Scholarly record

ON THE STAGES OF CARRYING OUT OF FORENSIC AUDIT OF EXPENSES OF COMMUTER RAIL SERVICE COMPANIES IN RUSSIA

M. Motolianetc, I. Kurochkina, L. Mamatova, T. Novikova

Abstract

Commuter rail transport in Russia plays a leading socio-economic role. Passenger traffic by rail in some regions reaches 90%. Practically there is no alternative to this type of transport in many regions. Commuter rail transport is in demand among citizens who have the right for preferential travel, as well as among people with low incomes. Regional authorities determine the cost of travel for such society groups below the actual cost, and the loss of income of the carrier is compensated by providing subsidies from the budget. These commitments are not always met fully. The main reason is the disputes between the financial authorities of the regions and commuter rail transit services on the economic justification of expenses that form the tariff. Interested parties apply to arbitration courts for the involvement of legal experts to conduct forensic audit. National standards for forensic audit procedure are absent in the Russian Federation. The results of legal proceedings regarding the reimbursement of “lost income” of commuter rail transit services show a low level of claim satisfaction due to the provision of poor-quality evidence base. As a result, it becomes necessary to develop a methodology for forensic audit of the expenses of commuter rail transit services. The purpose of the study is to form a modern approach to identifying the main stages of conducting a forensic audit of the expenses of commuter rail transit services and assessing the completeness of the evidence base presented in the expert opinion. Authors proposed to conduct a forensic audit of the expenses of commuter rail transit services in three stages: plan, expert research and the conclusion of an expert-auditor. This makes possible to structure the process of the audit and form an objective and evidentiary professional judgment of the expert auditor. Such an approach takes into account the civil procedural specifics of forensic audit activities, the IAS’s logic for conducting an audit, and the assessment of expert opinion based on the proposed evidence base and leads to improvements in accuracy, transparency, objectivity and timeliness of this examination, which determines the relevance of the study.

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