy of the state. The essence of finance is manifested in its functions. Let us name the four functions of finance: distribution, control, regulation and stabilization and characterize each of them separately.

There are two main functions of finance: distribution and control, which are carried out simultaneously by finance. And this is natural, since each financial transaction means the distribution of the social product and national income and control over this distribution.

Distributive function finance means their participation in the distribution of national income, which consists in the creation of so-called basic, or primary, income. Their sum is equal to national income. Basic income is generated by the distribution of national income among participants material production and are divided into two groups:

1. wages of workers and employees, income of farmers, peasants;
2. income of enterprises in the sphere of material production.

Further redistribution of national income is associated with:

1. with intersectoral and territorial redistribution of funds in the interests of effective and rational use of income and savings of enterprises and organizations;
2. with the presence of not only production, but also non-production spheres in which national income is not created (health care, education, social insurance And social Security, management);
3. with the redistribution of income between different social groups population. As a result, secondary or derivative income, income received in non-production sectors, and taxes are formed.

Consequently, the redistribution of national income occurs between:

• production and non-production spheres of the national economy;
• branches of material production;
• individual regions of the country;
• forms of ownership;
• social groups of the population.

The ultimate goal of the distribution and redistribution of national income and GDP, accomplished with the help of finance, is the development of productive forces, the creation of market structures of the economy, the strengthening of the state, and ensuring a high standard of living for the general population. The role of finance is subordinated to the tasks of increasing the material interest of teams of enterprises and organizations, as well as workers in improving financial economic activity, achieving high results at the lowest cost.

Control function . Finance, being an instrument for the accumulation and use of monetary income and funds, objectively reflects the process of distribution and redistribution of national income and GDP among the relevant funds, and controls their expenditure for their intended purpose.

Financial control in the context of transition to market relations is aimed at ensuring dynamic development public and private production, acceleration scientific and technological progress, comprehensive improvement in the quality of work in all sectors of the national economy. Financial control covers both production and non-production areas. It covers the entire complex of those economic relations on which the size of funds and the efficiency of their use depend.

Financial control- an important means of ensuring the legality of financial and economic activities. Called to prevent financial and economic crimes, it guards the inventory and funds of the state. Special meaning financial control acquires at the present time, when the growth trend of “white-collar” economic crime is very clearly visible.

Thus, financial control is the activity of state, municipal, public and other business entities regulated by legal norms to verify the timeliness and accuracy of financial planning, the validity and completeness of the receipt of income in the relevant funds of funds, the correctness and efficiency of their use.

In other words, the most important task of financial control is to verify strict compliance with the legislation on financial matters, timeliness and completeness of implementation financial obligations before budget system, tax service, banks, as well as mutual obligations of enterprises and organizations for settlements and payments.

The control function of finance is also manifested through the activities of financial authorities. The effectiveness of financial control carried out by various entities, in particular, state authorities, local governments, auditors, audit firms, largely depends on their interaction, coordination joint activities, as well as from cooperation with law enforcement agencies.

Regulatory function Finance is associated with government intervention through finance - government spending, taxes, government credit - in the reproduction process. The state influences the reproduction process through the financing of individual enterprises and industries, social events and tax policy.

Stabilization function finance is to provide all economic entities and citizens with stable economic and social conditions. Finance must perform this function in conditions of transition and development of market relations.

The functions of finance are implemented through the financial mechanism, which includes a set of organizational forms of financial relations in the national economy, the procedure for the formation and use of centralized and decentralized funds of funds, methods of financial planning, forms of financial and financial system management, and financial legislation. Of particular importance is the factor of stability of financial legislation, since without this it is impossible to implement investment policy.

One of the important elements of the financial mechanism is financial planning, which primarily relates to budget planning.

IN Russian Federation a long-term financial plan is being developed based on the budget for this year. Its goals are the following:

1. informing legislative (representative) bodies about the expected medium-term trends in economic development and social sphere;
2. complex forecasting financial consequences reforms, programs, laws being developed;
3. identifying the need and possibility of implementing promising measures in the field of financial policy;
4. monitoring long-term negative trends for timely adoption of appropriate measures.

A long-term financial plan is developed for three years:

• Year 1 - the year for which the budget is drawn up;
• 2nd and 3rd years - the planned period during which the real results of this economic policy.

Lecture notes meet the requirements of the State Educational Standard of Higher Education vocational education. Accessibility and brevity of presentation allow you to quickly and easily gain basic knowledge on the subject, prepare for and successfully pass tests and exams. The content, functions, socio-economic essence of finance, monetary system Russia, the importance of the budget in the development of the economy and social sphere, current state off-budget redistribution of financial resources, as well as finances of business entities and much more. For students of economic universities and colleges, as well as those who independently study this subject.

LECTURE No. 1

The essence and functions of finance

1. The emergence of finance

Finance appeared simultaneously with the emergence of the state during the stratification of society into classes. With the decomposition of feudalism and the development in its depths of the capitalist mode of production, monetary income and expenses of the state began to acquire increasing importance.

In the early stages of the development of the state, there was no distinction between the resources of the state and the resources of its head.

With the allocation of the state treasury and its complete separation from the property of the monarch (XVI-XVII centuries), the concepts of public finance, state budget, government loan.

Public finance served as a powerful lever for the initial accumulation of capital.

Government loans and taxes were widely used to create the first capitalist enterprises. An important role in the creation initial capital belonged to the system of protectionism, which allowed the first capitalists to set high prices for manufactured industrial products and receive high profits, which were largely used to expand production.

Under capitalism, when commodity-money relations become all-encompassing, finance expresses economic relations in connection with the formation, distribution and use of funds of funds in the process of distribution and redistribution of national income.

The fixed assets of capitalist states began to be concentrated in the state budget.

The public finances of capitalist countries are characterized by rapid growth in expenditures, which is primarily due to the increased militarization of the economy. Military purposes, repayment of public debt and interest on it accounted for more than 2/3 of all government spending. Huge funds were allocated for the maintenance of the state apparatus - parliament, ministries, departments, police, prisons, etc. Costs for education and healthcare were extremely small. The main source of income was taxes.

By the beginning of the 20th century. the state began to participate in the process of production, distribution and use of the social product.

The democratization of public life in a developed market economy has led to the fact that in a number of small countries in Western Europe (Sweden, Norway, etc.) costs for social purposes have become one of the main ones. This is where the concept of the “Swedish model of socialism” arose.

State intervention in the economy has developed significantly. It began to actively help its country's monopolies in intense competition in the world market, providing export firms with so-called export bonuses.

Intervention in the process of reproduction and the sphere of social relations is carried out not only at the national, but also at the interstate level.

Interstate funds of funds were created, used to finance agriculture, overcome unemployment, retraining and redeployment work force, overcoming significant imbalances in the development of individual regions.

New government spending has appeared: on security environment, overcoming the economic backwardness of certain areas, providing subsidies and loans to developing countries.

Huge expenses necessitate an increase in taxes - the main financial method mobilization of resources into state and local budgets.

However, despite the increase in taxes, the accumulated revenues are not enough to cover the ever-increasing government expenses.

The budgets of all countries are characterized by large chronic deficits, covered by government loans, the issue of which entails an increase in public debt.

2. The essence of finance

Finance as a scientific concept is usually associated with processes of various forms that manifest themselves in social life and are necessarily accompanied by the movement of funds (profit distribution, transfer tax payments, making extra-budgetary and charitable payments).

Cash flow in itself does not reveal the essence of finance. To comprehend it, it is necessary to identify those general properties that characterize the internal nature of all financial phenomena - the relationships between various participants in social production.

Finance, expressing production relations that actually exist in society, having an objective nature and a specific social purpose, acts as an economic category.

An important feature of finance is the monetary nature of financial relations. Money is a prerequisite for the existence of finance.

The next sign Finance as an economic category is the distributive nature of financial relations.

The distribution and redistribution of value with the help of finance is necessarily accompanied by the movement of funds, taking a specific form of financial resources, which are formed by business entities and the state through various types of cash income, deductions and receipts, and are used for expanded reproduction, material incentives for workers, and satisfaction of various needs society.

Potentially, financial resources are formed at the production stage, when new value is created and old value is transferred. In reality, the formation of financial resources begins only at the distribution stage, when the value is realized and specific economic forms realized value.

The use of financial resources is carried out mainly through financial funds for special purposes.

Financial relations are always associated with the formation of cash income and savings, which take the form of financial resources. This is an important specific feature of finance, distinguishing it from other distribution categories.

So, finance is the monetary relations that arise in the process of distribution and redistribution of the value of the gross social product and part of the national wealth in connection with the formation of monetary income and savings among business entities and the state and their use for expanded reproduction, material incentives, satisfaction of social and other needs of society.

3. Functions of finance

The essence of finance is manifested in its functions. Finance performs two main functions: distribution and control. These functions are carried out by finance simultaneously. Each financial transaction means the distribution of social product and national income and control over this distribution.

When the creation of so-called basic or primary income occurs, the distribution function appears. The amount of income is equal to national income. Basic incomes are formed through the distribution of national income among participants in material production. They are divided into two groups:

1) wages of workers, employees, income of farmers, peasants employed in the sphere of material production;

2) income of enterprises in the sphere of material production. Primary incomes do not form public money

funds sufficient for the development of priority sectors of the national economy, ensuring the country's defense capability, and meeting the material and cultural needs of the population. Further distribution or redistribution of national income is needed.

The redistribution of national income is associated with: intersectoral and territorial redistribution of funds in the interests of the most efficient and rational use of income and savings of enterprises and organizations; the presence, along with the production non-production sphere, in which national income is not created (education, health care, social insurance and welfare, management); redistribution of income between different social groups of the population.

As a result of redistribution, secondary, or production, income is formed. These include income received in non-productive sectors, taxes ( income tax from individuals, etc.). Secondary incomes serve to form the final proportions of the use of national income.

Income created during redistribution must ensure correspondence between material and financial resources and, above all, between the size of monetary funds and their structure, on the one hand, as well as the volume and structure of means of production and consumer goods, on the other.

The control function is manifested in control over the distribution of gross domestic product among the relevant funds and their expenditure for their intended purpose.

One of the important tasks of financial control is to verify compliance with financial legislation, timely and complete fulfillment of financial obligations to the budget system, tax service, banks, as well as mutual obligations of enterprises and organizations for settlements and payments.

The distribution and control functions of finance are implemented through the financial mechanism, which is part of the economic mechanism. The financial mechanism includes a set of forms of financial relations in the national economy, the procedure for the formation and use of centralized and decentralized funds of funds, methods of financial planning, forms of financial and financial system management, and financial legislation.

Finance, participating in the distribution of value, is closely connected and interacts with such categories as price, wages, and credit.

In order for the process of formation and distribution of various forms of monetary income and savings to begin, the value generated in production must be realized. The economic instrument through which the value of a product receives monetary expression and becomes an object of distribution is price.

Being a quantitative measure of the value created in production, its monetary expression, the price predetermines the proportions of the future cost distribution, but itself cannot ensure either distribution among property subjects or functional isolation of different parts of value. This is highlighted at the exchange stage with the help of finance and wages. It is thanks to them that various types of cash income, savings and deductions are formed in the process of primary distribution.

Wages as a form of distribution are determined by the need to generate income for specific workers. As an economic category, wages express value relations that arise as a result of the division of newly created value during the creation individual income received by workers depending on the quality and quantity of labor expended.

Finance is at the disposal of business entities and the state and is intended to satisfy a variety of public needs. But they are closely related to each other: on the one hand, finance contributes to the formation of the wage fund, on the other hand, wages, the accrual of which does not coincide with payment in time, act as a source of creating part of the financial resources of the enterprise, taking the form of stable liabilities.

Being in the turnover of the enterprise between accrual and payment, wages act as a source of formation of working capital.

Credit also participates in the distribution of costs. Finance and credit have one economic basis, but unlike finance, credit operates on the terms of repayment and payment.

The main objects of the complex impact of finance and credit on the reproduction process are fixed assets and working capital.

Based on the relationship between finance and the most important economic categories, it is necessary to attach special importance to issues of financial management, i.e. the most effective management financial resources.

5. Financial management

Economically developed countries The greatest impact on the finances of enterprises comes from the internationalization of economic life, the globalization of business operations and the expansion of computer technology.

Computer and telecommunications technologies are dramatically changing the adoption process financial decisions. The parent companies are provided with a system of personal computers connected by a local network with computers of suppliers and distributors. This allows the financial manager to constantly be aware of all information and make the most rational decisions.

Main tasks of financial management:

1) maximization real assets and liabilities of enterprises;

2) forecasting the financial side of enterprises’ activities. Business plans are drawn up for production volume, product sales, profit, capital investments, implementation of new management decisions and financial resources to support them;

3) making appropriate decisions when investing large funds (optimal growth rates of sales volume, structure of funds raised, methods of mobilizing them, etc.);

4) coordination of the financial activities of enterprises with other services (bank, tax department, etc.);

5) carrying out large transactions in the financial market for

mobilization of additional capital.

Financial management is also of great importance for public finances, including the budget system and extra-budgetary funds.

In connection with the transition to market relations, there is a tendency for significant decentralization of financial resources. The development of extra-budgetary funds leads to the dispersion of funds, does not provide the opportunity for their mobile use, concentration on priority areas economic development, weakens control over spending public funds. Therefore it is necessary to pay Special attention on the development of financial management, on the basis of which financial policy should be built.

6. Financial policy

The main task of financial policy is to provide appropriate financial resources for the implementation of a particular program of economic and social development. Financial policy is a set of government measures aimed at mobilizing financial resources, their distribution and use for the state to perform its functions.

Financial policy is an independent sphere of state activity in the field of financial relations. It includes three main elements:

1) identification and setting of main goals and specification of further and immediate tasks that need to be solved to achieve the set goals over a certain period;

2) development of methods, means and forms of organizing relations in which these goals are achieved in the shortest possible time, and immediate and long-term problems are solved in an optimal way;

3) selection and placement of personnel capable of solving the assigned tasks and organizing their implementation. Financial policy is assessed by how much it corresponds to the interests of society and how much it contributes to achieving set goals and solving specific problems.

To determine and formulate financial policy, reliable information about financial situation the state, its financial potential, i.e. the objective capabilities of the state.

During the period of evolutionary development of social life and stable government system The internal and external financial policies of the state solve one main task - ensuring the preservation and strengthening of the existing system of social relations in a given state. During the period of revolutionary changes, political forces pursue policies aimed at destroying the existing system of social relations and forming a new one.

The role of financial policy at critical moments in life is difficult to overestimate, since first of all there is a radical redistribution of financial resources.

The priority tasks facing modern financial policy of the Russian state - fighting inflation, overcoming the decline in production, increasing the social security of the population.

The modern world is a world of comprehensive and omnipotent commodity-money relations. They permeate the internal life of any state and its activities in the international arena.

In the process of reproduction at different levels, from the enterprise to national economy in general, funds of funds are formed and used.

The system of education and use of funds of monetary resources involved in ensuring the reproduction process constitutes the finances of society. And the totality economic relations arising between the state, enterprises and organizations, industries, territories and individual citizens in connection with the movement of funds, forms financial relations. They are complex, diverse and resemble the circulatory system of a living organism, through which the movement of goods and services takes place, a kind of exchange of substances between the economic cells of the social organism.

There are many points of view in understanding the term “finance”.

Currently, various scientists and economists give many different definitions of the category of finance. For example, in Russian scientific and educational literature, finance is defined as “a set of economic relations that arise in the process of formation, distribution and use of centralized and decentralized funds of funds.”

V.M. Oparin defines finance as follows: “Finance is a set of economic relations that are associated with exchange, or distribution and redistribution in the monetary value of the gross domestic product (GDP), and, under certain conditions of development, national wealth.”

Lavrushin in his textbook"Money. Credit. Banks" gives the following definition of finance: "Finance is a monetary relationship that arises in the process of distribution and redistribution of the value of the gross social product and part of the national wealth in connection with the formation of cash income and savings among business entities and the state and their use for expanded reproduction, material incentives for workers , meeting social and other needs of society."

In the explanatory dictionary V.I. Dahl can find the following definition of finance - this is “everything that relates to the income and expenses of the state.” In the first Russian textbook on finance, written by I. Gorlov and published by Kazan University in 1841, finance was defined as “the monetary nature of government costs.”

Modern foreign textbooks give the following definitions: in the textbook by E. Body and R.K. Merton's “Finance” is given the following interpretation: “Finance is the science of how people manage the expenditure and receipt of scarce monetary resources over a certain period of time.”

Considering the essence and functions of finance, the author also encountered different points of view of the authors.

One of the common points of view, held by a number of scientists D.A. Allahverdyan, V.M. Rodionova, N.G. Sychev, L.A. Drobozina, N.V. Garetovsky et al., that “the essential feature and basis of the concept of finance is the distribution of the total social product and national income.” In addition to this general definition of finance, there are more specific definitions of the main essential feature of finance (M.V. Fedosov and S.Ya. Ogorodnik) as “the process of distribution and redistribution of part of the value of the total social product.” E.A. Voznesensky, V.N. Garetovsky, N.E. Hare considered “net income and its connection with the processes of distribution and redistribution” as an object of financial research.

According to economists Balobanov I.I., Balobanov I.G., Voznesensky E.A. Sycheva N.G., Boldyreva B.G. “finance performs the functions of generating monetary income, the function of using monetary funds, and the control function.”

Finance is a historical category. They appeared simultaneously with the emergence of the state during the stratification of society into classes. The term finansia originated in the 13th-15th centuries. in the trading cities of Italy and meant any cash payment. Subsequently, the term gained international distribution and began to be used as a concept associated with the system of monetary relations between the population and the state regarding the formation of state funds of funds. Thus, this term reflected, firstly, monetary relations between two entities, i.e. money acted as the material basis for the existence and functioning of finance (where there is no money, there can be no finance); secondly, the subjects had different rights in the process of these relations: one of them (the state) had special powers; thirdly, in the process of these relations, a national fund of funds was formed - the budget (hence, we can say that these relations were of a fund nature); fourthly, the regular flow of funds into the budget could not be ensured without giving taxes, fees and other payments a state-compulsory nature, which was achieved through the legal rule-making activities of the state and the creation of an appropriate fiscal apparatus.

The following financial prerequisites are distinguished:

First premise. IN Central Europe as a result of the first bourgeois revolutions, although monarchical regimes were preserved, the power of the monarchs was significantly reduced, and, most importantly, the head of state (monarch) was separated from the treasury. A nationwide fund of funds arose - a budget that the head of state could not individually manage.

Second premise. The formation and use of the budget has become systematic in nature, i.e. systems emerged government revenues and expenses with a certain composition, structure and legislative support.

Third premise. Taxes in cash acquired a predominant character, whereas previously state revenues were formed mainly through taxes in kind and labor duties.

Thus, finance expresses a certain sphere of production relations and belongs to the basic category. But what is the role of the state here? Some economists, based on the fact that financial relations are fixed by the legislator in the relevant regulations determine the dominant role of the state in the formation of these relations and, therefore, classify finance as legal, i.e. superstructure category. But the point is that legal act only records the content of objectively existing economic relations, proving that finance is, first of all, an economic category (and refers to the basis) and only then a legal category, i.e. the state, in the apt expression of economist E.A. Voznesensky, “dresses” financial relations in legal form, gives them the appropriate state-authoritative form while maintaining their objectively economic character"

However, the role of the state cannot be reduced. The state actively influences finances depending on the political structure, main objectives, current conditions and other reasons. Through its financial policy, the state can influence the economy, having both a positive and negative impact on it.

Since, undoubtedly, finance is a historical category (it has stages of emergence), we can distinguish two main stages in the development of finance.

At first, an undeveloped form of finance, when the bulk of funds (2/3) was spent on military purposes, and finance had virtually no impact on the economy. Another characteristic feature this period was narrow financial system, since it consisted of one link - the budgetary one, and the number of financial relations was limited. All of them were related to the formation and use of the budget.

As commodity-money relations developed, the need arose for new national funds of funds and, accordingly, new groups of monetary relations regarding their formation and use.

Currently, regardless of the political structure and level of economic structure of a particular state, finance has entered a new stage of its development. This is due to the multi-link nature of financial systems, the high degree of impact on the economy, and the wide variety of financial relations.

Along with traditional public finance, local finance, off-budget special government funds, finance state enterprises. Completely new areas of financial relations have emerged, such as the finance of interstate communities.

Finance as a scientific concept is usually associated with those processes that appear on the surface of social life in various forms and are necessarily accompanied by the movement (cash or non-cash) of funds. Whether we are talking about the distribution of profits and the formation of funds for intra-economic purposes at enterprises, or the transfer of tax payments to state budget revenues, or the contribution of funds to extra-budgetary or charitable funds - in all of these and similar ones financial transactions cash flow occurs.

Although very noticeable, cash flow in itself does not reveal the essence of finance. To comprehend it, it is necessary to identify those general properties that characterize the internal nature of all financial phenomena.

If we ignore the numerous forms in which financial processes, you can see what they have in common - the underlying relationships between various participants in social production, or social relations. These relations are production (economic) in nature, since they arise directly in social production.

Economic relations are extremely diverse: they arise at all stages of the reproduction process, at all levels of management, in all spheres of social activity. At the same time, homogeneous economic relations that characterize one of the aspects of social existence, being presented in a generalized abstract form, form an economic category. Finance, expressing production relations that actually exist in society, having an objective nature and a specific social purpose, acts as an economic category.

The uniqueness of the relationships that make up the content of finance as an economic category lies in the fact that they always have a monetary form of expression.

The monetary nature of financial relations is an important feature of finance. Money is a prerequisite for the existence of finance. If there is no money, there can be no finance, since the latter is the social form conditioned by the existence of the former.

In this regard, it is unlawful to classify not only monetary, but also natural relationships as finance. The existence of natural duties in the era of feudalism, the collection of tribute by the slave state from its citizens and conquered peoples, the naturalization of social relations in conditions of disorder money circulation does not at all prove the natural nature of financial relationships. They talk about something else - the functioning of finance is possible only under certain conditions, the absence of which immediately narrows the scope of this category.

Finance? an integral part of monetary relations, but not all monetary relations are financial.

Finance differs from money, both in content and in the functions performed. Money? this is a universal equivalent, with the help of which the labor costs of associated producers are primarily measured, and finance? it is an economic instrument for the distribution and redistribution of gross domestic product and national income, an instrument for controlling the formation and use of funds.

Each subsequent cycle of reproduction is possible only after the newly created value has been distributed, as a result of which targeted monetary funds will be created, which are the basis for satisfying various needs, and this happens in an impersonal form. Real movement money occurs at the second and third stages of the reproduction process. But only at the second stage does the movement of value occur separately from the movement of goods and is characterized by its alienation (from hand to hand) or the targeted isolation of each part of the value (within one owner). At this stage, the stage of the emergence of financial relations, the value of the social product is distributed according to its intended purpose and business entities

The emergence of financial relations always makes itself felt by the real movement of funds. The absence of such movement at the stages of production and consumption of the reproduction process indicates that they are not the place where finance arises.

The real movement of funds occurs at the second and third stages of the reproduction process - in distribution and exchange. However, the nature of the movement of value (in its monetary form) at these stages is different, which does not allow both of their sides to be attributed to the sphere of functioning of finance.

At the second stage, the movement of value in monetary form is carried out separately from the movement of goods and is characterized by its alienation (transition from the hands of some owners to the hands of others) or the targeted isolation of each part of the value (within one owner). At the third stage, the distributed value (in monetary form) is exchanged for the commodity form, i.e. acts of purchase and sale are carried out. There is no alienation of value itself here; it only changes its form - from monetary to commodity.

Thus, at the second stage of reproduction, there is a one-way (without counter equivalent) movement of the monetary form of value; on the third - a two-way (counter) movement of values, one of which is in monetary form, and the other in commodity form.

At the third stage of the reproductive process, constantly performed exchange transactions are served by two categories: firstly, by money as a universal equivalent, and secondly, by price. No other social instrument is required here anymore. Therefore, there is no place for finances in the exchange.

The area of ​​origin and functioning of finance is the second stage of the reproduction process, at which the value of the social product is distributed according to its intended purpose and business entities. Therefore, an important feature of finance as an economic category is the distributive nature of financial relations.

However, this feature is not enough to fully characterize finances. The diversity of distribution relations leads to the fact that at the second stage of the reproduction process various economic categories operate: finance, credit, wages, price. Finance differs significantly from other categories operating at the stage of value distribution.

The initial sphere of emergence of financial relations is the processes of primary distribution of the value of a social product, when this value breaks down into its constituent elements and the formation of various forms of monetary income and savings occurs. Isolation of profit, social insurance contributions, as part of revenue from sales of products, depreciation charges and so on. carried out with the help of finance and reflects the process of distributing value in accordance with the intended purpose of each part of it. Further redistribution of value between business entities (withdrawal of part of the profit at the disposal of the state, payment of taxes by citizens of the country, etc.) and specification of its intended use (direction of profit to capital investments, the formation of economic incentive funds from various sources) also occurs on the basis of finance. Thanks to them, various processes of redistribution of the value of the social product are carried out in all structural divisions economy (in sectors of material production and non-production spheres) and at different levels of management.

The distribution and redistribution of value through finance is necessarily accompanied by the movement of funds taking a specific form of financial resources; they are formed by business entities and the state at the expense of various types of cash income, deductions and receipts, and are used for expanded reproduction, material incentives for workers, and satisfaction of social and other needs of society. Financial resources act as material carriers of financial relations. The ownership of financial resources by a specific business entity and the state makes it possible to separate them from the funds of the population and, in particular, to draw a line between finance and wages.

Potentially, financial resources are formed at the production stage, when new value is created and old value is transferred. But precisely potentially, since the worker produces not financial, but labor products in commodity form. The real formation of financial resources begins only at the distribution stage, when the value is realized and specific economic forms of realized value are identified as part of the proceeds.

The use of financial resources is carried out mainly through monetary funds for special purposes, although a non-fund form of their use is also possible. Financial funds are an important part common system monetary funds operating in the national economy. The stock form of using financial resources is objectively predetermined by the needs of expanded reproduction and has some advantages compared to the non-stock form: it allows people’s needs to be more closely linked with economic opportunities society; ensures the concentration of resources on the main directions of development of social production; makes it possible to more fully link public, collective and personal interests and thus more actively influence production.

Consideration of financial resources as material carriers of financial relations allows us to distinguish finance from the general set of categories involved in cost distribution. None of them, except finance, are characterized by such material carrier. Hence, an important specific feature of finance, which distinguishes it from other distribution categories, is that financial relations are always associated with the formation of cash income and savings, which take the form of financial resources. This feature is common to financial relations of any socio-economic formation, wherever they operate. At the same time, the forms and methods by which financial resources are generated and used changed depending on the change in the social nature of society.

Study economic essence finance, identifying the specific features of this category allows us to give the following definition.

Finance is the monetary relations that arise in the process of distribution and redistribution of the value of the gross social product and part of the national wealth in connection with the formation of cash income and savings among business entities and the state and their use for expanded reproduction, material incentives for workers, satisfaction of social and other needs of society .

As part of the relations of production, finance belongs to the economic basis; their conditionality by value distribution emphasizes the historically transitory nature of finance.

Finance can influence all stages of reproduction and the process as a whole. Objective prerequisites for influence are associated with two circumstances:

• - finance functions in all spheres of social production (production, circulation, consumption)
• - finance has the potential property of being a catalyst for economic processes, which follows from the distribution function.

Distribution begins in the sphere of material production. This area includes 3 stages, where the production stage is decisive.

• a) the sphere of material production thus influences the nature and scale of production;
• b) the sphere of circulation, it is represented by trade. It is characterized by buying and selling processes. The consumer properties of a product do not change, but its cost does. The product is sold, the company receives revenue. Then this revenue is distributed to compensation, accumulation, and consumption funds. Financial relations precede and complete the buying and selling process.
• c) the sphere of consumption, where they distinguish:
  • - commercial organizations;
  • - budget organizations

Currently you can find organizations mixed type, where commercial structures allocate money for budgetary organizations.

There are possibilities for using finance that arise from the economic nature of finance. Since this is a distribution category, society uses it for its own purposes. The conscious use of finance in the interests of society and its individual elements transforms finance from an objective economic category into an economic management tool.

An economic instrument is an economic category embodied in specific forms of manifestation and consciously used by society to achieve specific goals. An economic instrument, including finance, has two principles: the first is objective (arising from the economic category), the second is subjective (an instrument for implementing the state’s economic policy).

Finance influences in two ways:

• - quantitatively (characterized by the proportions of the distribution process);
• - qualitatively (characterized by the impact of finance on the material interests of business entities).

The quantitative side of influence is characterized by proportions in the distribution process. Qualitative influence characterizes the impact of finance on the material interests of business entities, through various shapes organization of financial relations.

An economic incentive is an instrument that is linked to the material interests of business entities. The conscious use of finance in social production leads to results that demonstrate the active role of finance in social production under market conditions. A general approach to assessing the results achieved with the help of finance allows us to consider the role of finance in 3 directions:

• - from the position of providing the needs of expanded reproduction with the necessary financial sources;
• - from the point of view of using finance to regulate the cost structure;
• - from the position of using finance as an economic incentive.

Finance is an integral part of monetary relations, but not all monetary relations are financial.

Finance differs from money, both in content and in the functions performed. Money is a universal equivalent, with the help of which, first of all, the labor costs of associated producers are measured, and finance is an economic instrument for the distribution and redistribution of gross domestic product and national income, an instrument for controlling the formation and use of funds of funds.

The reproduction process is a set of continuously repeating cycles.

Thus, the criteria for classifying certain relationships as financial are:

• ? real cash flow, i.e. transfer from one owner to another;
• ? the distributive nature of these relations;
• ? the place of origin is the second stage of the reproductive process.

Finance is an integral part of monetary relations, therefore their role and meaning depend on the place monetary relations occupy in economic relations. However, finance differs from money not only in content, but also in the functions performed, in which its essence is manifested. Functions refer to the “work” that finance does.

No one denies that finance is a set of monetary relations organized by the state, during which the formation and use of funds of funds is carried out. And to the question of what is the source of the formation of numerous funds at different levels, the answer, as a rule, is the same - gross domestic product. The process of GDP distribution can be carried out using financial instruments: norms, rates, tariffs, deductions, etc., established by the state.

If we talk about finance in general, then, apparently, we should assume that it performs two main functions: distribution and control.

The distribution function is that the financial resources of an enterprise are subject to distribution in order to fulfill monetary obligations before the budget, banks, counterparties. Its result is the formation and use of target funds of funds, maintenance effective structure capital.

The distribution function manifests itself in the distribution of national income, when the creation of so-called basic or primary income occurs. Their sum is equal to national income. Basic incomes are formed through the distribution of national income among participants in material production. They are divided into two groups:

• ? wages of workers, office workers, incomes of farmers, peasants employed in the sphere of material production;
• ? income of enterprises in the sphere of material production.

However, primary incomes do not yet form public monetary funds sufficient for the development of priority sectors of the national economy, ensuring the country's defense capability, and satisfying the material and cultural needs of the population. Further distribution or redistribution of national income is necessary, related to:

• - with intersectoral and territorial redistribution of funds in the interests of the most efficient and rational use of income and savings of enterprises and organizations;
• - presence, along with the non-productive sphere, in which national income is not created (education, health care, social insurance and social security, management);
• - redistribution of income between different social groups of the population.

As a result of redistribution, secondary or production income is formed. These include income received in non-productive sectors, taxes (personal income tax, etc.). Secondary incomes serve to form the final proportions of the use of national income.

By actively participating in the distribution and redistribution of national income, finance contributes to the transformation of the proportions that arose during the primary distribution of national income into the proportion of its final use. The income created during such redistribution must ensure correspondence between material and financial resources and, above all, between the size of monetary funds and their structure, on the one hand, and the volume and structure of means of production and consumer goods, on the other.

The redistribution of national income in the Republic of Belarus occurs in the interests of structural restructuring of the national economy and the development of priority sectors of the economy ( Agriculture, transport, energy, conversion of military production), in favor of the least affluent segments of the population (pensioners, students, single and large mothers).

Thus, the redistribution of national income occurs between the production and non-production spheres of the national economy, sectors of material production, individual regions of the country, forms of ownership and social groups of the population.

The ultimate goal of the distribution and redistribution of national income and GDP, accomplished with the help of finance, is to develop the productive forces, create market structures of the economy, strengthen the state, and ensure a high quality of life for the general population. At the same time, the role of finance is subordinated to the tasks of increasing the material interest of workers and teams of enterprises and organizations in improving financial and economic activities, achieving the best results at the lowest cost.

Being an instrument for the formation and use of monetary income and funds, finance objectively reflects the course of the distribution process.

The control function is manifested in control over the distribution of GDP among the relevant funds and their expenditure for their intended purpose.

In the conditions of transition to market relations, financial control is aimed at ensuring financial development public and private production, acceleration of scientific and technological progress, comprehensive improvement in the quality of work in all levels of the national economy. It covers the production and non-production spheres, aims to increase economic stimulation, rational and thrifty use of material, labor, financial resources and natural resources, reduce unproductive expenses and losses, and curb mismanagement and waste. Thanks to the control function of finance, society knows how the proportions develop in the distribution of funds, how timely financial resources are available to different business entities, whether they are used economically and efficiently, etc.

One of the important tasks of financial control is checking strict compliance with legislation on financial issues, timeliness and completeness of fulfillment of financial obligations to the budget system, tax service, banks, as well as mutual obligations of enterprises and organizations for settlements and payments.

The control function of finance is also manifested through the multifaceted activities of financial authorities.

Financial system workers and tax service exercise financial control in the process of financial planning, during the execution of the revenue and expenditure parts of the budget system. In the conditions of development of market relations, directions test work, forms and methods of financial control are changing significantly.

Distribution and control functions are two sides of the same thing economic process. Only in their unity and close interaction can finance manifest itself as a category of value distribution.

The instrument for implementing the control function of finance is financial information. It is contained in the financial indicators available in accounting, statistical and operational reporting. Financial indicators allow you to see various aspects of the work of enterprises and evaluate the results of economic activity. Based on them, measures are taken to eliminate the identified negative aspects.

The control function, objectively inherent in finance, can be implemented with greater or less completeness, which is largely determined by the state of financial discipline in the national economy. Financial discipline is mandatory for all enterprises, organizations, institutions and officials the procedure for conducting financial management, compliance with established norms and rules, and fulfillment of financial obligations.

In addition to the distribution and control functions, finance also performs a regulatory function. This function is associated with government intervention through finance (government spending, taxes, government credit) in the reproduction process.

Some authors do not recognize the distribution function of finance, believing that it does not express their specificity, since the processes of value distribution are served by different economic categories. But supporters of the distribution function do not at all believe that it is generated by the very factors of the functioning of finance at the second stage of the reproduction process, but on the contrary, they associate it with the specific social purposes of finance, emphasizing that no other category operating at the stage of value distribution is so “distributive”, like finance. However, today the regulatory function in the Republic of Belarus is poorly developed.

In market conditions, finance must perform a stabilizing function. Its content is to ensure stable conditions in economic and social relations. Of particular importance in this regard is the question of the stability of financial legislation, since without this it is impossible to implement investment policy in the production sector on the part of private investors. Achieving stabilization is considered by the Government of the Republic of Belarus as a necessary condition for the transition of a market economy to socially oriented economic growth.

Despite the long history of finance as scientific concept, their essence has not been fully revealed. The task of a more complete knowledge of the essence of finance is complicated by the fact that it is deeply hidden behind external forms its manifestations, in which various financial phenomena appear on the surface of public life.

When studying the essence of finance, a correct understanding of fundamental theoretical problems and categories is of paramount importance.

Such scientists and economists as Dyachenko V.P., Aleksandrov A.M., Voznesensky E.A. paid attention to the study of problems of the essence of finance. During Russia's transition to a market economy, such scientists and economists as V.M. Rodionova, L.A. Drobozina, M.V. Romanovsky are studying theoretical problems in the field of finance.

Study and correct understanding of the most important financial categories is complicated by the presence in the financial and economic literature of many different, sometimes opposing points of view on issues of their necessity, essence, content and purpose.

In the theory of finance, one of the problematic issues is the question of the need for finance in general. The study of finance was done very little and superficially. There was a simplified, formal approach to solving this problem. So professors Voznesensky E.A. and Birman A.M. believed that “the main condition for the emergence and functioning of finance is the state.”

Most economists determined the objective necessity of finance by the presence of the state and commodity-money relations without a thorough substantiation of this position in relation to the category of finance. “Outside the state, finance does not exist.”

But this is an overly simplified approach to such a category as finance. Professor Rodionova V.M. believes that the conditionality of part of financial relations by the factor of the existence of the state does not provide grounds for considering its activities as the cause that generates finance. In her opinion, a prerequisite for the functioning of finance is the availability of money, and the reason that gives rise to its appearance can be considered the needs of business entities and the state for resources that support their activities.

However, there is another factor without which finance cannot function. This is social reproduction, with its continuously repeating and interconnected cycles. Currently, almost all economists recognize the need for finance and its important role in the performance of its functions by the state.

However, the question of the essence of finance and the boundaries of its distribution remains unclear.

Some economists considered finance to be the totality of monetary resources or funds at the disposal of the state and enterprises. In the fifties, the understanding of finance as monetary relations ensuring the distribution of the total social product, national income, was established. It continues to this day. monetary finance cost revenue

The transition to a market economy occurs in the context of the functioning of diverse objective value categories and monetary relations that permeate all aspects of life; monetary relations mediate purchase and sale, remuneration of labor, the scope of application of free funds, and various relations with foreign countries.

Here the question arises: are all monetary relations financial or is there some kind of boundary to their distribution?

Economists Aleksandrov A.M., Voznesensky E.A. and others proceeded from the fact that finance and credit, having a monetary form and providing a distribution process in social reproduction, represent a single category of “finance in the broad sense of the word.” Academician Chantlandze understood finance in an even more expanded sense, including banks, commodity prices, stock exchanges, money markets, gold, banknotes, bills, and securities. And in a narrow sense, he classified only budgetary funds as finance.

Most economists believe that finance represents a special area and only part of monetary relations, which have their own specific characteristics. The main features that define the category of finance should be considered:

• ? monetary nature of financial relations;
• ? distributive nature of financial relations;
• ? financial relations are always associated with the formation of monetary funds that take the form of financial resources;
• ? non-equivalence of distribution relations (this distinguishes finance from purchase and sale relations);
• ? irrevocability and freeness (This distinguishes finance from credit).

Based on these signs, we can see that finance arises and functions at the second stage of the reproduction process - at the stage of distribution and redistribution of the value of the social product. It follows from this that the broad interpretation of the essence of finance is questionable. Distribution and exchange are different stages of the reproduction process, which have their own special economic forms of expression. Therefore, it is illogical to classify monetary relations of different natures that arise at different stages of reproduction into the same category - finance. Limiting the place of finance to the distribution and redistribution stage of reproduction introduces strict boundaries for the functioning of finance, but this does not mean that finance limits its action at this stage of reproduction. Finance actively influences all stages of the reproduction process through indirect factors.

One of the controversial issues is the question of qualitative characteristics that determine the specifics of finance as an economic category. The debate is mainly about whether or not to include in the definition of finance such a feature as imperativeness. Moreover, the term “imperativeness” is interpreted by scientists differently: some see in it the active role of the state in organizing financial relations, others see it as the reason that gives rise to the functioning of finance.

If imperativeness is understood as the practical activity of the state aimed at organizing financial relations, developing forms of their manifestation and use, then such use of the term does not raise objections, but does not add anything to the characterization of the essence of finance.

However, in some publications imperativeness is interpreted as an essential feature of financial relations. It is emphasized that when characterizing the category of finance, this feature cannot be avoided, since it is the state that creates new distributive financial relations, and that the direct cause of the emergence and development of finance is the activity of the state and its bodies. Such statements are unjustified, because it is not the activity of the state itself, but the objective needs of social development that give rise to the existence of finance.

The question of the functions of finance is also debatable. Many economists believe that finance performs two functions - distribution and control. Although in the literature one can find statements that finance, in addition to these two functions, also has others: production (different authors call it differently), stimulating, regulating, etc. But at the same time, the question about the functions of finance is replaced by a question about their role in social reproduction, since these are different, although interrelated, questions. Of course, finance plays an important role in social reproduction; with its help, the efficient use of production factors can be stimulated, cost proportions can be regulated, conditions for carrying out an economy regime can be provided, etc. However, it is unlawful to identify these results achieved through the functioning of finance with their functions.

Some authors do not recognize the distribution function of finance, believing that it does not express their specificity, since the processes of value distribution are served by different economic categories. But supporters of the distribution function do not at all believe that it is generated by the very fact of the functioning of finance at the second stage of the reproduction process, but on the contrary, they associate it with a specific public purpose finance, emphasizing that no other category operating at the stage of value distribution is as “distributive” as finance.

Some economists believe that finance has three functions: the formation of funds (income), the use of funds (income) and control. However, the first two, although they actually exist, are more reminiscent of a mechanism for implementing the distribution function than an independent method of operation of the category of finance.

The presence of controversial issues necessitates further development of theoretical problems of the essence and functions of finance. A deeper knowledge of the economic nature of finance and its inherent properties will make it possible to more actively develop ways to better use this category in business practice, and to scientifically substantiate measures aimed at financial recovery economy and improving the system of financial relationships.

LECTURE NOTES

Disciplines

STATE

AND MUNICIPAL FINANCE

Specialty 061000 - State and municipal administration

Compiled by G.V. Morunova

Cand. econ. sciences

Saint Petersburg

Topic 1. Concept, essence and functions of finance

Finance- a certain system of economic relations associated with the formation, distribution and use of centralized and decentralized funds of funds (state, organizations and other economic entities) in order to perform the functions and tasks of the state and local government and ensure conditions for expanded reproduction.

Cash- this is money that is at your complete disposal economic entities and used by them freely, without specific purpose or restrictions. Cash funds- this is a separate part of funds that has a specific purpose and relative independence of functioning. Centralized monetary funds - funds formed and used by the state (budget, special target funds, extra-budgetary funds) represented by its federal, regional and local authorities. Decentralized monetary funds are funds created at the level of business entities and citizens.

The main material source of monetary funds is the country's national income - newly created value.

Finance- an integral part of monetary relations, but not all monetary relations are financial. Money is primary - finance is secondary.

Finance is different from money both in content and in functions performed. Money- this is a universal equivalent, with the help of which the labor costs of producers are primarily measured, and finance- is an economic instrument for the distribution and redistribution of gross domestic product and national income, an instrument for controlling the formation and use of funds.

Finance reflects the relationships of all legal business entities and households associated with the formation and movement of funds.

The criteria for classifying certain relationships as financial are:

1. Real cash flow, i.e. transfer from one owner to another.

2. The distributive nature of these relations (distribution of the value of GDP and income from externally economic activity).

3. Place of origin - the second stage of the reproduction process (production, exchange, consumption).

Thus, through finance:

The cost of goods and services produced is distributed and the formation and use of monetary income, receipts and savings from economic entities: households, organizations and the state occurs, which are used to solve social and economic tasks;

Redistribution of income and savings of previous years is carried out through the budget system (taxes, loans, appropriations, subsidies, pensions) and through the financial market (issue of securities, placement of shares, credits and loans, receipt of dividends, interest, insurance premiums and payments);

The reproductive process as a whole and its individual phases are displayed quantitatively (through indices stock exchanges, farm profitability, budget revenues, state debt, budget deficit, etc.).

Financial relations, expressing the continuous movement of value, circulate at all levels of the world economic system and classified as follows (Fig. 1):

Financial relations

Rice. 1. Classification of financial relations

Examples of financial relationships are relationships between:

Enterprises in the process of purchasing goods, selling products and services;

Enterprises and higher organizations when creating centralized funds of funds and their distribution;

The state and enterprises when they pay taxes to the budget system and finance expenses;

The state and citizens when they make taxes and voluntary payments;

Enterprises, citizens and extra-budgetary funds when making payments and receiving resources;

Separate links of the budget system;

Property and personal insurance, enterprises, population when paying insurance premiums and compensation for damage, upon the occurrence insured event;

Monetary relations mediating the circulation of enterprise funds.

Enterprises and banks (storage own funds enterprises in bank accounts, deposits, short-term and long-term lending);

Banks and the population (deposits of the population in Sberbank and other banks, acquisition of bank certificates, payment by banks to the population of income on deposits, certificates;

The above areas and industries and the shadow economy.

The material basis of financial relations are financial resources- as a set of incomes and receipts at the disposal of a business entity.

The sources of financial resources are:

At the level of business entities: profit, depreciation, sale of securities, Bank loan, interest, dividends on securities issued by other issuers;

At the population level: wages, bonuses, allowances wages, social payments made by the employer, travel expenses; income from business activities, from participation in profits, from transactions with personal property, from credit and financial transactions; social transfers, including pensions, benefits, scholarships; consumer loan;

At the level of the state, local governments: income from state and municipal enterprises, income from the privatization of state and municipal property, income from foreign economic activity, tax revenues, state and municipal credit, issue of money and income from the issue of securities.

Financial resources are intended for:

Fulfilling financial obligations;

Covering the costs of expanded reproduction;

Material incentives for employees.

Generally, financial resources of states but they add up from three sources:

1) funds accumulated in the state budget system;

2) funds from extra-budgetary funds;

3) resources received by the enterprises themselves (profit, depreciation).

Finance functions

There are two main functions finance - distribution and control.

1. Distributive function finance is (Fig. 2):

1) in creating the so-called basic or primary income by distributing national income among participants in material production;

2) in the creation of secondary or derivative income through the redistribution of national income between production and non-production spheres, sectors of material production, regions of the country, forms of ownership and social groups of the population.

Rice. 2. Distribution function of finance

The GDP created in society, minus the means of production consumed in the production process, undergoes primary distribution, the result of which is the formation of incomes of the main participants in the sphere of material production. There is a need to redistribute the created product, which is due to:

The presence, along with the industrial non-productive sphere, in which a material product is not created (education, healthcare, defense, etc.);

Differentiation of incomes of different groups of the population, which is inevitable in a market economy;

Uneven development of individual territories and sectors of the economy.

As a result of redistribution, state revenues are generated; income received in non-production sectors; the population receives additional funds through social payments; territories and enterprises are additional resources for development.

Thus, secondary incomes form the final proportions of the use of national income and play an important role in the balanced development of individual sectors of the economy and territories, ensuring a decent standard of living for the general population.

2. Control function consists of control over the distribution of GDP among the relevant funds and their expenditure for their intended purpose through the regulation of financial information and stimulation of the process of expanded reproduction.

The activities of all participants in financial relations, both at the micro and macro levels, are subject to financial control.

Financial control for private enterprises is associated with control in terms of the completeness and timeliness of tax payments, the correctness of reflecting the costs of production and sales of products, the formation and use of income from business activities. For the public sector, this is control over intended use budget funds, execution of cost estimates. For private individuals, control is associated with the timely and complete payment of taxes on income and property.

Financial control on the part of public authorities is a check of compliance with financial legislation in terms of timeliness and completeness of fulfillment by all business entities and citizens of obligations to the budget system, tax service, credit system, as well as mutual settlements and payments between enterprises and organizations.

Thus, financial control is aimed at increasing the efficiency of using budget funds, economic stimulation of entrepreneurial activity, rational use of the material, natural, labor and financial resources available to society.

In addition to distribution and control functions, finance performs regulatory function, which manifests itself through the influence of the state on economic development(behavior of economic entities, development of individual territories and industries) through financial levers. The main tools that are used are the following:

Taxes that can either reduce or stimulate entrepreneurial activity and private consumption;

Government spending that induces firms or workers to produce certain goods and services, as well as social payments providing a certain level of income to certain segments of the population;

Regulation or control, through the adoption of appropriate laws, of certain types of economic activities, up to the prohibition of some of them;

Establishing price limits for some goods and services (mainly in natural monopoly industries).

In market conditions, finance must also fulfill stabilizing function, which is to ensure stable conditions in economic and social relations for all business entities and citizens. Of particular importance in this regard is the question of the stability of financial legislation, since without this it is impossible to implement investment policy in the production sector on the part of private investors.

Finance functions are carried out:

At all levels of management of the economic system (federal, territorial, local);

In all spheres of social life (material production, sphere of circulation, sphere of consumption);

At all levels economic system(intra-economic - enterprise finance, intra-industry - finance of complexes, inter-industry and inter-territorial - state budget and extra-budgetary funds).

Control questions

1. Define finance and indicate its specific features.

2. What is the object of the distribution function of finance?

3. What is the content of the control function of finance?

4. What is the object of the regulatory function of finance?

5. What is the object of the stabilizing function of finance?

6. What are financial resources?

7. List the sources and types of financial resources of business entities and state and local authorities.

8. What is the material basis of the monetary funds of the state and local self-government bodies?

Topic 16. Finance and financial system

16.1. The essence and functions of finance

16.2. Financial system, its elements and their relationship

Finance is a historical category, as it has stages of emergence and development. They appeared simultaneously with the emergence of the state and changed with it. Therefore, the essence of finance, the patterns of its development, its scope and role in the process of social reproduction are determined by the nature and functions of the state.

The essence of finance is manifested in its functions , by which we mean the “work” performed by finance. Finance performs three main functions: distribution, stimulation and control.

Distribution function of finance. The distribution of national income consists of creating the so-called basic, or primary, income. Their sum is equal to national income. Basic income is formed through the distribution of national income between participants in material production. However, the distribution of national income is not limited only to the distribution between those who created it, that is, among participants in material production, but also to the non-productive sphere, where national income is not created. Such areas and areas include the development of priority sectors of the national economy, ensuring the country's defense capability, education, healthcare, management, social insurance and social security, maintaining depressed regions, etc.

Control function of finance. The control function is to control the distribution of gross domestic product and national income among the relevant funds and their expenditure for their intended purpose. The control function of finance is carried out through the multifaceted activities of financial authorities. Employees of the financial system, treasury and tax service exercise financial control in the process of financial planning, in the execution of the revenue and expenditure parts of the budget.

Stimulating function of finance. The essence of this function of finance is that the state, with the help of a whole system of financial levers, can influence the development of enterprises and entire industries in the direction desired by society. Financial levers are: b budget, prices, tariffs, taxes, export-import duties.

2. Financial system, its elements and their relationship

The financial system is a collection various fields or links of financial relations, each of which is characterized by features in the formation and use of funds, a different role, and social reproduction.

The existing differences are both functional purpose the indicated subsystems, as well as the methods and methods of formation and use of financial resources make it expedient to identify separate systems of financial relations: finance of organizations (business entities), public finance (state and municipal finance), household (population) finances.

The state budget is the main link of the entire financial system. The state budget is a centralized cash income states.

In addition to the state budget, extra-budgetary funds are formed and used in any economy. Off-budget funds- these are the means federal government and local authorities related to financing expenses not included in the budget. The formation of extra-budgetary funds is carried out through mandatory targeted contributions, which for an ordinary taxpayer (enterprise, individual) are no different from taxes. Extra-budgetary funds are separated from budgets and have a certain independence.

An important element of national finance is state credit - this is a set of economic relations that develop between the state, on the one hand, and legal and individuals- on the other hand, regarding the formation, distribution and use of a special centralized fund of funds on the terms of urgency, repayment, payment in order to carry out the main functions of the participants in these relations.

Insurance funds provide compensation for losses incurred from natural Disasters and accidents, and also contribute to their prevention.

Among the links in the financial and credit system, the stock market has a significant place, which is a special type of financial relations arising as a result of the purchase and sale of special financial assets- valuable papers. The main task stock market- ensuring the process of capital flow in the industry with high level income.

The second subsystem of the Russian financial system is enterprise finance.

Enterprise finance is part of the financial system, its link and characterizes monetary relations associated with the formation, distribution and use of monetary resources to fulfill their obligations to the state, other enterprises and firms, employees, etc.

In the general structure of financial relations, this part of the financial system occupies a decisive, or key, position, because it is real sector economy. Here material wealth is created, goods are produced and services are provided.