Audit and oversight in ensuring the effective use of budget funds

Анотація

This article examines the theoretical and practical aspects of auditing and control in the context of ensuring the effective use of budget funds amid the reform of Ukraine’s public finance system and the tightening of requirements for transparency, accountability, and performance of government agencies. It is argued that effective state financial control is one of the key instruments for ensuring the state’s financial stability, the rational use of budget resources, and improving the quality of public administration. The role of performance auditing in the budget control system is defined, and its significance for evaluating the effectiveness of budget programs and state financial policy is revealed. The aim of the study is to summarize theoretical approaches to the organization of public financial control, analyze the current state of budget fund audits in Ukraine, and develop practical recommendations for improving the effectiveness of the public audit system. The research methodsare based on a combination of general scientific and specialized methods, including analysis and synthesis, comparison, systematization, generalization, structural-functional analysis, and logical modeling.  The research was based on scholarly works by domestic and foreign scholars, the INTOSAI and ISSAI international auditing standards, Ukrainian laws and regulations in the field of public financial control, as well as materials from the Accounting Chamber of Ukraine. As a result of the study, the economic meaning of the concepts of “audit” and “control” in the budgetary sphere has been clarified, the main types of public audit have been systematized, and their functional characteristics have been identified. It has been established that performance audit is the most promising tool for assessing the effectiveness of budget funds, as it is based on the principles of economy, efficiency, and effectiveness. The current institutional structure of state financial control in Ukraine has been analyzed, and key problems in its functioning have been identified, including: insufficient independence of certain control bodies, limited application of a risk-based approach, inadequate coordination between external and internal audit entities, low implementation of audit recommendations, and insufficient digitization of control procedures. The findings indicate the advisability of expanding performance audit practices, implementing modern digital technologies for monitoring budgetary operations, utilizing big data analytics, and adopting a risk-based approach to planning control measures. It has been demonstrated that improving the effectiveness of public financial control requires comprehensive improvements to the regulatory framework, strengthening the institutional independence of audit bodies, developing the professional competencies of auditors, and increasing accountability for failure to implement audit recommendations. The practical significance of the results lies in the possibility of using the proposed approaches to improve the system of public financial control, increase the efficiency of budget resource utilization, and develop public accountability mechanisms in Ukraine. Prospects for further research are linked to the development of sector-specific performance audit methodologies, the implementation of artificial intelligence tools in public sector auditing, and the evaluation of the effectiveness of budget programs in the context of the digital transformation of the public sector.