"We deal with public finances constantly, we pay taxes, social and compulsory health insurance contributions, receive benefits, use such public services as education or health. Therefore, transparent and efficient use of public finances is extremely important. We hope that this competition will stimulate interest in the topic of public finances, contribute to greater financial literacy, the efficiency of fund management and create benefits for society," Minister of Finance Gintarė Skaistė says.
The registration of research works is carried out until 30 September. Students of higher education institutions (universities and colleges) who have defended the University Bachelor's, Professional Bachelor's or Master's theses, which deal with the following public finance topics, can participate in the competition: management of state monetary resources in Lithuania or Lithuania and other European Union states – expedience, efficiency, benefit to the economy and society ; management of public finances and public debt; management of municipal finances, link with quality of life indicators; financial accounting and reporting of public sector entities.
The winners of the competition will share the prize pool of cash prizes, which consists of 9 AW (average wages) of the current year. A total of 6 authors of research papers – 2 Master's, 2 Bachelor's and 2 Professional Bachelor's theses – and their supervisors are expected to be awarded cash prizes. In each category, a 2 AW cash prize will be awarded for 1st place, and a 1 AW cash prize – for 2nd place (70 % of the cash prize will be awarded to the student, 30 % to the supervisor).
Students' works will be evaluated according to the following criteria: compliance of the thesis with the competition topic; use of data published on the website www.lietuvosfinansai.lt in the thesis; relevance and novelty of the thesis, practical applicability of conclusions; the structure of the thesis, the quality of the research data analysis used in it, the literature; validity of conclusions and proposals.
The theses will be evaluated by a commission established by the order of the Minister of Finance.
The competition provisions can be found on the website www.lietuvosfinansai.lt.
About website lietuvosfinansai.lt
The website lietuvosfinansai.lt managed by the Ministry of Finance is an important tool for transparent management of public finances and an opportunity for the public to better understand public finances. Here you can find answers to many questions relevant to society. How much taxes and other revenue are collected in the national budget and where are these funds spent? How much are the country's assets worth and what are the liabilities? How much do state budgetary institutions spend on purchased goods or received services and who do they pay for them? All this and more can be found on this website.
The website contains the data on the implementation of the State, Municipal, Sodra, Compulsory Health Insurance Funds, detailed payments to suppliers of goods and services, financial reports and other data since 2015. It also provides a unique opportunity to analyze the activities of municipalities: their revenue, expenditure, financial statement data and quality of life indicators. In addition, it is possible to analyze the data of municipalities' independent revenue and expenditure gaps.
Additional information:
In the thesis competition organized by the Ministry of Finance for the first time in 2023, the following students and their supervisors were the winners:
1st place in the Master's thesis category - Gabija Kilikevičiūtė, Mykolas Romeris University. The topic of the thesis is"Assessment of the Impact of Tax Reliefs on the National Budget", the Supervisor is Assoc. Dr. Lucija Birškytė.
1st place in the Bachelor’s thesis category - Greta Poškienė, Klaipėda University. The topic of the thesis is "Participatory Budgeting in Lithuania: Implementation, Scale and Significance", the Supervisor is prof. Dr. Jaroslav Dvorak.
2nd place in the Bachelor’s thesis category - Renata Miškinienė, Vilnius University. The topic of the thesis is "Budgeting and Analysis of Institutions Providing Social Services: Case of Varėna Care Home", the Supervisor is Assoc. Dr. Daiva Tamulevičienė.
1st place in the Professional Bachelor’s thesis category - Viktorija Durovič, SMK higher education institution. The topic of the thesis is "Analysis and Evaluation of the Financial Management of General Education Institutions", the Supervisor is dr. Laura Gudelytė-Žilinskienė.
