Transparency in public finances: the “Spending” database is now available on YouControl

Spending is a platform providing accessible data on how public funds from state and local budgets are used. We have integrated transaction information between the government and businesses into YouControl for easy analysis of public procurement.

Having access to data on public funds and tenders is a big step towards making the public finance system more transparent. It allows users to check who received payments from the government, their connections, and their reputation. YouControl users can quickly find transaction information using state and local budget funds.

The system displays details about fund managers, recipients, amounts received, and the purpose of each transfer. This information is helpful for businesses and financial institutions, community representatives, journalists, and investigators.

The Spending database integration was made possible with support from the USAID Program Competitive Economy in Ukraine (USAID CEP), which aims to boost competitiveness in Ukrainian and international markets and foster a transparent business environment.

How to view information on public funds on YouControl?

The Spending data block is displayed in the Legal Entities Profile and is called “Public Finance”.

The information in the block is divided into two column categories: Payer (single treasury account (STA) transactions in which the counterparty was the manager of public funds) and Recipient (STA transactions in which the counterparty was the recipient of public funds). Each role also indicates the number of transactions that were completed.

After selecting the desired column, such as, Recipient, you will see a list of payments received by the current contractor from the unified treasury account. By default, payments are displayed in reverse chronological order, from the newest to the oldest. However, you can filter and sort the data by amount, date/transaction period if needed.

Additionally, you can find transactions between the current contractor and another party. Enter the other party's identification code (EDRPOU code) in the “Search by Code” field. You will immediately see the results of the applied filters.

You can explore the details of each transaction by clicking on the arrow next to the entry to expand all the transaction data: payment number and purpose, payment system, payer and recipient account numbers, and so on.

We recommend paying particular attention to the “Payment Purpose” field, which may contain additional noteworthy information in any form.

You can download the obtained data in spreadsheet format for practical use. After applying filters, the file will contain the information you see in the section.

“If verification of procurement participants previously took much time, now it happens automatically. For example, the system highlights who you pay, what you purchase, and whether there are certain anomalies,” explains Mykhailo Koltsov, compliance expert, leading specialist at YouControl, and external consultant to the World Bank in data analysis and cybersecurity.

Therefore, the data from the Spending database in the YouControl system will be helpful to many institutions and businesses:

• Banks for an in-depth analysis of the turnover of existing and potential clients as managers or recipients of public funds, as well as the structures of budget transactions of a selected market participant.

• Companies for analysing the sources of income of their partners, clients, and competitors.

• Government authorities for an in-depth analysis of areas of public spending, assessing the effectiveness of budget expenditures in the context of managers and recipients of funds and searching for reliable and solvent suppliers.

• Spending data in combination with other modules of the YouControl system (Express analysis, courts, etc.) allows international organisations, donors, and partners to check the reliability of fund recipients.

• Public organisations, especially anti-corruption, charitable, and volunteer organisations for exercising public control over public funds.

Thus, the data from the Spending database in the YouControl system will contribute to enhancing the accountability of budget funds and recipients at both the state and local levels, improving the efficiency of public procurement, reducing misuse, fostering healthy competition among regions, cities, and managers of budget funds, and promoting accountability and transparency in procurement.

Based on Spending.gov.ua data, new Express Analysis factors have been implemented in interaction with data from the Unified State Register, financial reporting, and the history of changes in the Unified State Register. YouControl shows all data for the entire period, compared to the original source, where the period is limited to three months. You can also download information in a convenient format and continue to work with all data of all transactions. In YouControl, data from Spending.gov.ua is integrated with other registers, which is much more convenient, and speeds up the analysis, and improves its quality.

Additionally, information about tenders is displayed in the “Tender Analysis” tab and the “Government Tenders” / “Successful Tenders” section. Alongside existing information on courts, licenses, and media mentions, this will enable a more comprehensive assessment of contractors, supporting the principles of transparency and openness of data, and providing the public with full access to information on the use of public funds.