The use of information resources is a promising area of activity of state control and accounting bodies. Nowadays an effective budget control and analysis of socio-economic development of the region are impossible without special tools to reduce the time spent on data processing. The article deals with historical aspects of informatization of the Control and Accounting Chamber of Moscow and examines the formation of its information and analytical system as an example of automation of the activity of the external fi nancial control institution. The author analyzes the Chamber’s annual reports in 1997–2014. He employs its local acts and other documents refl ecting the process of automation of control practice. The study of these documents, as well as federal and Moscow legislation, normative legal acts of the Government and mayor of Moscow, and the Moscow City Duma made it possible to identify the features of the Chamber’s informatization processes from 1994 to 2014, including the main stages in the creation of the Chamber’s information and communication technology infrastructure, composition and main functions of the Chamber’s information and analytical system as a model for interaction with Moscow public authorities and governmental agencies. Previously the issues of the history of the Chamber’s informatization had not been specifi cally examined, while a comprehensive picture of the development of new management technologies, which have been introduced in the practice of the executive and legislative authorities of Moscow since the end of the twentieth century, cannot be provided without a special focus on these topics. Consideration of this aspect of development of control and counting functions in the capital of Russia in the post-Soviet period will supplement the currently available knowledge about the history of such activity in the past and also will help to identify traditions and innovations in the domestic management practices and thus trace techniques, which are reintroduced in an optimized form at each new stage of development of country and society

The global challenge of ensuring citizens’ guaranteed access to information and knowledge lacks a unified understanding of the processes of societal informatization in contemporary scientific discourse. To establish meaningful theoretical foundations, it is essential to consider methodological approaches to studying the information society in historical retrospect, as this deepens our understanding of the phenomenon. Despite the variety of current approaches, they all share the view that the growing role of information and knowledge, as well as the production and widespread use of information and communication technologies (ICT) across key sectors of life, are crucial conditions for the development of the information society in the modern era. The hallmark of an information society is its high level of ICT development and usage (the level of societal informatization). ICT is the driving force behind socio-economic progress, and by studying the factors and patterns of its development in the context of Moscow’s society, we can identify trends that broadly influence the development of the information society. Analyzing its formation based on historical evidence and specific processes in Moscow allows us to propose a multidimensional factor model, incorporating generalized factors (dimensions) characterized by interconnected aspects (indicators). The data clearly point to six types of dimensions, each defined by its own set of indicators. A detailed examination of these generalized factors reveals regional disparities in the development of the information society across Russia. Notably, for several years, the groups of leading and lagging regions have remained relatively stable. This underscores the hypothesis that Russia’s progression toward an information society is not only shaped by specific historical factors but also largely depends on the involvement of citizens, businesses, government agencies, and local communities, as well as their level of engagement and readiness to adopt advanced technologies.