Formulation of the problem. Under market conditions the main prerequisite for the effectiveness of activities in any field is full, accurate and timely information about the expenses, the cost of products, works and services. The scope of training military personnel is not an exception. A study of this issue is characterized by a special relevance in relation to the sources of funding of such services — mainly budget, as well as the revenues from the training of students on a fee basis. Since the budget is taxpayers’ money, their accounting, control and timely assessment of the effectiveness of use, so it requires a clear understanding of the composition, structure, size of expenses, their purpose in all areas of finance, including the preparation of military personnel.
Analysis of recent research and publications. A significant contribution to solving the problems of cost accounting organization made Ukrainian and foreign scientists, namely: V. Shvets, N. Gura, T. Mel’nik, F. Butynets, B. Valuev, A. Voynalovich, S. Ivakhnenko, V. Ivashkevich, N. Kondrakov, A. Kuz’minskii, L. Lovinskaya, L. Napadovskaya, V. Sopko, V. Len’, P. Nimchinov, M. Pushkar, A. Sushkevich, A. Schmiegel, A. Yarugova and many others. Defence of the economy in general and the costs of training for the Armed Forces of Ukraine is engaged by I. Kirilenko. Study of the military education in Ukraine, the composition and structure analysis on the training of officers in higher education costs are devoted to M. Neshchadim, O. Shatalov, N. Barash, T. Kosova, L. Berezovenko. The methodical approach to the evaluation of the cost of training officers offered to representatives of the Russian military science such as A. Salman and A. Kozlov.
Isolation of the unsolved aspects of the problem. Despite the availability of scientific papers, articles and publications devoted to the issues of accounting and cost control, as well as the composition and structure of expenses for officer training, the content of the students at the university, identification of reserves to the effective use of the budget by the budget program of training people for positions of officers individuals are studied enough.
The purpose of the study is to determine the cost structure for training military personnel in Ukraine, as well as in foreign countries using the reference methods and analogies.
Research Methodology. The goal is achieved by the use of induction and deduction methods, analogies, logical and comparative analysis, as well as ordering and theoretical generalization of the material studied. In the process of determining the purpose of the study, the study’s cost structure to the training of military personnel, methods of system approach, analysis and synthesis are used.
Main results. Costs are subject to accounting. The efficiency level of the enterprise operation essentially its competitiveness depend on expenses, therefore the determination of expenses and their accounting is one of the most important accounting tasks.
The term “expense” as the accounting and analytical category implies the use of only those resources that the determination of the financial result for the reporting period are associated with the income obtained (the principle of accrual and matching of revenues and expenses). Like any item of expenditure, the costs of training should be carefully controlled and predictable, and, thus, require accounting and control of specialized services or departments.
Crucial to the effective use of the cost of labor in the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) is the job of training soldiers and workers. Only training, acquisition of the necessary skills and knowledge provide an opportunity to fully master the sophisticated military equipment and qualitatively carry out their duties.
The AFU economics functions according to the same economic laws that the national economy do. However, AFU’s economy has significant features that influence the character of the economic laws among actors of production relations in the armed forces, since we are talking about military personnel [3, p. 8].
Since the training of servicemen is an activity in the service sector, financed from the budget, so the semantic value of expense as an object of accounting has its own characteristics.
Budget institutions of Ukraine plan its spending plan strictly in specific documents – such as estimates, which are prepared by each budget institution and are summarized in the summary estimates of higher manager. Summary estimates each main manager provides to the Ministry of Finance for inclusion in the state budget expenditures for the next fiscal year. Thus, estimates of each budget institution is a part of the State Budget of Ukraine.
When providing intangible services budget institutions bear costs, which are different from the content of the economic costs of business entities.
In the field of educational services in the preparation of military personnel, it should be noted that in the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine (MDU) the training of officers of tactical level is carried out at higher military educational institutions (hereinafter HMEI) on the branches of the armed forces of Ukraine [6; 9].
It was established that the specific institutes and departments at universities have several groups of expenditures on the training of officers in accordance with the regulations [1, p. 2.1; 2, p. 3]. It should be noted that cost recovery is mandatory only in the case of early termination of a contract for military service (training) because of unwillingness to continue their education or because of lack of discipline, and in case of refusal from further military service in positions of officers in military units, law enforcement or special purpose bodies after graduation. The compensation for the period of study is carried out at a rate of actual expenses related to the maintenance of cadets in HMEI, namely: cash collateral; food security; ware maintenance; health care; transport to the venue of the annual principal and of vacation leave and back; utilities and energy consumed.
Taking into account the specificity of educational services in the preparation of military personnel, as well as the requirements of modern realities, we believe that the allocation of costs on the basis of their inclusion in the long-term and short-term period of time to the corresponding enterprises is crucial for predicting expenses, their operational and strategic management.
This approach is able to provide information about the dynamics of expenditures that will contribute to effective decision-making of enterprise development, and will provide an opportunity to assess the feasibility of new capital investments — their necessity, focus of funding, financial return on investment.
In the process of the organization, which is subject to certain regulations, it is important to split the expenses on regulatory and non-regulatory ones, enabling management by exception to assess the implementation of the budget, decide on prices. Splitting the expense on alternative and absolute allows us to consider various options for management decisions to the strategic planning of enterprises.
Expenses for training military personnel can be divided into direct and indirect. Direct cash expenses of training are the money and value assessment of the property that are directly attributable to the issuance of the ownership of the cadet during his training; and indirect costs of education are means and valuation of the property, which are aimed at ensuring the learning process of a student.
The structure of indirect costs for training are as follows:
- a) cash expense is the amount of funds allocated for the maintenance of persons engaged in cadet training, as well as for the acquisition of property and services from third parties related to his teaching;
- b) material expense is the cost of the property or financial compensation, which shall be issued to persons providing training cadet;
- c) the estimated cost is the amount of funds for the maintenance of the cadet as a soldier, as well as depreciation (repair and maintenance) of the relevant military equipment (military equipment, armaments), which is used during his training.
The object of expense accounting in the preparation of military personnel is their place of education, types of homogenous services, in particular the organization, the main production subdivisions (faculties, departments, branches of institutions, research units and laboratories, etc.). Under the subject of a separate calculation it is deemed the type of service, a certain value in use (training of student for a certain specialty, provision of the relevant type of educational services and hands-on training of military personnel).
Cost of educational services, particularly in the training of military personnel is a cost value of the enterprise expense with the use of process of works and services, natural resources, raw materials, fuel, energy, fixed assets, tools, equipment, labor and financial resources, as well as other costs. The expenses, that are included in cost of services, are governed by the Regulations (standard) on accounting and industry regulations on planning, accounting and calculation of the cost of works and services.
Studies show that most of the budget is spent on labor costs of persons providing cadet training, including cash collateral — 49%, wages — 33.5%. The costs of maintenance and operation of weapons and military equipment account for only 1.8%, which indicates that the practical training is carried out on the outdated and morally worn-out equipment, exercise equipment is not purchased. The part of expenditure on the purchase of fuel and lubricants that provide practical training for students, is also very small and accounts for only 1.2% of the cost of training [4, p. 92-93]. Thus, the reduced expense structure demonstrates the need for its optimization, review of main items of expenditure, modernization of equipment and simulators of military equipment.
Practical interest in the study of different aspects in the training of military personnel expense is the study of international experience in general and the Russian Federation (RF) in particular.
According to Accounting Standarts 10/99 Russian Federation, the costs is reducing the economic benefits resulting from the disposal of assets (cash, other property), and (or) the incurrence of liabilities, leading to a reduction in the capital of the organization, except for the reduction of contributions by the decision members (property owners) [7].
The training of military personnel in Russia consumes about 12-15% of the funds allocated to national defense. [5] The study of the structure of the costs of training personnel in the Russian Federation showed that all the expense of the training of officers in the higher military educational institutions (HMEI) can be represented as a full, direct and indirect. Moreover, the full expense is a combination of direct and indirect expense.
Direct cost refers to costs directly related to the learning process in HMEI. Indirect expense are the costs associated with providing educational process both in the schools and in the army, at the sites, ships, units and organizations of the Armed Forces. As noted by A. Salman and A. Kozlov, the very idea of both direct costs and indirect expense, sufficiently conditional, as one and the same expenses quite possibly have to share a portion of the direct and indirect expenses [8].
Expense analysis for training military personnel in Ukraine and Russia showed that their division into direct and indirect, with practically the same of interpretation of the essence, is characteristic of both countries. That can be explained via long joint historical past.
Study of the expenses of training military personnel in Libya is of scientific interest for the author.
Accounting of expenses for training of military personnel in Libya had a lot in common for a very long time with accounting in the countries of the former USSR, since a significant portion of military personnel was trained on its territories.
In Libya the entire legal and regulatory database was destroyed after 2011 revolution, including those concerning the accounting in the public sector. At present, the methodology and organization of accounting are based on international accounting standards in the public sector.
According to data [10] Libya’s defense budget is at least 10% of the total national budget. Training personnel in Libya is performed at the expense of budget funds, however, the training of Libyan military officers takes place very often by agreement with other countries, such as Italy, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the Russian Federation. Thus, in February 2015, while visiting Moscow, the Libyan Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thani discussed the preparation of Libyan soldiers by Russian specialists.
In Libya as in many European countries, the main types of resources that make up the totality of the preparation of military personnel costs are as follows:
- material (equipment and armament, buildings, military equipment, etc.);
- financial (budgetary funds allocated from the state budget and extrabudgetary funds for the current year);
- human (teaching staff, the manager and staff).
For the purpose of accounting of costs, the definition of the following expenses are of great interest:
- the expenses of years of education (from the first to the last course) per student at a military school;
- the average expenses per student in military schools;
- the average expenses in military schools of Libya.
Determining of the value of the services provided in the preparation of military personnel requires the measurement, compilation and analysis of the expense elements assigned to the unit.
Analysis of expenses for training cadets, soldiers showed that the level of organization of educational process determines the efficiency of the preparation of the future officer, and directly affects the structure of the training expenses. Thus, with minimum expenses for training, it is necessary to obtain high-quality preparation that is not below the minimum. This level is defined as the annual quality indicator (at the level of 97% of those who have received the appropriate certificate of education and positive feedback) in the passport of the budgetary program KPKV 2, 01100, which is annually approved by the joint order of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry and the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine.
The reform of military education in Ukraine includes the reorganization of military educational institutions network (in particular, reduce their number and range), the preparation of a smaller number of highly qualified officer personnel with limited funding. That is why the reform should be more justified in this area, also by improving the composition and structure of the training costs in the preparation of an officer in the system of higher education.
This calls for:
- developing a method for determining the cost of the training officer of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, which take into account both direct and indirect costs. At the same time develop a procedure for conducting the analytical account of the annual cost of cash collateral and salaries of persons, support units and other units that do not provide training of cadets;
- improving the structure of training provided training officer costs: optimize labor costs by revising the standards for the development of state HMEI, increase the costs of practical training of students by equipping modern training weapons and military equipment, increase the costs for the purchase of fuel and lubricants;
- carry out the relevant work for the transfer of military camps in the management of funds and the chief of the university organize accounting training for all types of software costs (including food, clothing, repair barracks, housing, etc.) to prepare people for the posts of officers.
Conclusions. Features of the expense of training military personnel are in the nature and characteristics of the sphere of activity. The end result of such expenses is non-economic in nature. There is the presence of limitations on the disclosure of expense items arising from the secrecy regime. Competent, qualified to use all kinds of resources (equipment, military equipment, simulators of military equipment and weapons, facilities, etc.) in the preparation of military personnel contributes to cost-effectiveness. The significant scope of activities for the preparation of the labor force in the AFU, respectively, is reflected in the level of resources required for this purpose. Naturally, all the activities of the modern period of training for the armed forces requires the allocation for defense system of the Ministry of Ukraine for training and other costs associated with the preparation, as well as with the improvement of professional skills of military, industrial and office workers.