The article considers the reasons for the establishing in Barnaul of the Department of Control and Cash Register of the Ministry of the Imperial Court in 1871. The institution can be viewed as a reform in the framework of distribution in the Ministry of the Court of the principles of unity of cash register and documentary control. The author reveals the preconditions of the new cash registering principles at the mining factories of the Cabinet of his Emperor Majesty. The author argues that the proliferation of reforms over the Altai mining plants was a result of their crisis. The main content of the article clearly shows that the establishing of the Department of Control and Cash Register reflected the opposition between the Minister of the Imperial Court and the Cabinet. The anti-cabinet subtext was hidden due to the implementation of the reform along with other anti-crisis measures of the Ministry. According to the author, the new Department and its activities allowed the Minister of the Imperial Court to control the administration of the Altai mining bypassing the Cabinet. The author comes to the conclusion that rush, administrative bias and superficiality of the reform originally resulted in most of the shortcomings and difficulties in the subsequent work of the Department of Control and Cash Register.