Keyword review is not allowed; Audit advance notice system; Audit billing system; Audit storm; Economic responsibility audit
First, reflect on "audit is not allowed"
(A) audit work can not ignore the "eight prohibitions".
In July 2006, Zhang, an auditor of Audit Bureau of Cangzhou City, Hebei Province, died suddenly in front of the hotel after receiving a banquet from the audited entity, and the "eight prohibitions" of China government audit were brought up again. The promulgation and implementation of the "Eight Prohibitions" in 2000 aims to ensure the independence of audit work, so as to ensure that audit institutions can legally and effectively perform their audit supervision duties to the maximum extent. In recent years, the "audit storm" and more and more major cases have been audited and made public, which makes people's expectations for auditing higher and higher. When the audit work is generally valued by the society and pushed to the stage, people will pay more and more attention to what audit institutions do. Once someone's behavior deviates, he will immediately "sit in the right place." It can be seen that in a sense, the role of the "eight prohibitions" is indeed serious.
(B) the independence of funds is the basis of the "purchase audit" behavior.
The National Audit Office implements the "Eight Prohibitions", and its funds for going out to audit are allocated by the central government according to the audit budget of the National Audit Office. However, the funds for going out to audit audit institutions in other places can only be determined according to the financial resources that the government at the same level can pay. Some local auditors who failed to implement it complained about the lack of financial resources. It is difficult to ensure that audit institutions at all levels fully comply with this standard when the budget funds of audit institutions are very scarce and limited. Therefore, some people began to explore whether it is appropriate to always focus on "finance" when investigating the reasons why the "eight prohibitions" have not been vigorously implemented. As we all know, there are indeed many projects where local finance uses money, but the audit funds are not high, especially if they are implemented in cities and counties and shared by finance at all levels, the problem is not as serious as imagined.
If we look at the external reasons for the failure to implement the "eight prohibitions" from the financial point of view, I think there may be some objective basis. It is reported that since the establishment of 1983, Chinese government audit institutions have collected or recovered hundreds of millions of yuan from audited units or audited projects every year for violating national laws and regulations, financial discipline and financial system, and the losses recovered for the country and audited units through audit opinions and suggestions are even more incalculable. Among them, the national audit also acts as the vanguard of anti-corruption, a firm defender of the socialist market economic order and a loyal defender of state-owned assets. After the reform and opening up, with the rapid development of China's economic construction and the further deepening of enterprise reform, not only the audit task is more arduous, but also the audit difficulty is further increased. The audit institutions that undertake the arduous task of government audit supervision do not match the required audit funds, and the contribution of government audit institutions is not proportional to the audit funds allocated by the government, which objectively shakes the independent foundation of government audit and provides external conditions for the audited units to "buy audits"!
Theoretically speaking, independence is the essential attribute of audit, and the independence of audit funds is its foundation. If we can't guarantee the minimum audit funds for government audit institutions to complete arduous audit tasks, it will be difficult to ensure the effective implementation and full implementation of the "eight prohibitions". From this point of view, the implementation of the "eight prohibitions" needs a certain external environment, which of course includes the independence of audit funds mentioned above, that is, there must be enough audit budget to guarantee it financially.
(C) it is difficult to fulfill the "eight noes" should find reasons from the auditors themselves.
Because the social evaluation of government audit is fair and rational, we will not doubt or deny the efforts and achievements made by government audit institutions and their more than 80 thousand government auditors to fulfill the "eight prohibitions" of audit because of this sudden death. Although this sudden death is only an audit case, we should look for the internal and direct reasons for violating the objective facts of "eight inaccuracies" from whether the audit team itself is excellent or not.
China government personnel should further strengthen their awareness of clean government. Because this kind of consciousness is formed by itself, not given by the outside world, government auditors can completely strengthen themselves. The failure to implement the specific normative measures of the "eight prohibitions" in auditing is another problem that needs in-depth consideration at present. There are many factors that make it difficult to implement the "eight prohibitions". Obviously, "finance" is an important reason, but it is by no means all. The author believes that auditors should keep in mind the "eight prohibitions" and always implement them with actions.
It must also be pointed out that the openness and transparency of auditing and non-auditing procedures or processes should be guaranteed, so it is urgent to establish, improve and develop the mechanism of supervising supervisors, and this external auditing environment that hinders the independence of government auditing needs to be governed. As for the public's expectation of government audit, the author thinks that this expectation should be understandable, but it should tend to be peaceful. It should be noted that the high cost of violating the "eight prohibitions" and the high income of implementing the "eight prohibitions" can make the "eight prohibitions" better observed. As the internal self-discipline system of government audit, the implementation of "Eight Prohibitions" for many years has really played a great role in ensuring the healthy development of China's audit cause and forging China's government audit team, and has produced good social effects and extensive influences.
Second, the interpretation of the "audit notice system"
(A) "audit announcement system" is an urgent need to strengthen the construction of government audit procedures.
The system of prior notice of audit generally refers to the system that the government audit department informs the public in advance of the audit purpose, object, content, personnel, procedure, time and audit discipline in a certain way before the audit, and actively accepts the supervision of the masses. Audit notice system, as a specific procedural system in the preparatory stage of government audit, has been established and appeared as early as the initial stage of audit in China. Later, it was also tried out and popularized in the relevant system of economic responsibility audit of leading cadres in government audit institutions, and achieved good results. At present, some local government audit institutions publish "online version" notices of all projects to the society and post them in a prominent position in the audited units in written form, which is an innovation. The author believes that the audit announcement system is an important part of strengthening the construction of specific audit procedure system and an effective way to realize the transparency of audit procedure.
1. Government audit is an open, fair and transparent economic supervision activity, and it is also a normal supervision conducted according to law. Institutionalization, standardization and proceduralization are the conditions and foundations for the smooth progress of this kind of supervision, and the audit notice system embodies its inherent requirements.
2. The purpose of government audit is to protect public interests and take maintaining social and economic order as its own responsibility. It needs public supervision and public participation, support and cooperation. The implementation of the audit announcement system can make the audit better understood, supported and cooperated by the public. The understanding, support and cooperation of the public is an important guarantee for the smooth development of the audit, which makes the audit truly reflect the people-oriented thought and people-oriented consciousness.
3. Government audit is an administrative law enforcement activity, which represents the state to perform its supervisory duties on economic activities according to law. This kind of supervision is authoritative and mandatory, and the inequality between the supervisor and the supervised makes it easy for audit institutions to abuse their powers and engage in malpractices for personal gain. Audit notice system puts audit under public supervision, which can better strengthen the integrity and self-discipline of audit institutions. It is an effective measure for government audit institutions to strengthen self-discipline, which in itself means the commitment of audit institutions to the public.
4. Information asymmetry is the objective premise and inevitable requirement of audit. Audit is the product of the separation of the two rights and the relationship between entrustment and responsibility. Investors need not only the accounting information disclosed by the management, but also the audit report to understand the information of the invested company, so as to increase the judgment on the credibility of the information provided by the management. Audit advance notice system plays a bridge role between enterprise management and investors, which increases the transparency of information and avoids human misunderstanding. In addition, the audit notice system is another form of democratic financial management advocated by socialist countries.
5. The audit notification system is beneficial for audit institutions to make audit judgment and analysis according to the evidence or clues provided by the public, and then choose appropriate audit strategies to collect audit evidence from internal and external audited units with emphasis. Obviously, it can reduce the audit cost and improve the audit efficiency.
6. The disclosure of audit results envisaged by government audit is bound to increase the risk of government audit, and different forms of audit announcement system will be widely accepted, which will help audit institutions and auditors to carefully estimate audit risks according to their due occupations, avoid audit administrative litigation disputes caused by carelessness, and promote government audit to attach importance to their own occupations and standardize the management of audit process. Therefore, the audit announcement system and the audit result disclosure system are unified and mutually conditional.
(2) Strengthen the construction of audit procedures and refine audit procedures and measures.
The purpose of audit notice system is to enhance the transparency of government audit work. As an arrangement of audit procedure system, its form serves this purpose. As long as the transparency of government audit can be strengthened and the best audit effect can be achieved, any form of audit notice can be explored and popularized after accumulating experience. For example, radio, television, e-mail, newspapers and magazines, trade journals, special conferences and other forms can be used. Today, with the development of electronic communication technology, it is the most promising of all forms to issue "online version" audit announcement to the society, which should be the direction of efforts.
As a specific audit procedure system, the production of audit notice has been innovated and implemented, which can be regarded as the conscious behavior of our government audit institutions to implement people-oriented, build a harmonious society, enhance the government's administrative ability, promote administration according to law, and build a government ruled by law under the legal framework. At the same time, modern national audit itself is the product of modern democratic politics, and the innovation and implementation of audit notice system is an important embodiment and effective form of national democratic politics in auditing. From this height, its function will be great and more practical. It will have an important impact on promoting diligent and honest government at all levels in China, strengthening the ties between the government and the people, and establishing a pragmatic, efficient and honest government. The author believes that honesty, integrity and trustworthiness are the moral qualities that all government agencies and all public officials, including auditors, should possess, and putting them into action is to embody fairness, justice and transparency. This is not only a moral requirement but also a legal principle.
Of course, in strengthening the transparency of government audit work and how to strengthen the construction of audit procedure system and refine the specific audit procedure arrangement, we should pay attention to three points:
1. Consider the specific audit environment. The present audit environment has been greatly improved than before, but the understanding of audit is still different in different places, so there is no need to engage in a uniform audit announcement system. There is also a process of gradual understanding, and we should guard against risks in audit notice according to local conditions.
2. Don't regard the audit as a special investigation of problems, and don't expect too much from the audit, pin all your hopes on the audit and understand the audit conclusions unilaterally. Audit only expresses audit opinions on important objective facts that have been noticed within its own scope. It does not necessarily express audit opinions on all situations or all existing problems of the audited entity.
3. The time, scope or form of notification should be different for different types of audits. For example, it is not easy for audit institutions to adopt the prior notification system when carrying out special audits of financial and economic laws and disciplines, or when accepting entrustment for case verification and evidence collection. Even if advance notice is required, the time or scope of advance notice must be limited according to the specific circumstances, which can be used for other types of audits. For another example, the online version of audit notice has a wide range of viewers, but for those who lack internet access, alternative methods should be adopted.
4. Posting audit notice in the audited entity is helpful to obtain audit clues provided by internal personnel of the audited entity. Internal personnel are not limited to the auditee, but may also include the auditee's higher authorities, subordinate units and external customers.
(3) The audit notice is as important as the audit test and the announcement of audit results.
The purpose of audit announcement is to strengthen the transparency of government audit work and obtain valuable audit clues, which is helpful to broaden the scope of audit work, dig deeper and improve the authenticity and comprehensiveness of audit results. At the same time, it can also supervise auditors to implement audit work discipline, thus organically combining audit supervision with social supervision and improving the pertinence of audit work. However, with the audit announcement system, can we reduce the work of audit testing procedures and audit results announcement procedures? Obviously not, these three are indispensable. In the audit process, paying attention to audit notice has the same effect as the audit test and the announcement of audit results. They are all different means adopted by the audit department to achieve the audit effect.
Audit notice can be regarded as the humanization of government audit supervision and the advancement of supervision, but it can't and won't replace the audit test procedure and the audit result announcement procedure. The author believes that when the social and economic order is running well, the audit work is in a normal management state, and the public's awareness of rights protection is constantly improving, the role of audit notice will be greater than the audit inspection and the announcement of audit results; On the contrary, the same is true. But even if there is an audit notice system, we can't ignore the audit test, because only through auditing can we implement the actual content of the notice, find problems and take countermeasures. Similarly, only through the announcement of audit results can we further improve the audit announcement system, test the social recognition of audit quality and realize the ultimate goal of audit announcement.
Thirdly, analyze the "audit payment system"
(A) The "audit remuneration system" is a system of auditing accountability.
"Audit Bill System" is just a vivid, vivid and fashionable term. In essence, it refers to an audit report accountability system in which the audited entity or the audited personnel actively correct and rectify the problems found in the audit, and implement the audit handling opinions and audit decisions. It is a concrete form of accountability for the wrong person.
(2) The "audit bill system" needs to be institutionalized, legalized and standardized.
When the audit storm blew in 2004, an article by Sun, Sun, Sun and Sun, "The audit storm exposed the" soft spots "of our six systems", which was really worrying. The weakness of this paper is the lack and loopholes of the official accountability system, which is really chilling. After several years, no wonder some people still have doubts. Is audit accountability still a blind spot? Will it go away after the audit? Can the "audit storm" blow off a "black hat"?
In fact, the accountability system for audit reports has existed for a long time. In the ancient auditing in China, the "accounting system" prevailing in Qin and Han Dynasties had an accountability system for officials. In foreign countries, the accountability of audit reports is more common today. However, in the 2 1 century, the lack of audit accountability system in China has aroused people's great concern about the "single payment system"! Then you can only find the reason from yourself. Fundamentally speaking, the system and institutional defects are the important reasons. To prevent audit problems from the source, we must first solve the system and system problems and make the "audit bill system" legal, standardized and institutionalized.
Even so, we cannot deny the practical significance of the "audit payment system". National audit is a kind of audit with legal authority, which is quite mandatory, serious and authoritative. According to the relevant laws and regulations on government audit in China, the audit decisions made by audit institutions according to law have legal effect and the audited units must abide by them; If the auditee disagrees with the audit decision, it may apply for a review within the prescribed time limit, but the audit decision will still be implemented as usual during the review period. Where the implementation of audit opinions and audit decisions involves relevant departments and units such as finance, banking, administrative supervision and justice, these departments and units shall assist in the implementation. Irresponsibility and dereliction of duty in violation of the above provisions shall be borne by the responsible person and held accountable. It can be seen that the establishment of "audit payment system" has undoubtedly played an important role in improving the deterrence and authority of government audit, solving the difficulty in implementing audit decisions, avoiding audit supervision becoming a mere formality, promoting the audited units to strengthen management, plugging loopholes, improving the efficiency of fund use, establishing and improving the supervision mechanism, and thus preventing the occurrence of "repeated trials and repeated crimes". The implementation of "audit payment system" will enhance the image of the government, strengthen the construction of ruling ability and establish a long-term mechanism for the government to effectively manage officials according to law.
(3) Specific measures to implement the "audit payment system"
In order to implement the "audit payment system", the author believes that the following aspects should be done well according to the problems raised in the audit report: First, the work plan of accountability, handling and rectification should be formulated; The second is to require and urge the audited units to carry out rectification and responsibility handling; The third is to evaluate the effect of rectification; Fourth, admonish the "buyer" according to different situations, and deal with it economically and administratively; Fifth, carry out publicity and education on financial management responsibility and financial law and discipline.
To avoid the "audit payment system" becoming a mere formality, as mentioned above, the most important thing is to legalize, standardize and institutionalize this practice and establish a long-term management mechanism for accountability of audit reports. In terms of measures, efforts should be made in the following specific aspects:
1. Strengthen the collaborative function of integrated management. For the problems found in the audit, the audit and supervision departments shall urge timely rectification. Resolutely investigate and deal with units and personnel that violate financial laws and regulations and cause losses and waste; Those involved in law enforcement departments such as finance, banking, supervision and justice should cooperate closely to effectively change the situation that mistakes are not investigated, investigated and punished, and the situation is not improved after punishment.
2. Clear responsibilities and subdivide the responsibilities to be investigated. Reiterate the specific process of an operation management, the operation norms of each link, and clarify the responsibilities of the responsible person and the methods of investigating the responsibilities; It is the premise of accountability to further clarify and refine the responsibilities of each unit and management level, so that every function and responsibility of economic management can be implemented in specific units and individuals.
3. Strengthen the follow-up audit supervision and inspection. Establish a strong supervision mechanism, implement stricter government follow-up audit, increase supervision and punishment of financial violations, effectively correct unreasonable, irregular and inefficient use of funds, and ensure the implementation of audit conclusions.
4. Improve the economic responsibility audit system for cadres. As an effective means to measure and evaluate cadres' achievements, economic responsibility audit is closely combined with the "single payment system" of audit, and the behavior of officials who do not accept or are unwilling to accept the responsibility of relevant audit reports is included in the important content of economic responsibility audit.
5. Conduct financial and legal education. Regularly conduct special financial discipline and knowledge training for the main responsible persons and financial leaders of government functional departments; In the on-the-job training of civil servants, we should also increase the content of financial legal knowledge.
6. The government actively acts as the "police". Governments at all levels should do something in the whole process of implementing the "audit payment system" and resolutely support and guarantee the audit work.
Four, my humble opinion on the "audit storm"
(A) "audit storm" and the significance of the audit rectification results report
The "audit storm" refers to serious violations of financial laws and regulations, serious losses, waste and corruption. Its harm lies in that these acts ignore the national financial laws and regulations, destroy the social and economic order, damage the image of the party and the government, deviate from the will of taxpayers, and lead to the imbalance of social interests, which is unacceptable to the party, the government and the people. The audit report submitted by the National Audit Office to the National People's Congress every year will have a strong social response and cause a "storm" effect. It reflects the strong resentment from all walks of life, especially the people, the strong discussion on social injustice, the urgent expectation of the government's administrative behavior according to law, the urgent demand for safeguarding its own interests, and the deep call for strengthening the country's democracy and legal system. If the serious problems disclosed in the audit report are not corrected resolutely and forcefully, there will be endless troubles. Reporting the rectification of audit problems has at least three meanings: 1. It embodies the importance that the Party and the government attach to the socialist market economic order and financial discipline, the determination and confidence to rectify the economic order, the unshakable determination to resolutely and forcefully punish corruption, and the seriousness of financial discipline. 2. It is the concrete action of the Party and the government to implement the strategic measures to build a harmonious society, aiming at safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of citizens through rectification, embodying the people-oriented thought of governing for the people and conforming to public opinion and voice. 3. Promote the construction of socialist democracy and legal system, truly let taxpayers know where the money is spent, and promote the legalization, standardization and institutionalization of government administration. 4. It promotes the perfection of our government audit system, expands the credibility of audit, maintains the good image of national audit, and strengthens the authority, legitimacy and compulsion of national audit supervision.
(B) the root of the "audit storm" and the impact of the audit rectification results report
In China, the difficulty of audit work is obvious to all. At present, there are still four difficulties in audit work: first, it is more difficult to summarize, characterize and deal with some problems; Second, the increase of audit transparency makes the audit risk increase; Third, there is a big gap between auditors' own level; Fourth, a lot of work needs long-term efforts. The implementation stage of government audit plan is actually the core task of collecting audit evidence. Once the audit evidence is sufficient and appropriate, the conclusion, characterization and handling of the audit is a procedural issue. Of course, the difficulty of handling execution is another problem. There are two reasons why it is difficult to obtain evidence in audit work: first, some people try to block the audit phenomenon or are subject to some objective restrictions, which leads to the failure of audit investigation and evidence collection; Second, the low professional quality of auditors leads to improper use of audit methods, and it is difficult to obtain sufficient and powerful evidence. The reason is that the audited entity or the audited entity's auditing legal system is weak, the interest tendency makes subordinate departments and local protection forces play a role, the economic and business operation procedures are illegal, and the professional level of auditors is not high.
The State Council has made regulations requiring departments and units with problems in audit reports to report the rectification of audit problems within a specified time, and report to the National People's Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) at the end of the year. Since the rectification is aimed at the problems raised in the audit report and is caused by the "audit storm", it will certainly have a certain social impact. The author believes that the public is still the main body most concerned about the rectification results of audit problems, and public opinion has always been a powerful driving force for the "audit storm", especially in today's harmonious society and scientific development. The problems pointed out in the audit report are all against financial discipline and social ugliness that are incompatible with building a harmonious society. Therefore, the results of rectification must first bring about a significant improvement in the party style and social atmosphere, but it depends on the results of rectification. The results of resolute and powerful rectification are as follows: first, it can shape the new image of the party and the government, reflect the party's ruling ability and level, and enhance the public's belief in opposing corruption and trust in clean politics and clean government; Second, it is also an ideological education action of diligent work for the people and administration according to law, and implements the current advanced education of the party; Third, the seriousness of financial law and discipline has been maintained, and a just, fair and open new social and economic order has been established, which is conducive to arousing the legal awareness and social conscience of some weak-willed people and plays a warning role; Fourth, it has maintained social stability, stabilized the people's hearts, and strengthened the relationship between the government and the people, which is conducive to the people's Qi Xin to work together in the great process of building a harmonious society; Fifth, it has expanded the influence of government audit and strengthened the independence and authority of government audit.
The frequent occurrence of "audit storm" shows that China's democratic political system has been further strengthened, the people's right to be masters of their own affairs has been further implemented, and the people's right to know has been further reflected. However, the frequent occurrence of "audit storm" also reflects many problems from another side. It shows that the resistance in the process of socialist market construction in China is still great, evil forces are still rampant, corruption is still serious, the anti-corruption task is still very arduous, and the people are still dissatisfied with the government's work and have strong demands and aspirations for strengthening anti-corruption. The fundamental reason is that our system and system still have various drawbacks. China is still in the social stage of gradual improvement of the legal system, and the design of some systems has not yet achieved the desired results. This requires further speeding up the process of political system reform, intensifying the reform of market economy system, perfecting financial laws and regulations, and taking effective rectification and preventive measures. Only by deepening the reform can we fundamentally improve the social, political and economic order, and this reform should be an overall, all-round and comprehensive systematic project.