The budget process is the activity of state and regional bodies in the formation and execution of the budget and reporting on it. Budget activities are regulated by law. As a procedural phenomenon, the budget process is divided into several stages and in time is approximately 3.5 years relative to the budget duration calculated for 1 year. The length of time during which the budget process takes place is called the budget cycle in economic science.
Traditionally, the concept and principles of the budget process, its content are determined by many factors, the main of which are the form of the state-territorial structure of the country, the laws governing budget activities and the system of bodies that have budget powers and exercise them. The system of bodies in question is determined and established also by the legislation of the country.
To ensure effective budget execution, ease of use in its formation, the principles of the budget process are applied - the most significant provisions that establish and regulate the basic procedures of the budget process. Based on the federal principle of building a state, the principles of organizing the budget process are formulated, first of all, on the basis of these conditions. Here are the most important of them.
The principle of unity and completeness provides that the current principles of the budget process, the budget process itself, operate on the territory of the Russian Federation and in all federal subjects. This principle allows you to build a budget system so that it combines budgetary resources throughout the country and has organizational integrity and unification. The distribution of budget funds is carried out in accordance with the norms of budget procedural law. It also establishes the amount of budgetary resources spent for each subject of the federation.
The reality principle presupposes that the planning of the necessary expenses and revenues laid down in the budget is carried out taking into account the really necessary time for its preparation in all regions. At the same time, all sources of replenishment of the budget should be clarified and taken into account, as well as the real possibilities of these entities to ensure budget revenues in the required volume should be investigated. The principle of reality establishes that the authorized bodies are obliged to disclose all reserves, which can be considered as budgetary resources, to determine an adequate amount of amounts that can be directed to the social development of the state as a whole and the region in particular.
The principles of the budget process openness and publicity suggest that any activity within it is open, covered in the media, subject to public discussion. The federal budget is formed by a comprehensive discussion of its parameters in all competent bodies - committees and commissions of representative authorities at all levels. The final decision on the approval of a budget of one level or another is made by the representative body of this region in accordance with federal law. All these data should be made public, including if the budget is not approved, and this information should contain an indication of the reasons for its rejection.
As the principles of the budget process envisage, including the one under consideration, the establishment of just such a period is determined both economically and politically, because it provides the ability to monitor trends in the development of the state.
The economic significance of this and other principles consists in the possibility of more fully taking into account the dynamics of the occurring phenomena in the world economy and politics, the impact of the technological process, the growth trends in labor productivity and national income.