From surface to depth, from point to surface - From the 2022 audit work report to see the unique role of audit supervision and effective implementation of policies | Issues | Audit work
Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, June 26 (Xinhua) - From the Surface to the Deep, from the Point to the Surface - From the 2022 Audit Work Report to the Effective Play of the Unique Role of Audit Supervision
Xinhua News Agency reporter Zou Duowei
Audit is an important component of the Party and state supervision system. On the 26th, entrusted by the State Council, Hou Kai, the Auditor General of the National Audit Office, presented the Audit Work Report of the State Council on the Implementation of the Central Budget and Other Financial Income and Expenditure for the Year 2022 to the Third Session of the Standing Committee of the 14th National People's Congress.
The report shows that over the past year, audit institutions have taken into account both quality and efficiency, focusing on eliminating blind spots and blind spots in supervision, especially conducting in-depth supervision of key areas, areas, units, and personnel, providing strong guarantees for high-quality development.
"Overall, this year's audit work report is structurally similar to previous years," said Wang Dehua, Director of the Financial Audit Research Office of the Institute of Finance and Economics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The report is mainly divided into central financial management audits covering organizational fiscal revenue, central budget allocation and investment plan management, central final account draft preparation, local financial supervision, 41 central department budget execution audits, 2 major projects and 4 key livelihood fund audits, 4 types of state-owned asset management audits, over 300 major disciplinary and illegal issues clues, and 4 audit recommendations.
On May 9, 2023, trucks transported container goods in the Chuanshan Port area of Ningbo Zhoushan Port. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Weng Xinyang
The report first affirms the achievements and experiences of macroeconomic regulation, people's livelihood security, coordinated development and security, and audit rectification over the past year, and deeply reveals common and biased issues and drawbacks.
For example, the report points out issues such as unclear boundaries between general public budgets and other budgets, and illegal addition of implicit debts; Clearly define that the overall execution of the central department's budget is relatively standardized, but the affiliated units still have frequent problems; Revealing the lax review of the entry process in government and social capital cooperation projects; Significantly increase the amount of space on auditing in scientific and educational fields such as basic research, key core technology breakthroughs, and compulsory education in urban and rural areas; In the "clues to major violations of discipline and law" section, it is emphasized that industry and systemic corruption are prominent, and areas with intensive funds and abundant resources are the hardest hit areas.
Ji Jisheng, Deputy Director of the Policy Research Office of the National Audit Office, stated that the report is based on the positioning of economic supervision, focusing on the true and legitimate benefits of fiscal revenue and expenditure, accurately grasping and promoting full coverage of auditing with high quality. Although the form is relatively fixed, the content revolves around the financial fund management system, covering the entire process of income, distribution, investment, management, etc.
"On the one hand, this reflects that we have audited the main funds and projects involved in the execution of the central budget and other fiscal revenues and expenditures, which meet the requirements for full coverage quantity. On the other hand, key supervision drives comprehensive supervision, revealing prominent problems in relevant units, forming a substantial and effective deterrence for various audited units, and also reflecting the requirements for the quality of full coverage." said Ji Jisheng.
Valuing, managing, and utilizing national funds is an important responsibility of auditing agencies. Another highlight of this year's report is the objective exposure of typical problems along the main line of "funds projects policies politics". It does not avoid social hotspots or even areas that may trigger widespread discussion and debate, focuses on identifying the root causes of problems, and puts forward opinions and suggestions to solve them, further highlighting the practical significance of audit supervision as an indispensable force in the governance of the Party and the country.
In the audit of basic research and key core technology tasks, the report does not simply focus on the amount of financial losses, but objectively reveals that some scientific research achievements are suspected of fraud and that some funds have been defrauded, embezzled or misappropriated. For example, some project results were published earlier than the start time of the project, and the acceptance of results was superficial. The pass rate of 649 accepted projects was 96.5%, but a spot check found that out of 135 projects, it was actually 34 that did not complete all tasks.
In the process of organizing national livelihood projects such as employment, housing, education, and rural revitalization, the main problems discovered in the audit include falsification, detachment from reality, and encroachment on the interests of the masses. For example, in some places, vocational skills training uses fake students, fake content, and fake projects to defraud funds, some places falsely report the number of pilot tasks for the development of the housing rental market, and some national key assistance counties for rural revitalization deviate from reality in terms of industrial development.
"The emergence of these problems indicates that a few regions and departments still have formalism and bureaucracy in the implementation of livelihood policies. This not only requires further enhancing the scientific and rational design of the implementation mechanism of livelihood policies, but also strengthening the implementation and accountability of responsibilities, effectively enhancing the sense of gain, happiness, and security of the people." Ji Jisheng said.
On June 21, 2023, medical staff came to Xiamatou Community in Shenliu Town, Anxiang County, Changde City, Hunan Province to provide health care services for the elderly. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Chen Sihan
In response to the revealed issues, the report also proposes four highly targeted and actionable audit recommendations. Among them, "promoting the overall planning and balance of macroeconomic regulation policies, enhancing timeliness and accuracy" mainly combines specific problems found in special bonds, finance and other fields, and proposes from the aspects of active fiscal policy, prudent monetary policy, and coordination between policies; "Steadily promoting reforms in key areas and key links to lay a solid foundation for achieving high-quality development" is mainly aimed at addressing the problems of weak links in budget allocation management and inadequate implementation of major policies; "Focusing on preventing and resolving major economic and financial risks and hidden dangers, and strictly supervising and constraining the exercise of power" is mainly proposed to address issues such as financial risks, significant investment losses in state-owned enterprises, and inadequate implementation of resource and environmental policies; Strengthening the performance management of fiscal funds and enforcing strict financial and economic discipline is mainly aimed at addressing issues such as weak budget performance management, implementation of the spirit of the central eight point regulations, and lax requirements for tight living.
"Economic physical examination" is not only for investigating diseases, but also for "treating existing diseases and preventing them before they occur". Ji Jisheng said that revealing problems is the means of auditing, and promoting problem-solving is the ultimate goal of auditing. The disclosure of audit results is to promote relevant departments, localities, and units to take the issues pointed out in the audit seriously. It is necessary to not only focus on rectifying specific problems from a political perspective and do a good job in "point" rectification, but also to implement the relevant suggestions proposed by the audit and do a good job in "surface" rectification.
Audit has a wide range of tentacles and quick response, playing a "probe" role in economic operation. Wang Dehua said that, in combination with specific audit fields, we should adhere to the system concept, draw inferences from one instance, strengthen rectification efforts from the aspects of improving policies, promoting reform, preventing risks, strengthening management, and enforcing discipline, so as to promote source governance and prevent problems before they occur with solid and effective audit rectification, better play the unique role of audit in promoting the party's self revolution, and safeguard the overall situation of the party and the country with powerful and effective audit supervision services.
