To deal with the budgetary issues, Serdyukov brought in his old colleagues from the Federal Tax Service and created new department in MoD for financial control. MoD had no control nor oversight until then over the management of defence budget. This had all been managed so far by the General Staff. Years before Serdyukov's appointment as Minister of Defence, the Russian defence budget had been growing significantly but the extra amounts disappeared on regular basis and were not visible anywhere. Apparently bringing this under control was the first and most important reason why Serdyukov was considered and appointed as Minister of Defence.
