Paper on the modelling of operational costs calculation in the defence system

The defence system of the Republic of Serbia has a complex organizational structure that is constantly in the process of exploiting its own resources, among which spending funds deserves special attention. Considering the achieved level in the process of building a stable manner of financing the defence system of the Republic of Serbia, as well as the current limitations encountered by the authors, the paper emphasizes a special research problem aimed at determining a more rational way of calculating the defence system costs. Considering the complexity of the mentioned research problem and the current level of the defence system structure of the Republic of Serbia, the subject of the research is based on the proposal of a certain model that will enable more precise calculation of operational costs of the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces. In this regard, the paper starts from the hypothetical view that the existing model of calculating the defence system costs can be improved, above all in the part of the calculation of operational costs of the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces. The objective of this paper is to point out the need to evaluate the current practice in spending funds and propose new solutions that will enable better mechanisms for monitoring expenditure and income, i.e. better calculation of operational costs at all levels of financing in the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces. The research results have confirmed the set hypothetical framework by implementation of the method of content analysis, with focus on the comparative analysis of the calculation of operational costs of personnel, weapons and military equipment and infrastructure. The paper concludes that there are objective possibilities for improving the model of calculating operational costs of the defence system.