Transparent budgets as a prerequisite for effective control of public finances in the conditions of decentralization processes in Ukraine

Abstract

Introduction. The implementation of the decentralization reform in Ukraine led to an increase in public interest in the indicators laid down in the budgets of territorial communities and the results of their execution. Problem Statement. Availability and openness of information about budgets as a prerequisite for effective control over public finances of territorial communities. Purpose. Analysis of legal acts that establish requirements for disclosure of information about local budgets, providing recommendations for ensuring compliance in practice with the principle of publicity and transparency of the budget process as an important prerequisite for effective control over public finances. Methods. General scientific methods are used, namely: description, comparison, monographic, theoretical generalization. Results. The legal documents regulating the implementation of the principle of publicity and transparency of the budget process in Ukraine are analyzed, the contradictory and ambiguous norms contained in such documents are outlined, the mistakes made by the authorized persons of local councils when disclosing information about budgets are emphasized, the possibilities that provided by the state web portal Open budget, methods of raising the state of awareness of interested persons on issues of budget formation and execution are substantiated. Conclusions. Part of the public data on issues of formation and execution of budgets of territorial communities still remains inaccessible to information users. Increasing the transparency of budgets with the creation of opportunities for full-fledged control of public funds will become possible under the condition of legislative consolidation of norms on the obligation of managers to publish information on budget and financial reporting on the execution of local budgets within the terms and according to the forms approved by the current orders of the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine, disclosure of information on budget expenditures and lending operations, grouped, among other things, by departmental classification, which will be a prerequisite for researchers to have a holistic view of spending budget funds. Public information about budget indicators on the websites of local councils should be systematized, submitted in formats that allow further processing of the published data with the possibility of simple and unlimited access to them.