The abstract of lectures complies with the requirements of the State Educational Standard of Higher Professional Education. Accessibility and brevity of presentation make it possible to quickly and easily obtain basic knowledge of the subject, prepare and successfully pass the test and exam. The content, functions, socio-economic essence of finance, monetary system Russia, the importance of the budget in the development of the economy and the social sphere, state of the art extrabudgetary redistribution of financial resources, as well as the finances of business entities and much more. For students of economic universities and colleges, as well as those who independently study this subject.
LECTURE #1
Essence and functions of finance
1. The emergence of finance
Finance appeared simultaneously with the emergence of the state-kingdom with the stratification of society into classes. With the disintegration of feudalism and the development in its depths of the capitalist mode of production, monetary incomes and state expenditures began to acquire ever greater significance.
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 public finance, state budget, state credit.
Public finances served as a powerful lever for primitive capital accumulation.
State loans and taxes were widely used to create the first capitalist enterprises. important role in creating initial capital belonged to the system of projectionism, which allowed the first capitalists to set high prices for manufactured industrial products, to receive high profits, which were largely directed to expanding production.
Under the conditions of capitalism, when commodity- monetary relations become all-encompassing, finance expresses economic relations in connection with the formation, distribution and use of funds Money in the process of distribution and redistribution of national income.
The fixed assets of the capitalist states began to be concentrated in the state budget.
The state finances of the capitalist countries are characterized by fast growth spending, which is primarily due to increased militarization of the economy. Military purposes, the repayment of the public debt and interest on it accounted for more than 2/3 of all government spending. Enormous funds were directed to the maintenance of the state apparatus - parliament, ministries, departments, police, prisons, etc. The costs of education and health care were extremely small. Taxes were the main source of income.
By the beginning of the XX century. the state began to participate in the process of production, distribution and use of the social product.
Democratization of public life in the conditions of a developed market economy led to the fact that in a number of small countries Western Europe(Sweden, Norway, etc.) spending on social purposes has become one of the main ones. From this arose the concept of "Swedish model of socialism".
State intervention in the economy has received significant development. It began to actively help its country's monopolies in the fierce competition on the world market by 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 cash funds were created, used to finance agriculture, overcome unemployment, retrain and relocate the workforce, and overcome significant disproportions in the development of individual regions.
New government spending appeared: on environmental protection, overcoming the economic backwardness of certain regions, providing subsidies and loans to developing countries.
Huge expenditures make it necessary to increase taxes - the main financial method of mobilizing resources for state and local budgets.
However, despite the increase in taxes, the accumulated revenues are not enough to cover the ever-increasing costs of the state.
The budgets of all countries are characterized by large chronic deficits covered by government loans, the issuance 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 public life and are necessarily accompanied by the movement of funds (profit distribution, transfer of tax payments, extra-budgetary and charitable payments).
The cash flow itself does not reveal the essence of finance. To comprehend it, it is necessary to identify those common properties that characterize the internal nature of all financial phenomena - the relationship between the various participants in social production.
Finance, expressing the production relations that actually exist in society, which have an objective character and a specific social purpose, act as an economic category.
An important feature of finance is monetary nature. 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, which take a specific form of financial resources, which 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, satisfaction of various needs society.
Potentially, financial resources are formed at the stage of production, when new value and transferring the old one. In reality, the formation of financial resources begins only at the stage of distribution, when the value is realized and specific economic forms of the realized value are singled out as part of the proceeds.
The use of financial resources is carried out mainly through special purpose financial funds.
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, which distinguishes them from other distributive categories.
So, finance is 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 from economic entities and the state and their use for expanded reproduction, material incentives, satisfaction of social and other the needs of society.
3. Functions of finance
The essence of finance is manifested in their functions. Finance performs two main functions: distributive and control. These functions are carried out by finance at the same time. Each financial transaction means the distribution of the social product and national income and control over this distribution.
When there is a creation of the so-called basic or primary incomes, then the distributive function appears. The amount of income is equal to the national income. The main incomes are formed during the distribution of national income among the participants material production. They are divided into two groups:
1) wages of workers, employees, incomes 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 National economy, ensuring the country's defense capability, meeting the material and cultural needs of the population. Further distribution or redistribution of the 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 the national income is not created (education, health care, social insurance and security, management); redistribution of income between different social groups of the population.
As a result of redistribution, secondary, or production, incomes are formed. These include income received in non-manufacturing sectors, taxes ( income tax from individuals, etc.). Secondary incomes serve to form the final proportions of the use of the national income.
The income generated in the course of redistribution must ensure a 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 control function is manifested in control over the distribution of the gross domestic product among the relevant funds and their spending for the intended purpose.
One of the important tasks of financial control is to verify compliance with financial legislation, timely and complete implementation financial obligations before budget system, tax service, banks, as well as mutual obligations of enterprises and organizations for settlements and payments.
The distributive and control functions of finance are realized through the financial mechanism, which is a 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, financial legislation.
Finance, participating in the distribution of value, is closely related and interacts with such categories as price, wages, credit.
In order for the process of formation and distribution of various forms of money income and savings to begin, the value formed in production must be realized. Price is the economic instrument by which the value of a product is expressed in money terms and becomes an object of distribution.
Being a quantitative measure of the value created in production, its monetary expression, the price predetermines the proportions of the future value distribution, but it itself cannot ensure either the distribution among the subjects of ownership, or the functional isolation of different parts of the value. This is singled out at the stage of exchange 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 due to the need to generate income for specific workers. As an economic category, wages express the value relations that arise as a result of the division of the newly created value when creating individual income received by employees depending on the quality and quantity of labor expended.
Finances are at the disposal of business entities and the state and are intended to meet a variety of social needs. But they are closely related: on the one hand, finance contributes to the formation of the wage fund, on the other hand, wages, the accrual of which does not converge with payment in time, acts 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 working capital formation.
Credit also participates in the value distribution. Finance and credit have one economic basis, but unlike finance, the loan 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 of finance with the most important economic categories, it is necessary to attach particular importance to the issues financial management, i.e. the most efficient management of financial resources.
5. Financial management
In economically developed countries the greatest impact on the finances of enterprises have: the internationalization of economic life, the globalization of business operations and the expansion of computer technology.
Computer and telecommunication technologies are dramatically changing the process of making financial decisions. The parent companies are provided with a system of personal computers, integrated local network, with computers vendors and under-rowers. This allows the financial manager to be constantly aware of all the information and make the most rational decisions.
The main tasks of financial management:
1) maximization of real assets and liabilities of enterprises;
2) forecasting the financial side of the activities of enterprises. Business plans are drawn up for the volume of production, sales of products, profits, capital investments, the introduction of new management decisions and financial resources to ensure them;
3) making appropriate decisions when investing large funds (optimal growth rates of sales, the structure of funds raised, methods of their mobilization, etc.);
4) coordination of financial activities of enterprises with other services (bank, tax department, etc.);
5) conducting large-scale operations 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 off-budget funds leads to dispersal of funds, does not allow their mobile use, concentration on priority areas of economic development, weakens control over the spending of public funds. Therefore, it is necessary to pay special attention to 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 performance of state functions.
Financial policy is an independent sphere of state activity in the field of financial relations. It includes three main elements:
1) definition and setting of the main goals and specification of further and immediate tasks that need to be solved in order to achieve the goals set for a certain period;
2) development of methods, means and forms of organization of relations in which these goals are achieved in the shortest possible time, and the immediate and long-term tasks are solved in an optimal way;
3) selection and placement of personnel capable of solving the assigned tasks, organizing their implementation. Financial policy is assessed by how it meets the interests of society and how it contributes to the achievement of goals and the solution of specific problems.
To determine and form a financial policy, reliable information about the financial position of the state, its financial potential, i.e., the objective capabilities of the state, is necessary.
During the period of evolutionary development of social life and stable state structure internal and external financial policy of the state decide one main task- ensuring the preservation and strengthening of the system of social relations existing in this state. During the period of revolutionary changes, political forces pursue a policy aimed at destroying the existing and forming a new system of social relations.
The role of financial policy at critical moments of life can hardly be overestimated, since, first of all, there is a radical redistribution of financial resources.
The primary challenges facing the modern financial policy Russian state, - the fight against inflation, overcoming the decline in production, increasing the social security of the population.
1. ESSENCE OF FINANCE
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 denoted any cash payment. In the future, 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 subjects, 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 nationwide fund of funds was formed - the budget (hence, we can say that these relations were of a stock nature); fourthly, the regular flow of funds to the budget could not be ensured without giving taxes, fees and other payments of a state-compulsory nature, which was achieved through the legal rule-making activities of the state, the creation of an appropriate fiscal apparatus.
These are the main features of finance. According to them, it is unmistakably possible to single out finance from the totality of monetary relations. For example, monetary relations that arise between citizens and retail trade (even under the conditions of state regulation of retail prices) cannot be attributed to finance, since the state here regulates monetary relations using the civil law method, for which feature is the equality of subjects (the equality of their rights and obligations), united by these relations.
Thus, finance is always a monetary relationship, but not any monetary relationship is always a financial relationship.
Based on the foregoing, we can formulate a general definition of finance.
Finances are economic relations associated with the formation, distribution and use of centralized and decentralized funds of funds in order to perform the functions and tasks of the state and ensure conditions for expanded reproduction.
Finance as a scientific concept is usually associated with those processes that appear on the surface of public 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 on-farm purposes at enterprises, or the transfer of tax payments to state budget revenues, or the contribution of funds to off-budget or charitable funds - in all these and similar financial transactions cash flow occurs.
Being very conspicuous, cash flow in itself does not reveal the essence of finance. To comprehend it, it is necessary to identify those common properties that characterize the internal nature of all financial phenomena - they are united by the underlying relations between the various participants in social production, or social relations. By nature, these relations are production (economic), 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 areas. social activities. At the same time, homogeneous economic relations that characterize one of the aspects of social life, being presented in a generalized abstract form, form an economic category. Finance, expressing the production relations that actually exist in society, which have an objective character and a specific social purpose, act as an economic category.
The financial system includes three main links: public finance, household finance and enterprise finance. Of these three links, the finances of enterprises are the main one, because the first two links are formed on their basis.
Public finances consist of two main elements: the state budget and off-budget funds.
The state budget is the annual plan of income and expenditure of the state, it is money that allows the state to carry out economic and social functions(and more recently political). The state budget consists of the government budget and local budgets(region, city, district, village council). Therefore, the approval of state budgets for the next year is always stormy. Governments are trying to infringe on the rights of the regions, and the latter are trying to leave more funds at their disposal.
Extrabudgetary funds represent those funds that are accumulated outside the state budget system and have a strictly designated purpose: a pension fund, a social insurance fund, etc.
The budget consists of two parts: revenue and expenditure. In countries with developed market economies, 80-90% of the budget revenue is formed from taxes on enterprises and the population.
The rest comes from the use of state property, outwardly economic activity. The structure of the expenditure part of the budget includes expenditures on social and cultural needs (health care, education, social benefits, etc.), expenditures on the development of the national economy, on defense, public administration.
In a socially oriented economy, taxation is based on the principles of obligation to pay, social justice and links with the receipt of benefits.
Thus, financial relations cover two areas:
A) economic monetary relations associated with the formation and use of monetary funds accumulated in the state budget system and government off-budget funds;
B) economic monetary relations that mediate the circulation of decentralized monetary funds of enterprises.
The monetary nature of financial relations is an important feature of finance. Money is a prerequisite for the existence of finance. There is no money - there can be no finance, because the latter are public form, due to the existence of the former.
In this regard, it is unlawful to attribute to finance not only monetary, but also natural relationships. 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 a disordered monetary circulation does not at all prove the natural nature of financial relationships. They say something else - the functioning of finance is possible only under certain conditions, the absence of which immediately narrows the boundaries of this category.
The emergence of financial relations always makes itself felt by real cash flow. The absence of such movement at the stages of production and consumption of the reproductive process indicates that they are not the place where finance originated.
The real movement of funds occurs at the second from the third stage 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 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 (transfer 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 a commodity form, i.e. purchases and sales are made. There is no alienation of value itself here; it only changes its form - from monetary to commodity.
At the third stage of the reproduction process, exchange operations that are constantly performed are served by two categories: firstly, money as a universal equivalent, and secondly, price. No other public instrument is required here. Therefore, there is no place for finance in exchange.
The area of origin and functioning of finance is the second stage of the reproduction process, where 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.
The distribution and redistribution of value with the help of finance is necessarily accompanied by the movement of funds, which take 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, satisfaction of social and other needs of society. Financial resources act as material carriers of financial relations. The fact that financial resources belong to 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.
The use of financial resources is carried out mainly through special-purpose funds, although a non-fund form of their use is also possible. Financial funds are an important part common system monetary funds, functioning in the national economy. The stock form of the use of financial resources is objectively predetermined by the needs of expanded reproduction and has some advantages over the non-stock form: it allows you to more closely link people's needs with the economic capabilities of society; ensures the concentration of resources in the main directions of development of social production; makes it possible to more fully link social, collective and personal interests and thus more actively influence production.
The most important feature of finance is that financial relations are always associated with the formation of cash income and savings, which take the form of financial resources.
2. FUNCTIONS OF FINANCE.
Finance is an integral part of monetary relations, therefore their role and significance 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 their essence is manifested. Functions refers to the “work” that finances perform.
No one denies that finance is a set of monetary relations organized by the state, in the process of 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 - the gross domestic product. The process of distributing GDP 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, it should be considered that they perform two main functions: distributive and control. That part of finance that functions in the sphere of material production and participates in the process of creating cash income and savings, performs not only distribution and control, but also the function of generating cash income (regulating).
With the help of finance, the state distributes the social product not only in kind-monetary form, but also in value. In this regard, it becomes possible and necessary to control the provision of cost and natural-material proportions in the process of expanded production.
Actively participating in the distribution and redistribution of national income, finance contributes to the transformation of the proportions that have arisen during the initial distribution of national income into the proportion of its use. The ultimate goal of the distribution and redistribution of national income and gross domestic product, carried out with the help of finance, is to develop productive forces, create market structures for the economy, strengthen the state, and ensure a high quality of life for the general population.
The control function of finance is closely connected with the distributive one - it is, first of all, control over the ruble in the process of objectively existing monetary relations. It permeates the entire system of relations associated with both the movement of value and the change in forms of value, and represents value control through the form of ownership. Since finance expresses relationships that arise on the basis of real cash flow, then the control of the ruble as a function of finance is only the control of real money turnover.
Finance exercises control at all stages of the creation, distribution and use of the social product and national income. Their control function is manifested in all its diversity. economic activity enterprises. The ruble is controlled by production and non-production costs, the correspondence of these costs to income, the formation and use of fixed assets and working capital. It operates at all stages of the circulation of funds, in financing and lending, cashless payments, in relations with the budget and other links. financial system.
The object of the control function of finance is the financial performance of enterprises, organizations, institutions.
One of the important tasks of financial control is to verify the exact observance of legislation on financial matters, the timeliness and completeness of the fulfillment of financial obligations to the budget system, the tax service, banks, as well as the mutual obligations of enterprises and organizations for settlements and payments.
The regulatory function is associated with state intervention through finances (government spending, taxes, loans) in the reproduction process. In order to regulate the economy and social relations, financial and budget planning are also used, state regulation market valuable papers.
Although finance is in the basic category, it largely depends on government policies.
3. INTERCONNECTIVITY OF FINANCE
Finance, participating in the distribution and redistribution of the gross social product and national income, interacts with other cost (monetary) categories of distribution - price, credit, wages, insurance. These monetary categories also participate in the distribution process, as well as in other stages of the reproduction cycle. However, the extent and forms of their participation are not the same. Each of these categories occupies its own special place in the system of distribution and other reproduction relations, participating in the methods and methods inherent only to it in a single process of distribution of the social product and national income.
The price acts as the initial category of value distribution, mediating the transition of the product of labor from the natural-material form to the monetary form, and its movement from one owner to another on the basis of acts of sale. In the process of distribution, price deviations from the value determined by the socially necessary expenditure of labor may occur, as a result of which some producers realize more value, while others realize less. In this case, finance enters the redistributive process with its own methods: they withdraw part of the value (for example, with the help of excises, taxes on exports or imports, customs duties) or transfer the lost part of the value through subventions (grants), budgetary or sectoral financing. It should be borne in mind that the deviation of prices from value can be deliberately set by the state when pursuing a price policy (regulated prices, socially low prices, prices determined by high demand - monopoly prices). In market conditions, free prices, formed by the demand and supply of goods and services, prevail.
However, the action of the price does not cause the direct formation of funds, it acts as an instrument of commodity production and circulation. The act of exchange is both a sale (for the one) and a purchase (for the other). In case of non-equivalent sale of goods, the share of “m” decreases or increases, and in case of non-equivalent purchase, the volume and proportion of “c” and “v” of the new product change. The price affects the size and structure of the compensation fund, and hence the profit.
With the help of finance, the distribution process initiated by the price is corrected, taking into account the conditions for the movement of value, set by economic plans and proportions. If with the help of prices the proceeds from the sale of products are formed as a whole, then the financial distribution splits this proceeds into trust funds of funds intended for further use. Thus, financial distribution methods are more flexible, they provide greater targeting in this process. The degree of breadth of distribution is different: if the price distributes only a part of the value in the form of its deviation from socially necessary costs or the deviation of the latter from individual costs, then finance redistributes the entire value of the product.
A special role is played by the price in determining the amount of depreciation. The gap between the original and current prices of the means of production causes
significant fluctuations in the depreciation fund. The price distortion of value embedded in production (based on non-equivalent purchases) is enhanced by non-equivalent sales and causes an increase in redistributive relations at the stages of distribution and consumption.
Finance is closely related to wages. The wage fund (wage fund) in the sphere of material production is separated from the proceeds from the sale of products with the help of finance. This fund can be formed depending on the volume of products produced. In the case of using the category of income in economic practice, the wage fund is formed in closer connection with the achieved financial results. Gross income* as the difference between the income from the sale of products and the cost includes savings on costs and is therefore characterized as a complex financial concept, which unites in monetary terms all the efforts of the economic agency in terms of quantitative and qualitative results of activities. There is also a price factor here: in the case of the sale of high-quality products and savings material costs, and the relative savings in the use of fixed capital, acting in the form of a decrease in the share of depreciation charges attributable to a larger quantitative volume of production, increase profit or income.
Outwardly, it seems that the price factor is not directly involved in determining the wage fund. But through the distribution of net income, its influence is obvious. AT market system the influence of the price on the wage bill increases even more.
In the non-production sphere, the relationship between finance and wages is especially clear, since the wage fund for workers in this area is formed largely from budget funds and is determined by the financial possibilities of the respective budget.
In all cases, wages, as an economic category, determine the conformity of the share of each worker in the created product, that is, the boundaries of the participation of workers in the distribution,
and finances form the wage fund or wage fund.
It uses wages at the stage of consumption, that is, by paying for goods and services. At the same time, a certain part of it is mobilized by financial methods in the form of taxes paid by the population, insurance premiums: by the credit method - in the form of deposits in banks, government bonds; by acquiring shares and other securities, holding lotteries.
At the same time, the spheres of action and motives for the action of the categories under consideration differ significantly. The effect of finance is wider than wages, since finances distribute the entire social product, while wages only distribute the necessary product and part of the surplus. Remuneration of labor is associated with the action of one of them critical factors production - the labor force, serves as a means of compensating for the expended labor, and finance, in addition, with the means of production, through their direct formation. Remuneration of labor stimulates the growth of its productivity, and finance affects all social production, activating its development through the system of the financial mechanism.
The interaction of finance with credit is manifested very closely. As in finance, in credit relations, monetary funds, called loan funds, are formed and used for the purposes of long-term and short-term lending to business entities, the population, and the state.
Both categories are designed to create conditions for a normal, uninterrupted circulation of funds in the public economy. The objects of the complex impact of these categories in the sphere of material production are production assets (capital). Finance and credit are the sources of formation of capital investments and working capital. Financial methods, as a rule, satisfy the constant needs of economic agencies in cash, credit - temporary needs. In the future, the role of credit resources as a source of capital investments will increase.
The expansion of credit methods creates additional incentives for a more efficient use of financial resources, puts their spending under the constant control of banks, which increases the self-supporting responsibility of economic entities for the results of production and financial activities. Non-refundable funding should be reduced.
The relationship between finance and credit is clearly seen in the processes of formation of financial and credit resources, where the action of both categories is mutually directed: with the help of finance, credit resources of banks are formed - funds of economic agencies, depreciation, part of the proceeds from the sale of products to replenish working capital, which is not immediately directed to the acquisition material resources and other means. With the help of a loan, financial resources are formed: loans replenish the financial resources of economic agencies - until the moment of repayment; bank payments to the budget from income based on the results of their activities and in a number of other cases; possible budget borrowings from banks to finance government spending.
Thus, a certain interchangeability of both categories is traced in meeting the needs of expanded reproduction.
However, there are certain differences between the categories under consideration. If finance distributes and redistributes the social product, then credit participates only in redistribution, continuing the distribution begun by finance. The object of the loan is only that part of the cost that is currently temporarily free, which allows it to be accumulated in the loan fund to meet the needs of economic agencies and the population in need of funds.
A significant difference is the method of using the accumulated funds: financing involves the direction of funds in a gratuitous and indefinite manner, and lending - on the terms of repayment, urgency, payment; the most important principle of credit is the material security of loans issued.
Finance is closely related to the settlement system, since their functioning is based on mutual settlements between individual business entities. Calculations are not an economic category, they are a tool for implementing the mentioned categories. In this case, the function of money as a means of circulation and a means of payment is used. The timely execution of financial transactions, the formation of trust funds, and the unhindered advancement of financial resources in the necessary areas depend on the clarity and smoothness of calculations.
Settlements of economic entities in the sphere of material production for manufactured products, goods and services precede the action of finance and contribute to the subsequent implementation of financial relations. Specific indicators characterizing the state of settlements in the sphere of material production are accounts receivable and accounts payable. The level of this debt affects financial condition economic agencies and depends on the state of contractual discipline, the solvency of consumers. Status of settlements in national economy currently unsatisfactory: the amounts of non-payments on mutual settlements between business entities and overdue debts on bank loans are increasing, wages. Failure to comply with contractual obligations is a factor of financial instability and leads to unproductive costs and loss of funds in the form of fines. This is a direct deduction from income and ultimately from the wage fund. Cash settlements are an important link in the implementation of commercial calculation and self-financing. Their normal functioning is an indispensable condition for the reproduction process and the operation of cost economic categories - price, finance, credit, wages.
4. THE ROLE OF FINANCE AT THE PRESENT STAGE OF RK.
At present, the shortcomings of the financial policy, which constrain the economic and social development our country. These include: the dogmatic (non-creative) nature of the financial policy, its inability to quickly respond to the changing conditions of the development of our state, to find the necessary ways to solve pressing problems; lack of strategic conceptual developments; carrying out partial unreasonable tactical measures focused on momentary gain; separation of financial policy from the actual state of affairs in the national economy; violation of the most important requirement of proper financial management - to live within one's means; residual approach in determining the financial basis for meeting the social needs of citizens.
The purpose of the concept of financial policy, developed in modern conditions, is to achieve a higher standard of living for the people on the basis of the development of the economy, the all-round increase in the efficiency of social production. The social orientation of the financial strategy is manifested not only in finding opportunities to increase financial resources allocated to improve the welfare of the people, but also in a fundamentally new approach to the main goal economic policy. The standard of living now acts as a quantity that determines the development of production, the direction and structure of the use of financial resources.
Of great importance for economic recovery and expansion on this basis of the country's financial capabilities is the attraction foreign investment. They can be carried out in various forms. World experience proves the enormous effectiveness of foreign direct investment.
Satisfaction of certain needs is provided only subject to the availability of financial resources. This means that the financial policy is developed and carried out taking into account real financial possibilities. Expenses can only grow if financial resources increase. At the same time, the focus is shifting from subsidizing consumption to financing production. All economic and financial policy measures are aimed at enabling the population to increase their income, on the one hand, and creating favorable conditions for the development of entrepreneurial activity, on the other.
In accordance with the cardinal changes in financial policy, the financial mechanism is being rebuilt. The purpose of restructuring the financial mechanism is to increase its impact on the efficiency of social production through the development of market relations, to ensure an increase in the efficiency of the use of financial resources. The restructuring of the financial mechanism is based on fundamentally new approaches to the organization of financial relationships in the national economy, which ensure the comprehensive development of economic initiative and the responsibility of enterprises, organizations, and regions of the country for the final results of work.
In a market economy, there is no need to use special financial methods to increase the interest of enterprises in the best use of production factors, to strictly regulate them. financial activities. Market competition forces enterprises to constantly take care of production efficiency, improve the quality of financial planning, and deepen internal financial control over the use of financial resources. At the same time, the importance of financial regulation of market relations by the state is increasing. It is carried out by taxing the profits of enterprises (through changes in rates, tax breaks, differentiation of objects of taxation), introduction of additional taxes (for example, tax on export and import, tax on other income, VAT), taxation of income of workers, financing of targeted programs. The system of financial sanctions for violation of economic contracts, quality
parameters of manufactured products, for non-compliance with the requirements for environmental protection, sanitary norms and rules. The state strengthens sanctions for untimely and incomplete fulfillment of financial obligations to the budget and extra-budgetary funds, concealment of profits and other objects of taxation. The auditing financial control.
In order to improve social services for the population, a new economic mechanism in institutions and organizations of the social sphere. Financing of their needs from the budget is carried out on the basis of long-term stable standards, determined on the basis of social spending per inhabitant or other indicators. Institutions of the social sphere have been granted the right to provide paid services, engage in economic activities, and independently dispose of the income received.
Fundamental changes have been made to the mechanism of public finance. The formation of state budget revenues has been transferred to a tax basis; fundamentally changed the structure of budget expenditures and the system budget financing. The system of off-budget funds has become widespread.
The development of market relations, the improvement of management methods have led to positive results in the field of organization and management of property and personal insurance: cooperative insurance is developing, joint-stock insurance companies are emerging; new types of insurance are introduced; the ratio between compulsory and voluntary forms of insurance is changing. Improvement of the insurance mechanism is aimed at providing quality services to policyholders and increasing the efficiency of the insurance business.
CONCLUSION.
As shown, the role of finance in the effective operation of the state economy is enormous. The role of the state in the full functioning of finance and the financial system is great. The study and disclosure of the essence of finance allows you to know where and for what the taxes withdrawn from enterprises and citizens are used, what are the causes and consequences of the budget deficit and how to overcome them, why do we need stock exchanges, whether unprofitable enterprises should be subsidized or it is worth carrying out bankruptcy proceedings. It should continue to study the essence of finance and their interaction with other segments of the economy.
The presence of controversial issues necessitates further development of theoretical problems of the essence of finance. A deeper knowledge of the economic nature of finance, their inherent properties will allow us to actively develop ways to better use this category in business practice, scientifically substantiate measures aimed at financial recovery of the economy and improvement of financial relationships in our country.
The clear functioning of the financial system of the state depends on understanding the essence of finance. The coherence of the work of all its links and subsystems. In addition, a good knowledge of the financial sphere of activity is necessary for our country because it is currently experiencing a deep economic and financial crisis. Without a well-functioning financial system, it is impossible to improve the economy and develop internal and external financial ties. It is necessary to improve the financial system for its more accurate functioning.
It is important to emphasize here that the problems of financial recovery are now worrying literally everyone. After all, what is currently happening in the financial sector is closely related to the personal well-being of everyone. The amount of profit and taxes, contributions to social insurance and pensions, the price of shares and bonds, forms of investment in production and the social sphere, etc. - such issues are being discussed today not only in government circles; they deeply concern each of us.
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 cash are formed and used.
The system of formation and use of funds of monetary resources involved in ensuring the process of reproduction constitutes the finances of society. And the totality of economic relations that arise 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 is carried out, a kind of exchange of substances between the economic cells of a 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. So, 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 the exchange, or distribution and redistribution in the monetary value of the gross domestic product (GDP), and in certain conditions of development and national wealth" .
Lavrushin in his study guide"Money. Credit. Banks” gives the following definition of finance “Finance is monetary relations that arise in the process of distribution and redistribution of the value of the gross social product and part of national wealth in connection with the formation of cash income and savings from business entities and the state and their use for expanded reproduction, material incentives for workers , satisfaction of social and other needs of the society” .
AT explanatory dictionary IN AND. Dahl, you can find such a definition of finance - it is "everything that relates to the income and expenditure 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 "Finance" the following interpretation is given: "Finance is the science of how people manage the spending 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, which is held by a number of scientists D.A. Allahverdyan, V.M. Rodionova, N.G. Sychev, L.A. Drobozina, N.V. Garetovsky and others that "the essential feature and basis of the concept of finance lies in the distribution of the total social product and national income" . In addition to such a 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 a part of the value of the total social product” . E.A. Voznesensky, V.N. Garetovsky, N.E. Zayats considered "net income and its connection with the processes of distribution and redistribution" as an object of finance 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 cash income, the function of using funds, 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 denoted any cash payment. In the future, 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 subjects, 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 course of these relations, a nationwide fund of funds was formed - the budget (hence, we can say that these relations were of a stock nature); fourthly, the regular flow of funds to the budget could not be ensured without giving taxes, fees and other payments of a state-compulsory nature, which was achieved through the legal rule-making activities of the state, the creation of an appropriate fiscal apparatus.
The following prerequisites for finance are distinguished:
First premise. AT Central Europe as a result of the first bourgeois revolutions, although monarchical regimes were preserved, the power of the monarchs was significantly curtailed, and, most importantly, the head of state (monarch) was torn away from the treasury. A nationwide fund of funds arose - a budget that the head of state could not single-handedly dispose of.
Second premise. The formation and use of the budget has become systemic, i.e. systems emerged government revenue and expenses with a certain composition, structure and legislative consolidation.
Third premise. Taxes in cash have acquired a predominant character, while earlier state revenues were formed mainly at the expense of 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, refer finance to the legal, i.e. superstructure category. But the point is that legal act only fixes the content of objectively existing economic relations, proving that finance, first of all, is an economic category (and belongs to the basis) and only then - a legal category, i.e. the state, according to the apt expression of the economist E.A. Voznesensky, "dresses" financial relations in a legal form, gives them the appropriate state-power form while maintaining their objectively economic nature"
However, the role of the state cannot be reduced. The state actively influences finances depending on the political structure, main tasks, current conditions and other reasons. Through its financial policy, the state can influence the economy, exerting both positive and negative influence on it.
Since, undoubtedly, finance is a historical category (they have stages of emergence), two main stages in the development of finance can be distinguished.
Initially, it was an undeveloped form of finance, when the bulk of the money (2/3) was spent on military purposes, and finance had practically no effect on the economy. Another characteristic feature of this period was the narrowness of the financial system, since it consisted of one link - the budgetary one, and the number of financial relations was limited. All of them were connected with the formation and use of the budget.
With the development of commodity-money relations, there was a need for new nationwide funds of funds and, accordingly, new groups of monetary relations regarding their formation and use.
At present, regardless of the political structure and the level of the economic structure of a state, finance has entered a new stage of its development. This is due to the multi-link financial systems, a high degree impact on the economy, a wide variety of financial relationships.
Along with traditional state finances, local finances, extra-budgetary special government funds, and finances of state enterprises have received significant development. 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 public 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 intra-economic funds 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 these and similar financial transactions, there is a movement of funds.
Being very conspicuous, 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 take place, we can see what they have in common - the underlying relations between the various participants in social production, or social relations. By nature, these relations are production (economic), 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 life, being presented in a generalized abstract form, form an economic category. Finance, expressing the production relations that actually exist in society, which have an objective character and a specific social purpose, act as an economic category.
The peculiarity of the relations 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 sign of finance. Money is a prerequisite for the existence of finance. If there is no money, there can be no finance either, since the latter is the social form conditioned by the existence of the former.
In this regard, it is unlawful to attribute to finance not only monetary, but also natural relationships. The existence of duties in kind in the era of feudalism, the collection of tribute by the slave-owning state from its citizens and conquered peoples, the naturalization of social relations under conditions of disordered monetary circulation does not at all prove the natural nature of financial relationships. They say something else - the functioning of finance is possible only under certain conditions, the absence of which immediately narrows the boundaries 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? is it the universal equivalent by which the labor costs of associated producers are primarily measured, and finances? this is economic instrument distribution and redistribution of the gross domestic product and national income, an instrument of control over the formation and use of funds of funds.
Each subsequent cycle of reproduction is possible only after the newly created value undergoes distribution, as a result of which target funds will be created, which are the basis for satisfying various needs, and this happens in an impersonal form. The real cash flow occurs in the second and third stages of the reproduction process. But only at the second stage, the movement of value occurs 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 real cash flow. The absence of such movement at the stages of production and consumption of the reproductive process indicates that they are not the place where finance originated.
The real movement of funds occurs at the second from the third stage 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 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 (transfer 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 a commodity form, i.e. purchases and sales are made. 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 unilateral (without a counter equivalent) movement of the monetary form of value; on the third - bilateral (counter) movement of values, one of which is in monetary form, and the other in commodity.
At the third stage of the reproduction process, exchange operations that are constantly performed are served by two categories: firstly, by money as a universal equivalent, and secondly, by price. No other public instrument is required here. Therefore, there is no place for finance in exchange.
The area of origin and functioning of finance is the second stage of the reproduction process, where 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 sufficient for a complete characterization of finance. The variety of distribution relations leads to the fact that at the second stage of the reproduction process there are various economic categories: finance, credit, wages, price. Finance differs significantly from other categories that operate at the stage of cost distribution.
The primary sphere for the 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 various forms of cash income and savings are formed. Isolation as part of the proceeds from the sale of products of profit, social insurance contributions, depreciation, etc. carried out with the help of finance and reflects the process of distribution of value in accordance with the intended purpose of each of its parts. 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 of the economy (in the branches of material production and the non-productive sphere) and at different levels of management.
The distribution and redistribution of value with the help of finance is necessarily accompanied by the movement of funds, which take 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, satisfaction of social and other needs of society. Financial resources act as material carriers of financial relations. The fact that financial resources belong to 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 stage of production, when new value is created and the old one is transferred. But precisely potentially, since the worker produces not financial, but products of labor in commodity form. The real formation of financial resources begins only at the stage of distribution, when the value is realized and specific economic forms of the realized value are singled out as part of the proceeds.
The use of financial resources is carried out mainly through special-purpose funds, although a non-stock form of their use is also possible. Financial funds are an important component of the general system of monetary funds functioning in the national economy. The fund form of the use of financial resources is objectively predetermined by the needs of expanded reproduction and has some advantages over the non-fund form: it allows you to more closely link people's needs with the economic capabilities of society; ensures the concentration of resources in the main directions of development of social production; makes it possible to more fully link social, collective and personal interests and thus more actively influence production.
Consideration of financial resources as material carriers of financial relations makes it possible to single out finance from the total set of categories involved in the cost distribution. None of them, except for finance, is characterized by such a material carrier. Hence, an important specific feature of finance, which distinguishes them from other distributive 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 the financial relations of any socio-economic formations, wherever they function. At the same time, the forms and methods by which financial resources are formed and used have changed depending on the change in the social nature of society.
The study of the economic essence of finance, the identification of specific features of this category allows us to give the following definition.
Finance is monetary relations that arise in the process of distribution and redistribution of the value of the gross social product and part of national wealth in connection with the formation of cash income and savings from 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 transient nature of finance.
Finances can affect all stages of reproduction and the process as a whole. The objective prerequisites for influence are related to two circumstances:
Distribution begins in the sphere of material production. This area includes 3 stages, where the production stage is decisive.
Currently, you can find organizations of a mixed type, where commercial structures allocate money for budget organizations.
There are opportunities for the use of finance that arise from the economic nature of finance. Since this is a distributive category, society uses it for its own purposes. The conscious use of finance in the interests of society and its individual elements turns finance from an objective economic category into an economic tool for managing.
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 (following from the economic category), the second is subjective (an instrument for implementing the state's economic policy).
Finance has two effects:
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 forms of organization of financial relations.
An economic incentive is a tool that is linked to the material interests of business entities. The conscious use of finance in social production leads to results in which the active role of finance in social production in market conditions is manifested. General Approach to assess the results achieved with the help of finance, allows us to consider the role of finance in 3 directions:
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 the universal equivalent by 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 process of reproduction is a set of continuously repeating cycles.
Thus, the criterion for classifying certain relations as financial ones are:
Finance is an integral part of monetary relations, therefore their role and significance depend on what place monetary relations occupy in economic relations. However, finance differs from money not only in content, but also in the functions performed, in which their essence is manifested. Functions refers to the “work” that finances perform.
No one denies that finance is a set of monetary relations organized by the state, in the course of 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 - the gross domestic product. It is possible to carry out the process of distributing GDP with the help of financial instruments: norms, rates, tariffs, deductions, etc., established by the state.
If we talk about finance in general, then, apparently, it should be considered that they perform two main functions: distributive and control.
The distributive function is that the financial resources of the enterprise are subject to distribution in order to fulfill monetary obligations to the budget, banks, counterparties. Its result is the formation and use of targeted funds of funds, maintaining an effective capital structure.
The distribution function is manifested in the distribution of national income, when the so-called basic or primary incomes are created. Their sum is equal to the national income. The main incomes are formed during the distribution of national income among the participants in material production. They are divided into two groups:
However, primary incomes do not yet form public 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 necessary, related to:
As a result of redistribution, secondary, or production incomes are formed. These include income received in non-manufacturing sectors, taxes (personal income tax, etc.). Secondary incomes serve to form the final proportions of the use of the national income.
Actively participating in the distribution and redistribution of national income, finance contributes to the transformation of the proportions that have arisen during the initial distribution of national income into the proportion of its final use. The income generated in the course of such a redistribution must ensure a 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 the national income in the Republic of Belarus takes place in the interests of the restructuring of the national economy, the development of priority sectors of the economy ( Agriculture, transport, energy, conversion of military production), in favor of the poorest segments of the population (pensioners, students, single mothers and large families).
Thus, the redistribution of national income takes place between the production and non-production spheres of the national economy, branches 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, carried out with the help of finance, is to develop productive forces, create market structures for 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 employees and collectives of enterprises and organizations in improving financial and economic activities, achieving the best results at the lowest cost.
Being a tool for the formation and use of cash 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 spending for the intended purpose.
In the conditions of transition to market relations, financial control is aimed at ensuring the financial development of public and private production, accelerating scientific and technological progress, and improving the quality of work in all sectors of the national economy. It covers the production and non-production spheres, is aimed at increasing economic incentives, rational and economical spending of material, labor, financial resources and natural resources, reducing unproductive costs and losses, and curbing mismanagement and waste. Thanks to the control function of finance, society knows how the proportions in the distribution of funds are formed, how timely financial resources are at the disposal of different business entities, whether they are used economically and efficiently, etc.
One of the important tasks of financial control is to verify the exact observance of legislation on financial matters, the timeliness and completeness of the fulfillment of financial obligations to the budget system, the tax service, banks, as well as the 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.
Employees of the financial system and tax service carry out financial control in the process of financial planning, in the execution of the revenue and expenditure parts of the budget system. In the context of the development of market relations, the directions control work, forms and methods of financial control are changing significantly.
Distributive and control functions are two sides of the same economic process. Only in their unity and close interaction can finance manifest itself as a category of value distribution.
Financial information acts as a tool for implementing the control function of finance. It is concluded in the financial indicators available in the accounting, statistical and operational reporting. Financial indicators allow you to see the various aspects of the work of enterprises and evaluate the results of economic activity. On their basis, measures are taken to eliminate the identified negative aspects.
The control function, objectively inherent in finance, can be realized to a greater or lesser extent, which is largely determined by the state of financial discipline in the national economy. Financial discipline is a mandatory procedure for all enterprises, organizations, institutions and officials to conduct a financial economy, comply with established norms and rules, and fulfill financial obligations.
In addition to the distributive and control functions, finance also performs a regulatory function. This function is associated with government intervention through finances (government spending, taxes, government loan) in the process of reproduction.
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 the conditions of market relations, finance should perform a stabilization function. Its content is to ensure stable conditions for all economic entities and citizens in economic and social relations. Of particular importance in this case is the issue of the stability of financial legislation, since without this it is impossible to implement an investment policy in the production sector on the part of private investors. The achievement of 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 the existence of finance as a scientific concept, their essence has not been fully disclosed. The task of a more complete knowledge of the essence of finance is complicated by the fact that it is deeply hidden behind the external forms of its manifestation, in which various financial phenomena appear on the surface of public life.
When studying the essence of finance, the correct understanding of fundamental theoretical problems and categories is of paramount importance.
Such scientists and economists as Dyachenko V.P., Alexandrov A.M., Voznesensky E.A. paid attention to the study of the problems of the essence of finance. During the transition of Russia to a market economy, such scientists and economists as Rodionova V.M., Drobozina L.A., Romanovsky M.V. are engaged in research on theoretical problems in the field of finance.
The study and correct understanding of the most important financial categories is hampered by the presence in the financial and economic literature of many different, sometimes opposing points of view on the 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 solid justification of this provision in relation to the category of finance. "Finance does not exist outside the state".
But this is too simplistic an approach to such a category as finance. Professor Rodionova V.M. considers that the conditionality of part of financial relations by the factor of the existence of the state does not give grounds for considering its activity 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 their appearance can be considered the needs of business entities and the state in resources that ensure their activities.
However, there is another factor without which finance cannot function. This is social reproduction, with its continuously repeating and interconnected cycles. At present, almost all economists recognize the need for finance and their important role in the performance of the state of its functions.
However, the question of the essence of finance and the boundaries of their 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 was established, ensuring the distribution of the total social product, the national income. It persists to our time. cash finance cost revenue
The transition to a market economy takes place in the conditions of the functioning of diverse objective cost categories and monetary relations that permeate all aspects of life, monetary relations mediate the sale and purchase, wages, the scope of free cash, various relations with foreign countries.
Here the question arises - are all monetary relations finance or do they exist, some kind of border of their distribution?
Economists Alexandrov A.M., Voznesensky E.A. and others proceeded from the fact that finance and credit, having a monetary form and providing a distributive process in social reproduction, represent a single category "finance in the broadest sense of the word." Academician Chantlandze understood finance in an even broader sense, including banks, commodity prices, stock exchanges, money markets, gold, banknotes, bills, securities. And in a narrow sense, he attributed only budgetary funds to finance.
The majority of economists, however, believe that finance is a special area and only a part of monetary relations that have their own specific characteristics. The main features that determine the category of finance should be considered:
Based on these signs, one 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 attribute monetary relations of different nature, arising at different stages of reproduction, to the same category - finance. Limiting the place of finance to the distributive and redistributive 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. Finances actively influence all stages of the reproductive process through indirect factors.
Among the debatable ones is the question of qualitative features that determine the specifics of finance as an economic category. The disputes are 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 in different ways: some see it as an active role of the state in organizing financial relations, others as a reason that generates the functioning of finance.
If by imperative is meant Practical activities state, aimed at organizing financial relations, developing forms of their manifestation and use, then such a 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 dispensed with, since it is the state that creates new distributive financial relations, which is 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 cause the existence of finance.
The question of the functions of finance is also among the debatable ones. Many economists believe that finance performs two functions - distributive and control. Although in the literature one can find statements that, in addition to these two functions, finance also has others: production (different authors call it differently), stimulating, regulating, etc. But at the same time, the question of the functions of finance is replaced by the question of their role in social reproduction, since these are different, albeit interconnected, questions. Of course, finances play an important role in social reproduction; they can be used to stimulate effective use factors of production, cost proportions are regulated, conditions are provided for the implementation of an economy regime, etc. However, it is wrong 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 distributive function do not at all consider 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 the specific social purpose of finance, emphasizing that no other category operating at the stage of value distribution is so "distributive", like 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 really exist, are more reminiscent of a mechanism for implementing a distributive function than an independent mode 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 allow us to actively develop ways to better use this category in business practice, to scientifically substantiate measures aimed at financial recovery of the economy and improving the system of financial relationships.
LECTURE NOTES
Disciplines
STATE
AND MUNICIPAL FINANCE
Specialty 061000 - State and municipal government
Compiled by G.V. Morunova
Cand. economy Sciences
St. Petersburg
Topic 1. The 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 (of the 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- is money that is at your disposal economic entities and used by them freely, without special purpose and restrictions. cash funds- this is a separate part of the funds, having a special purpose and relative independence of functioning. Centralized monetary funds - funds formed and used by the state (budget, special purpose funds, off-budget funds) represented by its federal, regional and local authorities. decentralized monetary funds - funds created at the level of economic entities and citizens.
The main material source of funds is the national income of the country - the 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 terms of content and functionality. Money is the universal equivalent by which, first of all, the labor costs of producers are measured, and finance- it is an economic tool for the distribution and redistribution of gross domestic product and national income, an instrument for controlling the formation and use of funds of funds.
Finance reflects the relationship of all legal business entities and households associated with the formation and movement of cash funds.
The criteria for classifying certain relations as financial are:
1. Real cash flow, i.e. transfer from one owner to another.
2. The distributive nature of these relations (the distribution of the value of GDP and income from foreign economic activity).
3. Place of occurrence - the second stage of the reproductive process (production, exchange, consumption).
In this way, with finance:
The cost of goods and services produced is distributed and the formation and use of cash income, receipts and savings from economic entities: households, organizations and the state, which are used to solve social and economic tasks;
The redistribution of income and savings of past years is carried out through the budget system (taxes, loans, appropriations, subsidies, pensions) and through 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 quantitatively displayed (through indices stock exchanges, profitability of farms, budget revenues, public debt, budget deficit, etc.).
financial relations, expressing the continuous movement of value, circulate at all levels of the global economic system and are 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 acquiring goods, selling products and services;
Enterprises and higher organizations in the creation of 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;
Bodies of property and personal insurance, enterprises, the population in the payment of insurance premiums and compensation for damage, in the event of insured event;
Monetary relations mediating the circulation of funds of enterprises.
Enterprises and banks (keeping own funds of 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, wage supplements, social payments made by the employer, travel expenses; income from entrepreneurial activity, from participation in profits, from operations with personal property, from credit and financial operations; social transfers, including pensions, allowances, scholarships; consumer credit;
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 income, state and municipal credit, issue of money and income from the issue of securities.
Financial resources are intended for:
Fulfillment of financial obligations;
Covering the costs of expanded reproduction;
Financial incentives for employees.
Generally, financial resources of states but add up from three sources:
1) funds accumulated in the state budget system;
2) funds from off-budget funds;
3) resources received by the enterprises themselves (profit, depreciation).
Functions of Finance
There are two main functions finance - distribution and control.
1. Distribution function finance is (Fig. 2):
1) in the creation of the so-called basic or primary income by distributing the national income among the participants in material production;
2) in the creation of secondary or derivative incomes through the redistribution of national income between the production and non-production spheres, branches of material production, regions of the country, forms of ownership and social groups of the population.
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Rice. 2. Distributive 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 for 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 production non-production sphere, in which a material product is not created (education, healthcare, defense, etc.);
Differentiation of incomes of various groups of the population, which is inevitable in a market economy;
The uneven development of individual territories and sectors of the economy.
As a result of redistribution, state revenues are formed; 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 the 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 in controlling the distribution of GDP among the relevant funds and their spending for the intended purpose through the regulation 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 correct reflection of the costs of production and sale of products, the formation and use of income from entrepreneurial activity. For public sector- this is control over the targeted use of budgetary funds, the execution of cost estimates. For individuals, control is associated with the timeliness and completeness of paying taxes on income and property.
Financial control by public authorities is a verification of compliance with financial legislation in terms of the timeliness and completeness of the 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 the use of budgetary funds, economic stimulation of entrepreneurial activity, rational use of material, natural, labor and financial resources at the disposal of society.
In addition to distributive and control functions, finance performs regulatory function, which manifests itself through the influence of the state on economic development(behavior of business entities, development of certain territories and industries) through financial leverage. The main tools that are used for this are the following:
Taxes that can both cut and stimulate entrepreneurial activity and private consumption;
Government spending that induces firms or workers to produce certain goods and services, as well as social payments that provide 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 activity, up to the prohibition of some of them;
Establishment marginal prices for certain goods and services (mainly in the natural monopoly industries).
In the conditions of market relations, finance must also fulfill stabilizing function which is to ensure stable conditions in economic and social relations for all economic entities and citizens. Of particular importance in this case is the issue of the stability of financial legislation, since without this it is impossible to implement an 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 public life (material production, sphere of circulation, sphere of consumption);
At all levels economic system(intra-economic - finances of enterprises, intra-industry - finances of complexes, inter-sectoral and inter-territorial - the state budget and extra-budgetary funds).
1. Define finance, indicate their specific features.
2. What is the object of the distributive 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 LSG bodies?
Topic 16. Finance and financial system
16.1. Essence and functions of finance
16.2. The financial system, its elements and their relationship
Finance is a historical category, since it has stages of origin and development. They appeared simultaneously with the emergence of the state and changed along with it. Therefore, the essence of finance, the laws of their development, the 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 their functions , which is understood as the "work" performed by finance. Finance performs three main functions: distributive, stimulating and control.
Distributive function of finance. The distribution of the national income consists in the creation of the so-called basic or primary incomes. Their sum is equal to the national income. The main incomes are formed during the distribution of national income among the participants in material production. However, the distribution of the national income is not limited only to the distribution among those who created it, that is, among the participants in material production, but also to the non-productive sphere, where the 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, national income for the relevant funds and their spending for the intended purpose. The control function of finance is carried out through the multifaceted activities of financial authorities. Employees of the financial system, the treasury and the tax service exercise financial control in the process of financial planning, in the execution of the revenue and expenditure parts of the budget.
The stimulating function of finance. The essence of this function of finance is that the state, with the help of a whole system of financial leverage, can influence the development of enterprises and entire industries in the direction necessary for 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 areas or links of financial relations, each of which is characterized by features in the formation and use of funds of funds, a different role, social reproduction.
The existing differences in functional purpose of these subsystems, as well as the methods, methods of formation and use of financial resources make it expedient to single out separate systems of financial relations: finances of organizations (economic entities), public finances (state and municipal finances), finances of households (population).
The state budget is the main link of the entire financial system. The state budget is a centralized money income states.
In addition to the state budget, extra-budgetary funds are formed and used in any economy. Off-budget funds are funds from the federal government and local authorities associated with the financing of expenses not included in the budget. The formation of off-budget funds is carried out at the expense of mandatory earmarked 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 national finance is a state loan - it 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 of the financial and credit system, the stock market has a significant place, which is a special type of financial relations arising from the sale and purchase of special financial assets- valuable papers. The main task stock market- ensuring the process of capital overflow in the industry with high level income.
The second subsystem of the Russian financial system is the finances of enterprises.
The finances of enterprises are part of the financial system, its link and characterize the 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 overall structure of financial relations, this part of the financial system occupies a defining, or key, position, because it is the real sector of the economy. This is where wealth is created, goods are produced and services are provided.
