Internal control of production activity in small enterprises: domestic and international practice

Relevance of research topic. In the conditions of globalization of the national economy, there is an increase in market competition and the complication of plant production management, which significantly affects the control process and transforms approaches to its organizational and methodological foundations, taking into account foreign experience. At the current stage of development, the internal control system of small enterprises plays an important role in ensuring the effective functioning and implementation of users' needs for information in order to make informed management decisions regarding production activities. Formulation of the problem. The study of the system of internal control of production activity will provide an opportunity to move from traditionally passive control to its active forms in order to identify negative phenomena in the activities of small enterprises, cost deviations from the norm and determine the causes and ways of eliminating these shortcomings. Analysis of recent research and publications. The issue of the essence, role and place of internal control at small enterprises was investigated by such leading scientists as Bohdanyuk O. V., Vdovenko N. M., Derii V. A., Kotsupatrij M. M., Margasova V. G., Marchuk U. O., Savchuk V. K., Sadovska I. B., Parkhomenko V. M., Pylypiv N. I. etc. Selection of unexplored parts of the general problem. The above-mentioned questions are updated in connection with the latest economic events, namely the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and the introduction of martial law on the territory of Ukraine, which lead to the emergence of new risks of agricultural production and the development of internal control measures to prevent them. Setting the task, the purpose of the study. In the course of the conducted research, the following tasks were set: to determine the specifics of conducting internal control at small enterprises in accordance with domestic and international practice; to investigate the elements, methods and stages of internal control at small agricultural enterprises. The purpose of the work is to provide a description of the system of internal control of the production activity of small agricultural enterprises. Method or methodology for conducting research. The theoretical and methodological basis of scientific research is general scientific and special methods of learning phenomena and processes: analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, analogy, abstraction, monographic, systematic and logical methods. Presentation of the main material (results of work). The features of internal control at small enterprises in accordance with domestic and international practice are characterized. The conducted study of the activities of small enterprises shows the imperfection of the organization of the internal control system, which directly affects the amount of production costs. The main elements, methods and stages of internal control at small agricultural enterprises are defined in order to observe their sequence. The field of application of results. The results of the research can be used in the practical activities of small agricultural enterprises. Conclusions. The system of internal control of production costs and cost of sales of plant products at small enterprises should be built in such a way as to timely inform the management of the need for corrective and preventive measures based on effective management decisions.