The Impact of the Control Workload on the Investment Activity of Entrepreneurs in the Far Eastern Federal District: the Business Survey Results

Abstract

The article presents the results of a survey of more than 1.5 thousand entrepreneurs from 11 subjects of the Russian Federation in the Far Eastern Federal District conducted in the fourth quarter of 2025. The respondents were mainly individual entrepreneurs (58,4%) those related to microbusiness (56,8%), 80% of the survey participants are business owners and most of them have been engaged in entrepreneurial activity for more than 10 years (39,7%). The survey allowed us to conclude that despite the fact that control activities are not the main factor in reducing investment, we can still state the importance of control measures for business investment behavior. Thus, during the considered period, more than 44% of the respondents were subject to inspections by regulatory authorities, mainly tax authorities. More than a third of entrepreneurs stated that there were fi consequences in the form of fi and indirect costs due to inspections. The survey also showed that a third of entrepreneurs in the Far East can be a source of additional investment growth if deregulation measures are implemented to reduce the number of inspections. The obtained results necessitate further improvement of deregulation mechanisms, including limiting the duration and number of control measures towards an entrepreneur during the year, expanding the practice of replacing fi with warnings, preventing the suspension of business activities during inspections, identifying points of administrative tensions and management impact on dealing with them.