Financial Research Institute

About the Institute  

The Financial Research Institute (FRI) was founded in 1937 pursuant to Decree No. 60/945 of 27 May 1936 issued by the Council of People's Commissars and the Central Executive Committee. The number of research areas where the FRI staff did their research grew in late 1956 as per a Decree issued by the Council of Ministers of the USSR. The FRI turned into one of the leading research centers where the topical financial and economic issues were examined and best practices elaborated by various financial institutions and banks were identified. Many renowned Soviet and Russian economists who had worked in the FRI made a large contribution into the development of the theory of finance, currency exchange and the national financial system improvement.

Today the FRI is an integral part of the Budget and Treasury Academy of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation. 
The FRI mission is to develop further the financial theory, and to develop the recommendations to be used by the decision-makers in order to address the pressing issues related to the financial backing of the country sustainable social and economic development.

The Research in the FRI
 
The following fields are in focus of the FRI fundamental and applied research:

Finance, money, credit, loan business, insurance business, financial markets, the RF and international currency policies, financial forecast-making, main financial indicators that mark the national social and economic development, the methodology of the consolidated financial statement formation, financial plan-making, federal budget formation, formation of the regional and local budgets, state-owned independent investment funds that finance the national-level programs, and other budget process issues; the methodology of financial management, budget planning, budget execution through the treasury, accounting and audit practices, financial monitoring and supervision, business operations’ efficiency level identification and the automation of the financial system operation.

The FRI encourages researchers’ contributions to further development of innovations and is open to their suggestions. The Institute management is looking forward to cooperating with various financial institutions and governmental institutions on the domestic and international level using the principle of mutual profit.  

The FRI staff choice of the research fields depends on the financial theory development trends and is influenced by the orders made by the staff of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation. The researchers support the Ministry staff in their operations in the field of the state financial policy development, and development of rules and regulations in such areas as fiscal operations, taxation, insurance business, banking, official debt coverage, auditing, bookkeeping, accounting, customs duty payments, and the civil services’ financial support. The FRI staff supports the Ministry staff in coordinating the efforts made by and in supervising the operations of the Federal Tax Service, Federal Insurance Supervision Service, Federal Financial and Budget Supervision Service, and the Federal Treasury of the Russian Federation.
 
The main goals and objectives the FRI staff has are the following:
•    To further develop the financial theory by doing the fundamental and applied research and participating in pilot projects;
•    To address the topical financial and currency system-related issues in order to ensure the sustainable social and economic development in the country and to develop the recommendations to be used by the decision-makers in order to address the issues related to the fiscal policy, tax policy, monetary policy and in order to improve the financial system to make the production volume grow and improve the standards of living and lift the welfare level;
•    To develop the theory of financial management, financial forecast-making, financial planning, currency and financial regulations, financial market formation and development, federal budget formation, formation of the regional and local budgets, budget execution, consolidated budget, efficiency of the budget process, the theory of state-owned independent investment funds that finance the national-level programs  and the theory of innovations-based development of the Russian national financial system;
•    To develop the methodology and recommendations to be used in accounting and audit practices improvement, financial statement-related regulations improvement, fiscal control practices improvement and business operational practices improvement in line with the internationally accepted accounting principles and standards;
•    To look into internationally accepted principles in finance and currency relations, observe the new trends in the world financial system development, budget formation, taxation, monetary, insurance and loan system development;
•    To develop the methodology to be used for the automation of the financial system operation  and for the system efficiency examination;
•    To do the research into the history of development of the Russian and foreign financial systems;
•    To develop the recommendations to be used to improve the public finance-related legislation, federal laws on taxation, banking legislation, financial market-related  regulations,  currency policies, insurance business regulations, accounting rules, financial reporting regulations, fiscal control-related laws and other rules and regulations that are in place in the field of finance;
•    To develop the recommendations, to make forecasts and develop the operational scenarios and short-term and medium-term national social and economic development programs, consolidated draft budgets,  make target investment program descriptions on various levels that are funded from the state budget and private foundations, and make innovations-based national industry and community support program descriptions;
•    To be engaged in developing the financial innovations and render assistance to the RF Ministry of Finance and other executive bodies on various level in their use of the research findings;
•    To be engaged in the joint research programs developed in cooperation with the international research institutions and individual scholars;
•    To write monographs, prepare collections of scientific papers for publication, write articles for publication in the press, become authors\co-authors of manuals, reference books, methodology user’s guides, surveys and other materials;
•    To participate in the work of the international financial institutions, including the International Institute for Public Finance (IIPF);
•    To host and take part in the national and international conferences, congresses, symposia,  and scientific seminars on topical financial and economic issues;
•    To contribute to the financial theory-related knowledge distribution in order to improve the financial literacy skills of the public and to share the best practices elaborated by the sector practitioners with the public on the domestic and international level.