The paper addresses development issues of innovative regional systems and related infrastructure. A brief efficiency analysis of investment in innovative programs and projects has been carried out.The impact of investments on the innovation-driven activities, development of the innovative environment and the socio-economic situation in a region has been studied. Examples of the investment impact on the regional innovative development are provided.

The distinguishing feature of the current situation in the Russian agro-industrial complex is the troubling fact that domestic food production is insufficient while all needed resources are available. In this connection such issues as analysis of specific trends and prospects of food security as well as development and improvement of innovation and investment processes in the Russian agricultural sector are becoming especially relevant. These issues are addressed in this article with reference to the study carried out by the authors in 2012-2013. They used such sources as fundamental and applied research works by Russian and foreign specialists in the field of food security and recent publications on innovation and investment activities in the agro-industrial sector. The calculations were performed on the base of data from the Russian Statistical Yearbook. The work builds on systemic analysis methods. The study highlights the urgency of research on food security within the context of stepping up innovation and investment efforts in the agro-industrial complex. It reports data on the state of agricultural science, the dynamics of investment in research and development in this area as well as investigates into the status of material and technical base of agro-industrial complex and the level of investments in its renovation. The authors reveal some existing barriers to effective investment and innovation. They suggest mechanisms for creating conditions to attract investments in the innovation-oriented development of the sector and show that this is an efficient way to increase food self-sufficiency in Russia. The outcomes of the study can be useful for Russian authorities engaged in economic development of the agricultural sector and for analysts devising food security strategies under the conditions of a globalized world economy.

The increase in efficiency of budget spending is one of the major areas in the budgetary policy of the Russian Federation.To achieve this goal a modern budgetaryprocess model which is focused on «result-oriented budgeting in the medium-term budget planning» is being introduced. A key element of this model is an effective system of internal financial control. The paper analyzes the basic legislative and regulatory documents pertaining to public financial control. Particular attention is paid to innovations which are being implemented at full scale in 2014. Practical recommendations on how to organize the process of undisputable writing off budgetary funds used for wrong purposes are provided

The article provides the essence of the definitions «development effectiveness’ and «efficiency of the labor potential» and substantiates the difference between them. It identifies the focus areas for improving the development of labor potential and increasing labor operation efficiency in light of the main features of the information society: widespread ICT, computer and information literacy, highly developed electronics sectors in the economy, protection of information rights of citizens.

The article analyzes the purchasing power of consumers in the Russian IT services market. The consumer confidence index was selected as a quantitative measure. Based on the research findings, factors effecting the consumer confidence index were identified. They include the average credit interest rate which, if increased, weakens the buyers’propensityto consume ITservices,and the per capita moneyincome whose growth encourages consumption.The results obtained on the models match the empirical data of the ITservices market.All the above confirms the significance of applying mathematical tools to the analysis and forecasting.

Being at the interface of the accounting and the valuation methodology fields, the issues of accounting and valuation of corporate investment assets are regulated by financial reporting standards and valuation standards. The practical application of the real estate valuation methodology for drawing up financial reports has certain specifics. Among primary issues that are currently not covered by accounting and reporting standards and the valuation theory the following are addressed in this article: valuation of the incurred costs component as separated from the land price, valuation of leased objects, valuation in case of planned transfer to another assets category. The above issues are analyzed in the paper.The article is a summaryof the practical experience and the analysis of standards application problems carried out by the author in 2008-2012. The article analyzes different approaches to valuation of investment assets and reporting in specific cases, highlights pros and cons of each approach and the effect of a particular approach on performance indicators and conclusions made by users of financial reports. Perhaps the above issues will be partially addressed and solved in new requirements for leasing relations accounting in the IFRS and comments of the International Valuation Standards Committee; however, at present these issues remain open and require the attention of practical experts and the scientific community. The research materials and the presented analysis can be used in the practice of appraisers and specialists of financial departments.

The modern requirements to the risk-oriented internal audit necessitate establishment of an internal audit service integrated into the JSC corporate management structure. The service should focus on the provision of advice, independent and objective warranties aimed at improving the efficiency of the JSC functioning and risk management. The review of scientific and economic literature regarding the issues of formation and development of the internal audit within the Commonwealth of Independent States has shown that the internal audit is currently at the stage of its scientific and practical development. Presently, the internal audit cannot be treated as a fully developed academic field with a well-established theoretical background.This is due to the fact that the development,establishment,methodology and organization of the internal audit are influenced by the developments in theoretical and methodological approaches, formed within generally accepted systems of internal control, auditing and management. These conditions require further study and theoretical justification of the internal audit as a field of theoretical and special knowledge, formed under the influence of practice. The article presents classification of the internal audit principles, and gives their expanded characteristics. The article summarizes the results of the author’s research, conducted between 2008 and 2013. In the paper,a system approach is used along with general research methods and methodological techniques aimed at identifying and providing a scientific rationale for key issues addressed in the paper, namely: analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, abstraction, generalization, comparison and justification. Based on the results of the taxonomic analysis, the author puts forward his own approach according to which the basic principles of the internal audit are classified into the following six groups: ethical principles, methodological principles, professional internal audit principles, organizational principles, internal audit effectiveness principles and audit quality control principles. Using the classification and characteristics of the internal audit principles proposed in the article will, on the one hand, give a theoretical justification of the internal audit. On the other hand, in the process of development of in-house standards, they will allow the head of the internal audit service (IAS) to draw a clear distinction between principles that should form the basis of the IAS functioning.

Optimization models based on linear models are referred to as «rigid» because in the majority of cases they do not provide needed results. Therefore, some authors suggest non-linear «soft» models as a substitute for linear ones since they are supposed to make an optimized system more robust. The rigidity of a model that is set as an optimization task is concerned not so much with linearity or non-linearity of its target function as with the lack of flexible substitution of resources in case of their shortage. Furthermore, the dependence of the management criterion (the target function) on the current resource constraints is reflected in a one-level, i.e. very simplified way. Hence a necessity arises to use integrated criteria of economic management efficiency, which requires a different look at the reflection of dependences between strategic and tactical purposes, on the one hand, and resources, on the other hand. This requirement encourages the search of new optimization methods. The proposed method is based on the expanded «resource» concept, which in turn has made it possible to introduce a concept of interchangeability of resources of various nature. The method is oriented at the use of inverse calculations when calculations are carried out from a known increment of function values towards unknown increments of performance indicators as arguments to reflect the level of reaching prioritized management goals. The paper formulates and substantiates the principles and provides a step-by-step description of an alternative approach to the optimization of management solutions. The first and foremost principle concerns reversing the direction of the search for the extreme value of the target function: the «constraints → target function» direction is changed for that of «target function → constraints». The second principle means replacement of static (rigid) constraints with «soft» ones making it possible to realize the idea of interchangeability of resources. In the situation of increasing shortage of resources, more attention is being paid to methods ensuring their maximum saving, therefore this problem is viewed in the paper as a possible sphere for application of the optimization method described herein.

To ensure reliability of making decisions concerning investments into urban planning projects, it is useful to have a model of the urban real property value, e.g. apartment value. This article proposes an algorithm for estimating the value of an urban real estate object using Pareto ranking and a method of mutual concessions. The article begins with a brief description of the Pareto ranking method. Then parameters to be taken into account in the apartment value model are defined. After that the task solution algorithm is described. The algorithm is implemented in the FORTRAN-90 language. The software developed is used for solving the task of estimating the value of Moscow apartments. The urban apartment valuation is made using information on similar objects. The software outputs an interval estimate of the apartment value.

International production cooperation is becoming a major factor determining the relationship between the Russian economy and the global economy as well as the possibility of the country’s transition to a new technological level. The methods used to carry out the economic study include: observation and collection of facts, analysis and synthesis, abstract-logical method, mathematical modeling. Through building and using the econometric model, the author comes to the conclusion that the development of international economic relations has a positive effect on the growth of the national economy: an increase in imports by 1% results in Russian GDP growth by 1.83% (according to the first model) and 1.26% (according to the second model), while an increase in exports by 1% leads to Russian GDP reduction by 0.06% (as per the first model) and to growth by 0.84% (as per the second model). The article offers the author’s viewpoint on the results obtained from the econometric model, in particular the author finds that development of production cooperation in mechanical engineering (its share in exports is less than 10% while in imports it is 80%) as well as support of export-oriented high-tech enterprises have a clear positive impact on the national economy. The author’s approach to the study of the impact of international cooperation on the development of the national economy has an unquestionable theoretical and practical value. The obtained results correlate with the findings of other researchers [5, 6, 9].

The establishment of a modern state strategic planning system conformant to current realities is a matter of vital importance for Russia. During the transition to market economy in the 1990s the centralized planning system was abandoned, the methodology and technologies of development and implementation of long-and mid-term plans were lost as well. Meanwhile, quite a number of foreign countries based on the Soviet planning experience are widely using government regulation of the economy, particularly centralized forecasting, planning and programming of socio-economic processes, along with market control tools. In the recent decades, usage of indicative planning methods has transformed into application of programming methods in steering the economy. The article analyzes the draft law «Strategic planning in the Russian Federation» ready for the 2nd hearing in the State Duma,which creates a legal frameworkfor emergence of an appropriate planning system in Russia.The analysis reviews objectives targeted by the draft law as well as new planning documents including state programs and the long-term budget strategy introduced to ensure the financial realization of the strategic development goals set by the state. The article focuses on the program management and program budget issues identified during the hearing of the draft federal budget for the 2014-2016. The author considers such an important aspect, spotted during the draft law preparation, as ensuring the draft law consistency with the Budget Code of Russia (including practical ways to maintain this). Issues to be solved by amendments after the draft law is adopted have been formulated.

Nowadays, when the development of information technologies has erased legal borders of countries for the movement of information flows, there arises a problem of providing legislative support of information freedoms of citizens along with streamlining the enforcement practice. In this connection, the legal regulation of electronic mass media, both registered in the law-prescribed manner and unregistered, containing most diverse information on political, social, entertainment or highly specialized issues for the unrestricted public domain, is becoming increasingly important. One of the most significant aspects of research in the field of legal regulation of mass media in the Internet includes the use of a categorical apparatus. The mass media legislation contains definitions of such concepts as media information, mass medium, various types of mass media including printed and electronic (online) media.However,as the practice shows,this categorical apparatus needs to be updated to conform to the current practices of production, distribution and consumption of media information, while the «media information» and «mass media» concepts have become not as closely interlinked as they were at the time the law in question was adopted. The paper analyzes the theoretical legal content of the concepts of «mass medium», «official information», «website», «official site» and a number of others; furthermore, it studies the reflection of the categorical apparatus in the Russian and foreign legislations,gives the theoretical rationale of the need to improve the legal regulation of mass media in the Internet along with recommendations aimed at improving the efficiency of the legal regulation of the area of research, and exposes contradictions in the legal regulation of electronic media.

The main areas in protection of consumers of insurance services are as follows: correct actuarial valuation of insurance liabilities, formation of insurance reserves, devising an investment policy, raising the solvency of insurance organizations, proper information about insurance relations. The paper examines the above-mentioned issues. The present work is the outcome of studies performed with extensive use of basic and applied research works conducted by Russian and foreign specialists. This work is based on statistical data from Italian and Russian insurance markets, regulatory documents, insurance supervision as well as data from Federal State Statistics Service and data from foreign sources. The methods of systemic analysis proved to be an effective tool in investigation. The article explores Italian and Russian experience in the field of protection of consumers of insurance services highlighting those aspects of the Italian experience that can be put into practice on the Russian insurance market. This study may be of interest for participants of the insurance market, especially for the corporate sector and analysts involved in establishing insurance relations aimed to protect the rights and interests of consumers of insurance services.

The article examines historical preconditions that gave rise to disagreements and disputes regarding the intellectual legacy of one of the prominent Russian economists of the early XVIII century Ivan Pososhkov. Essential aspects of mercantilist and non-mercantilist extracts from his Book of Poverty and Wealth («Kniga o skudosti i bogatstve») are revealed and described.Through a retrospective analysis of past and present alternative assessments of Pososhkov’s economic doctrine it is reasoned that the intellectual legacy of the Russian self-taught economist viewed in the theoretical and methodological context cannot be regarded as belonging to the physiocratism or the classical political economy in the whole, including the institutionalism. It is concluded and proved that Pososhkov’s views are mercantilist in their essence.

As is well-known, by 2015 Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus are planning to form the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) on the basis of the already established Customs Union (CU) and Common Economic Space (CES). Therefore, the economic security of the Eurasian integration process has to be studied and analyzed to ensure long-term sustainability and development. Given the economic and financial problems faced by the European Union, this study is becoming particularly relevant. The article substantiates the importance of creating effective mechanisms to enhance the economic stability of the EAEU and its ability to withstand periodic crises arising in the global economy with shrinking intervals. The research findings may be used by both national government authorities of the CU and the EUS and a supernational body - the Eurasian Economic Commission.