AI Assistants Help Samara Region Automate Public Finance Operations
The Samara Region Ministry of Finance is deploying artificial intelligence to review payment documents and analyze financial reports submitted by government agencies under its authority.
More than 3 million payments and approximately 30,000 budget obligations pass through the regional Ministry of Finance's information system every year. Until recently, staff performed a substantial share of financial document reviews manually, a process that required significant time and a large team of specialists. Automation has made it possible to use these resources more efficiently.
“We decided to test an AI program for processing these payments and launched it as a pilot. Previously, reviewing a single document and its supporting materials took five to seven minutes. Today, even the most complex document takes no more than a minute,” said Olga Sobeshchanskaya, Samara Region's minister of finance.
The number of documents returned for corrections has also fallen substantially during the first four months of the project. Automation has made it possible to reduce staffing levels, generating an estimated 76 million rubles in annual budget savings (approximately $925,000).
The regional Ministry of Finance is now preparing to launch a second AI project: automating the analysis of reports from 900 government agencies under its authority. The initiative is expected to accelerate the process several times over. Preparing analytical materials, which currently takes several days, is expected to take just 15 minutes. Automating this work could save another 30 million rubles a year (approximately $365,000).
A Model for Other Regions
The results of the new technology deployments will be assessed based on budget savings, faster processing and the quality of interagency coordination. Samara's success could encourage other Russian regions to adopt similar solutions. The first candidates for automation are routine operations in regional finance departments, including payment document reviews, report preparation and monitoring of budget obligations. These tasks can be handled using machine learning, natural language processing and robotic process automation. Over time, AI could also forecast funding needs and help officials prepare budget plans.
Federal developments will also be adapted to the specific needs of individual regions. Russia's Ministry of Finance has been using AI in the budget process since 2024, gradually expanding the range of tasks assigned to the technology. The government is also continuing to develop its Electronic Budget information system. The need for regional finance departments and their subordinate organizations to interact with this system is a major driver of further digitalization.
The Digital Finance Officer
Russia's public finance agencies are gradually entrusting AI with increasingly complex tasks. In 2023, the Accounts Chamber introduced digital tools to identify risks of violations in the allocation of budget funds and the execution of government assignments. AI was also used to detect violations in government contracts listed on the public procurement portal. In June 2024, the Russian Ministry of Finance began integrating an AI agent powered by GigaChat into the Electronic Budget system to review funding applications.
“We are now seeing AI process applications in less than a minute, with 87% of its decisions being correct,” Nikolai Begchin, Russia's deputy finance minister, said in February this year. Previously, a staff member needed three to four hours to review an application. The ministry has also begun using AI to forecast budget revenues and analyze financial data.
From Electronic Document Management to Intelligent Budgeting
Russian government agencies are moving systematically beyond conventional electronic document management toward using AI to automate public finance operations. These technologies are now extending from the federal level to regional governments, as demonstrated by the Samara Region Ministry of Finance's AI initiative.
Within the next couple of years, AI is expected to become standard across finance departments and publicly funded organizations, freeing staff from routine tasks. Spending analysis, financial reporting and budget forecasting are likely to be among the first processes automated. Over the longer term, once AI systems have accumulated enough data on regional spending and financial flows, they could identify previously overlooked savings, forecast the consequences of management decisions and recommend more efficient scenarios.
