From a dialogue with the Chairman of the Accounting Chamber of the RF Sergey Stepashin

Konstantin Smolentsev Which coordinated actions, in your opinion, the Accounting Chamber has to realize together with other government chambers to increase trust of international business towards the RF, increase investment appeal of the country in the long-term?

Sergey Stepashin What does favorable investment climate consist of? First of all it is defined by simple, understandable, and friendly to business laws, effective government and market institutions, which protect the rights of investors. That, among other things, requires strict control over the implementation of government obligations within government-private projects and simultaneously – reasonable level of control over operators of such projects, using budget money and government resources or preferences. The Accounting Chamber has long been fighting for decrease of control pressure on business. For that, it is necessary to create a united system of financial control, clearly differentiate the powers of external and internal, that is departmental control. This system should be based on uniform criteria for evaluating the effectiveness of budget expenditures, government policies and programs. No less importance have such benchmarks as the quality of state and municipal government, quality of market institutions. The Accounting Chamber is planning to increase in its share of audit the qualitative assessments, including analysis of the views of entrepreneurs as consumers of public services, and business leaders, who are a subject to state regulations. Regulations should support economic growth and development of competition, not corrupt business, decreasing business activity.

Ъ-Online, 04/20/2010