The article discusses the interdependent and interrelated trends in changing the practice of forming and presenting financial reports by Russian commercial organizations. The current changes are described considering the role of domestic accounting rules convergence with international financial reporting standards, the transformation of accounting and analytical functions in organizations’ control systems, the necessity of fair presentation of reporting information to get access to external financing sources as well as special features of industries and ways of running the business and managing its finance. The author concludes that the dynamic changes in the practice of generating financial reports by Russian commercial organizations should allow the interested parties to get the relevant information not only about the historical financial results of a company, but also about its plans, prospects, intentions, problems and ways of solving them.

The article presents a comparative analysis of the performance of the four world largest steel groups. The simultaneous analysis of economic, social and environmental efficiency is made, which can be rarely found in modern scientific papers because of the differences in reporting formats and methodologies for data generation. This is the reason why the analysis was conducted on the basis of certain selected comparable economic (revenues, EBITDA, EBITDA margin), social (number of employees, labour financing, job safety) and environmental (investments in environmental programs, dynamics of atmospheric and water pollution indicators) ratios and indicators, which largely determine the correspondent types of efficiency and were obtained from the most reliable sources such as audited annual and financial reports. To make the combined analysis of the groups’ performance integral strategic performance indicators were calculated. The author draws the conclusion that though certain types of efficiency of companies or groups activities can be at their maximum (for example, economic efficiency which is measured in terms of the EBITDA margin in this study) this does not guarantee the highest level of overall efficiency, which is measured by an integral strategic performance indicator. The maximum overall efficiency is achieved when it becomes possible to ensure a high balanced level of economic, social and environmental performance.

The article analyzes the instruments to improve the solvency of economic entities proposed both by specialists and scientists. This analysis leads the authors to the conclusion that the mistakes in forming the list of these procedures result from ignoring the content of the concept “solvency”, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, from using the improper methods to assess the level of solvency. The authors offer to use the factor of comparability over time of accounts payable and assets allocated to repay the liabilities to creditors as a basic criterion for correctness of the solvency ratio. As a tool to improve the solvency of the entity the authors propose to amend the financial statements by adding the items on maturities of liabilities to the items listing the types of payables, As a second tool the authors propose to use a bank deposit as a mechanism to put together the creditors requirements to guarantee the liabilities repayment and the requirements of the management of an entity to ensure the of financial investments efficiency. The article describes three main conditions of forming the bank deposit: the ability to manage it; a minimum balance requirement, objectivity of the value of a deposit related to its targeting. The procedures of forming a bank deposit are presented for enterprises with different types of cash flows: regular, periodic, one-time.

The specifics of the market relations cause the emergence of enterprise risks which, this way or the other, influence the economic security of economic entities. The economic nature of the category “economic security of an economic entity” represents a combination of the economic and legal conditions which provide steady functioning of enterprise structures in the long run. The essence of economic security comprises the elimination of risks such as the threat of decrease in business efficiency, legal matters, and the expediency of use of labor, financial, production and land resources with the help of lawful and effective methods. Analysis and diagnostics of financial and economic activity of economic entities are one of the main conditions that ensure economic security. The reliability of the results of the analysis and diagnostics of the condition of an enterprise depends generally on the reliability of the information used as the analytical base. It, in turn, is defined by the reliability of accounting system of the organization.

In the framework of designing the universal methodology of rating investment attractiveness of businesses the authors offer a solution to the problem of systematizing the modern approaches to assessing the investment attractiveness into conventional and modern ones. The paper focuses on drawbacks of existing methodology of investment analysis including the lack of strategic targeting in modern tools of rating investment attractiveness of businesses which prevents the management from reacting in timely and due manner to the dynamics of external impact beyond their control. The authors propose to use strategic economic analysis as a prospective method of rating investment attractiveness of businesses. The use of such a method makes it possible to decrease the risk of deviation from the strategic direction of business development providing the manager with a range of ready-made solutions and enhancing the credibility of potential investors.

The article focuses on the main questions of formation of educational programs and training modules to meet the requirements of the newly established or still under development professional standards. The relevance of this issue is associated not only with a direct requirement of the Law “On education” to take the provisions of the professional standards in the account when developing the curricula, but also with the needs of employers in higher school graduates with a certain level of qualification. The labor functions determined in professional standards, as well as the skills and knowledge required for their implementation should be a guide for the description of competences in educational programs which a graduate should acquire. However the practice of the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation indicates that the issues of synchronizing educational and professional standards are quite complicated and time-consuming, and to achieve this goal it may be necessary to restructure the entire system of the educational process. This process can be divided into several stages: determination of the applicable professional standards or their combination; defining the level of competences to acquire which the educational process will be focused upon; formation of knowledge and skills which should be acquired as a result of training.

Correct organization of payment operations ensures the stability of funds turnover of a business entity, the strengthening of payment discipline and the improvement of its financial condition. This article considers variants of measurement of receivables and ways to reduce the negative effects of late payment from customers. Receivables management involves first of all the monitoring of the funds turnover in the payments. The acceleration of turnover dynamics within several periods is seen as a positive trend. The selection of potential buyers and defining the terms of payment for goods provided in contracts play an important role in payment deadlines reduction. The selection is carried through with the help of informal criteria: the compliance with payment discipline in the past, projected financial capabilities of a buyer to pay for the requested volume of goods, the level of the current solvency, level of financial stability, economic and financial conditions of the seller enterprise (overstocking, level of cash availability, etc.). The effect achieved by accelerating the turnover is reflected in the increase of output without the use of additional financial resources. In addition, due to the acceleration of capital turnover there is an increase in the amount of profit. If the production and the sale of products are loss-making, it means that the acceleration of turnover funds will lead to the deterioration of financial results and the capital loss. Thus, we should strive not only for the acceleration of the capital turnover at all stages of circulation, but also for its maximum potential, which is reflected in the increase of profit amount. The increase in the return of capital is achieved by rational use of all the resources, preventing their overspending and losses at all stages of the circulation. As a result, the capital will return to its initial state being a greater amount, i.e. including profits. The efficiency of capital use is characterized by its profitability.

The requirements to the level of professional knowledge and training of accountants have significantly increased recently. The Professional Standard “Accountant” established by the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Russian Federation set the difference between knowledge and skills that bookkeepers, accountants, chief accountants, heads of financial and economic departments should possess. Professional problems of the latter are connected with generating financial statements on the basis of which the interested parties can make economic decisions. This calls for independent formulation and solution of professional tasks what in turn requires the application of innovative knowledge and making professional judgment. The article considers approaches to the solution of problems of the accounting of fixed assets connected with their recognition and choosing an appropriate method of their depreciation. To solve the above problems the authors propose to use innovative knowledge, i.e. the official recommendations of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation, International Financial Reporting Standards in operation in the Russian Federation and the comments and explanations published by professional self-regulating accounting associations. The article concludes that this is the only approach to generating the qualitative reporting which provides a true and fair view on the financial and economic activity of the company and can be useful in making economic decisions.

The need to develop methods of financial planning that meets the goals and objectives of the enterprise in conditions of the market economy is obvious since it is irrational to carry out effective management activities without planning. It is especially interesting to consider the experience of Russian enterprises which have business relationships with the world’s leading corporations where it is indispensable to have high standards of organization of all processes of functioning, including financial planning (budgeting). The aim of the research was to study the problems of implementation and optimization of financial planning with the help of software products. The objectives of the research included the study and analysis of the budgets that are developed with the help of one software product, and the search for meaningful bugs using the other software with the purpose of optimization of the budgeting process. We set this applied research problem in order to solve it during the research of an enterprise. When studying the addressed issues the methods of economic analysis and synthesis were used.

The article considers the main directions and features of economic development of the classical Greek-Roman civilization. Agrarian society was based on the developed agriculture and cattle breeding. The soft Mediterranean climate allowed cultivating grain crops, grapes and olives. One part of the population was involved in the main occupation - craft. Public division of labor promoted the development of an exchange within the states and beyond their borders. Wine, olive oil and ceramics dominated in export. The development of monetary circulation made a subsistence economy morph he slowly into the commodity economy. Unlike east ingots and weight units the antiquity saw a wide spread of the use of silver, copper and, later, gold coins. Greeks and Romans made a noticeable contribution to the theory and practice of the accounting. Outstanding philosophers like Plato and Aristotle wrote about it. The antique society wasn’t socially uniform. It was divided into the poor and the rich, first by origin, and then - according to a property qualification. The fight of the people for their rights was long and rather successful in general. The slavery was an integral part of social life of the classical antiquity. The system of classical slaveholding which developed in Ancient Greece and Rome existed for some centuries. During this period it considerably evolved in the direction of the transformation of a slave into a serf who had the right to have property and a family. These changes led at first to a crisis, and then to the crash of the antique civilization and change of a way of production.