The article analyzes different points of view on the essence, content of program-targeted management and its most essential components. The author's vision of its functions and structure is proposed. A significant number of scientific works are devoted to the theoretical foundations of program-targeted management of socio-economic systems. However, the incompleteness of conceptual constructions is noticeable, manifested in the absence of a clear idea of the system of basic attributes of the named phenomenon. As a rule, the interpretation of the latter is limited to fixing as its main features the presence of a goal and a program for achieving it. In this case, the task of identifying the essence and features of program-target control can hardly be solved, since the target function is inherent in any control. An analysis of publications also indicates a diversity of terminology, when researchers often use the concepts of “program-target management” and “program-target management method.”