(1) The basic plan document for financing the expenditures of institutions and organizations out of the state budget. In the USSR, the estimates of budget institutions determine the scope, purpose, and distribution of budget allocations for all the expenditures of a particular institution. If an institution has any sources of income, the proceeds from them must be computed separately. Such revenues are usually incorporated in the budget. Once it has been approved by a superior organization, the estimate serves as the plan for financing an institution or organization, and is thus the basis for spending funds from the state budget. Consideration is given to fulfilling the plans for developing the system and maintaining full staffs and quotas.
(2) In the USSR, a computation of the planned total outlays by an enterprise, association, or sector of the national economy for the production of output (excluding intraplant turnover) and delivery of services. The estimate of production outlays determines all of an enterprise’s outlays for each element necessary for producing output, regardless of its production purpose or the place where it was produced. Compiled on the basis of the enterprise’s technical, production, and financial plan (tekhpromfinplan), the estimate of production outlays serves as the basis for drawing up the financial plan, which determines the need for current assets and calculates profits from output.
(3) The totality of standard calculations, determining the estimated cost of construction (expansion or renovation) of an enterprise, building, or facility. The construction estimate is an indispensable part of a project. In the USSR it is compiled on the basis of project data, estimated norms, estimate prices, and the appropriate price lists. Construction estimates are compiled to determine the estimated cost of all construction and of particular types of work and outlays. In addition to serving as a limit on financing capital investments, they are used to calculate the work done by contracting organizations for clients. A construction estimate consists of three parts: the costs of construction and installation repair operations; expenditures for equipment and other capital operations and outlays, including the cost of planning and surveying; and the cost of maintaining the directors of projects and training operational personnel.
S. N. REININ