217 kollcgiia fulfilled their administrative roles.The accounts which the auditing office w'as to audit were to be collected, reviewed, and submitted for audit by the kamer-kollegiia. Indeed, it was stated in the college’s instruktsiia that:^’*^ as soon as the kamer-kollegiia finds that someone has been careless or unfaithful to a high degree when it comes to the administration and accounting of His Majesty’s revenues, word of such a crime shall be sent immediately from the kamer-kollegiia to the revizion-kollegiia. And instruct the treasury prosecutor in that college to report that affair and carry it to a proper conclusion. The same procedure was followed in the Swedish administration. The kammarrevisionen was to investigate and adjudicate “all those affairs which the treasury prosecutor indicates; they may be discovered by him in those accounts the kammarrevisionen has previously had in its charge and audited, or also in such books and documents, about which the kammarrevisionen has not previously made any observations, able to observe in the description of the kamer-kollegiia and the shtatskontor-kollcgiia, these colleges were unable to develop the routines called for by their instructions, which were drawn up on the basis of Swedish models, primarily because the local fiscal administration did not function in accordance with the new administrative techniques. The accounts necessary for their operations were not sent in to the colleges by the local organs, and thus it was impossible to obtain any overview of the state’s fiscal situation. Therefore, the Senate intervened in July 1721 and decreed that, “in future, during the first months at the beginning of each year, registers showing how much remains of all types of taxes from the previous year and other years, as well as what is lacking and what will be collected during the coming year in the form of all types of taxes, shall be submitted to the Senate.” This change prevented the revizion-kollegiia fromexercising any regular and systematic fiscal control. During the period 1720—1721, the college audited only a few accounts, while cases concerning irregularities in the administration of state funds were only occasionally left to its adjudiThe following quotation reveals a great deal about the possibilities the revizion-kollegiia had for performing its duties: In spite of the fact that the revizion-kollegiia, in accordance with its duties, has already reminded the other state colleges two times, through messengers, to Miliukov, 444. ZA (no. 416), 563. Instruktioner II, 181. 335 TsGADA, f. 248 delo 656 11. 257v—258. Miliukov, 446. Ibid., 447. •’ ;i34 But, as we were 336 cation. 337 3:i2 333 336 337
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjYyNDk=