The budget process is represented by the activities of all government bodies, regulated by regulatory documents. These bodies are responsible for the timely preparation, detailed review and approval of the necessary budgets of the country, as well as the monitoring of their implementation.
One of the components of the budget adoption process is the corresponding regulation, represented by a partial redistribution of public finances between budgets of all levels. The duration of this process is called the "budget period".
The budget process uses a concept such as a fiscal year. It is equal to the calendar and lasts from early January to late December.
The stages of the budget process are regulated by the Budget Code of the Russian Federation and are contained in the very definition of the concept above, namely:
- preparation of a draft budget document, the preliminary stage of which is the direct forecasting of economic indicators for the next year, and based on the results obtained, the development of relevant plans;
- consideration of the draft by the representative authority, the timing and procedure for consideration of this document are set for a specific year;
- budget approval is carried out in the fourth reading;
- budget execution consists in monitoring the timeliness of replenishing its revenue, as well as financing planned expenses in the period from January to December of each year;
- approval of the budget execution report.
For a more complete characterization of the process, it is necessary to consider its stage in more detail.
So, the first stage - budgeting is the initial stage, within which state bodies determine the amount of budgetary funds, the monetary and tax policy of the state for the next year, the main directions of covering the budget deficit and the redistribution of expenditure between the structural components of the system.
The next stage is the consideration of the budget, which is carried out six months before its approval by law. At this stage, the government, financial and banking authorities are actively involved in the discussion process. Usually this procedure takes place in several readings, according to the results of which all contentious issues are agreed. The result of this stage is a legislative document adopted by law that stipulates the country's income and expenses for the coming year.
The budget process also includes such a stage as execution. This stage is quite complex, and includes the participation of a huge number of ministries, departments and organizations.
Participants in the budget process are also stipulated by the Budget Code of the Russian Federation. These include the President of the Russian Federation, state bodies of the monetary system, bodies of all levels of state power, municipal and state financial control, the main administrators of budget funds, as well as other bodies to which tax and other powers are assigned by relevant legislation and regulatory acts of the Russian Federation.
The budget process should be based on the principles of completeness of coverage and unity of budget revenues and expenditures, budget reality, publicity and publicity of its adoption, annuality of this process, its independence and specialization of budget indicators. Only when these principles are observed, the state can create a budget in which public funds would be used sparingly and with maximum return for the state.