Although material balance became an established part of Soviet planning, it never completely replaced the role of financial calculation in the economy.
In 1973, supplies for 70% of all industrial production representing 1,943 of the economy's most important items had their balances worked out by Gosplan.
Gossnab and the various economic ministries were responsible for the determination of the suppliers and recipients of supplies in the Soviet economy.
[4] Material balance planning encompassed non-labor inputs (the distribution of consumer goods and allocation of labor was left to market mechanisms).
This was seen as a logical progression given that the material balances system was geared toward rapid industrialization, which the Soviet Union had already achieved in the preceding decades.