Diagnosis of the Level of Financial Decentralization of Local Budgets on the Basis of Integral Evaluation

Abstract

The process of implementing socio-economic change at the local level is closely linked to administrative reform and financial decentralization as important tools for regulating and allocating budget funds. Problems of reforming the administrative-territorial system, the formation of budgetary policy of the regions with the expansion of powers should be based on the development of regional strategies and a comprehensive analysis of financial resources. Approaches to the economic analysis of the efficiency of the allocation of financial resources in the context of decentralization reform are becoming increasingly important. The analysis of individual indicators somewhat narrows the perception of economic processes and does not allow to assess the level of provision of funds of administrative-territorial units by areas and in general. The issues of improving the methods and tools for assessing the financial resources of local budgets in the context of decentralization are becoming important. The article proposes improved approaches to the analysis of the level of financial decentralization of local budgets on the basis of aggregate indicators by areas. The technique allows analyzing the state of resource-functional components over time. The application of integrated assessment contributes to the objective characterization of the level of financial security of the regions, the revision and development of economic opportunities in the context of limited resources of local budgets. The proposed approach contributes to the formation of an objective description of the level of financial security of the region, and hence the financial opportunities for self-development. The methodology reveals the state of resource-functional components, the dynamics of deviations of integral values, allows monitoring of quantitative benchmarks to achieve the desired level of financial stability of regions and allows focusing on objective reasons for real financial decentralization in Ukraine. The results of the analysis focus on the assessment of regional development trends in the context of financial decentralization and form the need for further research in this direction.