In the process of economic system reform focusing on invigorating large and medium-sized state-owned enterprises, how to ensure the preservation and appreciation of state-owned assets, prevent the loss of state-owned assets, and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of all employees and the state while implementing the principle of "separating government from enterprises" has always been an important problem that puzzles the reform of state-owned enterprises in China. The report of the 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China clearly stated: "The central government and local governments at provincial and municipal levels shall set up state-owned assets management institutions. Continue to explore effective state-owned assets management systems and methods. Governments at all levels must strictly implement the laws and regulations on the management of state-owned assets, adhere to the separation of government from enterprises, and implement the separation of ownership and management rights, so that enterprises can operate independently and be responsible for their own profits and losses, and realize the preservation and appreciation of state-owned assets. " Reality tells us that it is an urgent need and objective necessity to set up a state-owned assets management company, which can not only conform to the direction of economic system reform, but also safeguard the rights and interests of state-owned assets on behalf of the country.
First, the nature of state-owned assets management companies
Although people think that state-owned assets management companies or similar institutions should be established to manage and manage state-owned assets, people have different understandings of the nature of state-owned assets management companies. The author believes that although the state-owned assets management company is a specialized organization that manages state-owned assets on behalf of the state, it is more appropriate to mold the management company into an enterprise with only economic functions according to the principle of separating government from enterprises and organize, operate and manage it according to the principle of market economy. First of all, from the perspective of legal relationship, no matter what business form the operating company takes, it should be engaged in activities as an enterprise and must be included in the adjustment scope of the company law, so as to be established according to the provisions of the company law, and it is not appropriate to formulate a set of special laws. Secondly, judging from the practice and needs of China's reform, it can effectively prevent the operating company from becoming a "flop company" and is also an important guarantee to improve the operating efficiency of state-owned assets by shaping the operating company into a pure operating entity so that it can conduct normal operations and competition like other ordinary companies. Third, although the operating company has certain particularity, this particularity is mainly reflected in its business object is a special commodity-the property right of state-owned assets, not in its organization and operation itself.
There is no essential difference between operating companies and ordinary companies in organization and operation. It is a reasonable and realistic choice to define the operating company as a company that meets the basic requirements of the Company Law. The idea of trying to endow the operating company with special formation procedures and management methods may not be conducive to the reasonable operation and development of the operating company.
How to prevent the newly established state-owned asset management company from becoming a "flop company" is the biggest concern of establishing a management company and also a focus of general concern in the reform of state-owned enterprises. According to past experience, although people who make plans have good wishes, in practice, newly established companies often become new administrative or monopolistic management institutions because of lack of practical safeguard measures or pressure from different aspects, thus becoming new reform targets and obstacles.
In order to prevent state-owned assets management companies from becoming "flop companies", it is necessary to establish a relatively complete set of internal and external constraints and supervision mechanisms.
1. In terms of attributes, the operating company is determined to be an out-and-out enterprise legal person, and at the same time, it is clear that the asset management company can maintain its survival and development only through the income obtained from operating state-owned assets. As an enterprise, it is possible to expand the scope of holding, expand the scale of assets and develop into a multinational company, or it may fall into the crisis of insolvency and bankruptcy. In other words, its survival and development are based on the enterprises it owns. Asset management companies can only survive and develop if they make profits and develop.
2. Set up a sufficient number of companies to create the necessary competitive environment. For example, there should be three to five companies in the power industry and five to ten in the metallurgical industry. The important purpose of establishing a management company is to ensure the preservation and appreciation of state-owned assets and promote the flow and reorganization of state-owned assets. Since the interests of asset management companies lie in the property rights of the state-owned assets they operate and the quality of the enterprises they hold, how to obtain better assets and enterprises through operation and market competition has become an important means for operating companies to gain benefits and enhance their strength. Set up a considerable number of asset management companies and launch moderate competition, thus generating business motivation and pressure, forcing them to improve their management, improve the operating efficiency and asset quality of the enterprises they control, and thus increase their own income.
3. Establish a perfect supervision system. In addition to the establishment of the board of directors and the board of supervisors of the asset management company itself for internal supervision, it is also necessary to strengthen external supervision. Specifically, the Ministry of Finance is responsible for managing the finances of asset management companies, approving the financial budgets and final accounts of operating companies, and evaluating the performance of operating companies. The State-owned Assets Management Committee exercises the functions of state-owned assets management, manages the evaluation and transaction of state-owned assets, and is responsible for approving the inflow and outflow of state-owned assets. State audit and supervision organs are responsible for daily supervision of their implementation of relevant state laws, regulations, policies and systems. In addition, industry and commerce, taxation, finance and other departments should also strengthen supervision. Through the above-mentioned all-round supervision and management, its normal operation and benign development can be guaranteed.
Two, the state-owned assets management company's business objectives
Although the state-owned assets management company is a special economic entity with the property rights of state-owned assets as its main business object, its business objectives are not essentially different from those of general economic entities, and its direct goal is to pursue profits or asset appreciation and maximize its own interests. By pursuing the maximization of self-interest, the value of state-owned assets can be maintained and increased indirectly, and other goals should not be given. In other words, for a state-owned asset management company (except policy-oriented state-owned asset management companies), maximizing its own operating income is the only goal it should pursue as a business entity. The state's pursuit of the goal of maintaining and increasing the value of state-owned assets is realized spontaneously through the internal pursuit of its own interests by operating companies.
In order to achieve the above business objectives, the operating company should strictly follow the principles of independent accounting, independent operation and self-financing. In addition to abiding by the laws, regulations and policies promulgated by the state and accepting the supervision and inspection of the relevant regulatory authorities according to law, its specific business decisions are not subject to administrative intervention by any department.
Three, the relationship between the state-owned assets management company and the relevant units
The establishment of state-owned asset management companies has broken the existing institutional structure and interest structure, and the relations in all aspects will also undergo tremendous changes.
(A) the relationship between the state-owned assets management company and the state-owned assets management committee
The State-owned Assets Management Committee is the manager of state-owned assets, and the state-owned assets management company is the operator of state-owned assets. They have a close relationship. The author believes that the State-owned Assets Management Committee is an administrative organ that implements full-time management of state-owned assets and undertakes the responsibility of managing state-owned assets in the whole society, not only managing operating state-owned assets, but also managing non-operating state-owned assets. Prevent the loss of state-owned assets through management and supervision. The State-owned Assets Management Committee shall lead and supervise the state-owned assets management company by sending directors and supervisors, and of course, it may also indirectly send the main management personnel of the company.
We believe that since the ultimate owner of state-owned assets is all the working people and the State-owned Assets Management Committee exercises the ownership of state-owned assets on behalf of all the people, then the State-owned Assets Management Committee is the owner representative of state-owned assets. The main responsibilities are to formulate laws and regulations on the management of state-owned assets, to be responsible for the establishment of state-owned asset management companies, to be responsible for the management of property rights transactions and the evaluation of state-owned assets, and to supervise the operation of asset management companies.
(B) the relationship between state-owned asset management companies and the Ministry of Finance
As mentioned above, state-owned asset management companies are wholly state-owned enterprises, and their capital is transferred from state-owned enterprises through the Ministry of Finance. Through the transfer, the original state-owned enterprise becomes the enterprise of the state-owned asset management company, and the state-owned asset management company naturally becomes the state-owned enterprise. The Ministry of Finance comprehensively manages and supervises the finances of state-owned asset management companies. Moreover, the Ministry of Finance is the largest creditor of the operating company, and it has more reason to assume the responsibility of comprehensive management and supervision of the financial affairs of the state-owned assets operating company.
The national double-entry budget system has been implemented for a long time, but it still exists in name only because of the lack of specific content. We assume that the finance of state-owned asset management companies will be included in the double-entry budget track, that is, the Ministry of Finance will list all the after-tax income of state-owned asset management companies in the asset income column of the double-entry budget and allocate their investment in the investment column of the double-entry budget. Through the collection and expenditure of the budget, it not only fully reflects the business activities of the operating companies, but also provides a real realistic basis for the double budget in China, which is conducive to giving full play to the positive role and function of the double budget in the adjustment of China's economic operation and to the unification of the national budget.
This point, whether from the needs of financial system reform and the whole economic management, or from the management practice in China, is more realistic and feasible.
(C) the relationship between state-owned asset management companies and large enterprise groups
Since the horizontal integration, the enterprise groups in China have made great progress, and there are hundreds of large enterprise groups in China, which have become an important force in China's economic construction. Although there are different types of enterprise groups, most of them are enterprise consortia that take products as the leader and organize similar enterprises in the country to cooperate in production. Therefore, they should gradually develop into mixed holding companies. National comprehensive enterprise groups should develop into pure holding companies. In addition to national enterprise groups, the relationship between state-owned asset management companies and large enterprise groups is parent-subsidiary relationship. That is, the operating company is a first-class company, the enterprise group company is a second-class company, followed by a third-class company and a fourth-class company. This design can effectively solve the problem of "insider control" of enterprise groups; Second, it is conducive to promoting the rapid development of enterprise groups. Strengthen the strength of the parent company of the enterprise group by injecting funds, reforming the shareholding system and reorganizing property rights; Third, it is conducive to giving play to the product advantages, technological advantages and management advantages of enterprise groups, further expanding the scale of production and operation, and enhancing international competitiveness. Some people define large enterprise groups as "institutions authorized by the state to invest", which is difficult to work in practice. (1) Enterprise groups have changed from production and operation to investment. If we ignore one thing and lose another, we may lose our original advantage. (2) Due to geographical restrictions, financing is difficult to be smooth, and self-owned funds are stretched. How can there be more funds for investment? (3) When an enterprise group company develops into an investment company, it will inevitably break away from the core enterprise and increase the transaction cost. (4) If an enterprise group company becomes a state-authorized investment institution, it must become a wholly state-owned company, solidify its own assets, and block the channels for raising funds from the society. The parent company of a few large enterprise groups can also be transformed into a pure holding company, and after the capital is approved by the Ministry of Finance, it will become a wholly state-owned state-owned asset management company.
After a large enterprise group company becomes a subsidiary of a state-owned asset management company, the management company should transform it into a joint stock limited company or a limited liability company, so that it can quickly become a multinational consortium with strong strength, huge scale, assets as the link and integrated production and operation.