Державний фінансовий аудит: сутність, наукові підходи до визначення

The article is devoted to clarifying the concept of state financial audit based on the assessment of existing scientific approaches and its regulatory and legal support. The purpose of writing the article is to deepen theoretical approaches to the category of «state financial audit» and to highlight specific features of such an audit in order to clarify the conceptual apparatus in the field of control activities. The authors substantiate that the introduction and development of state financial audit of budget funds took place on the basis of the implementation of the experience of control activities of foreign countries, taking into account the national characteristics of the implementation of control and audit practice, which had a positive effect on the modernization of public finances. It is noted that despite the significant number of developed regulatory legal acts on the introduction of state financial audit into the activities of public authorities, its substantive load is debatable: it is interpreted as a form; type; method of state financial control. As a result of the study, four conceptual approaches to state financial audit were identified: functional; formal; process and target, which made it possible to adopt a formal approach and clarify state financial audit as a form of state control activities aimed at assessing the legality, efficiency, economy and effectiveness of the use of state resources, establishing and assessing factors that hinder this, and developing substantiated proposals for the purpose of targeted and effective use of budget funds in the future. The highlighted features of the state financial audit are as follows: 1) its application is based on the principles of legality, targeted use, efficiency and effectiveness of the use of budget funds; 2) its action extends to all levels of the budget system; 3) the scope of its control powers includes the correctness of accounting and the reliability of financial reporting; 4) the organization of such an audit is also aimed at assessing the existing state of internal audit in budgetary institutions and, accordingly, the state of internal control, which distinguishes it from other existing forms of control activity. The prospects for further scientific research should be associated with the formation of a unified system of state financial control in Ukraine and determining the place of state financial audit in the formed system.