日本政府审计制度及其对中国的启示

中日两国是一衣带水的友好领邦,同时也是亚洲极具影响力的两个政治经济大国,近几十年来日本在政府审计方面取得了一定的进展,形成了自己鲜明的特色。本文试图通过对日本政府审计制度基本情况的介绍,分析日本政府审计的主要特点与发展动向,比较中日两国审计制度在独立性、方向性、技术性和透明性等方面的不同之处,为不断完善的中国政府审计制度提供参考建议。     

Government auditing and corruption control: Evidence from China’s provincial panel data

Since its foundation, China’s government auditing system has played a very important role in maintaining financial and economic order and improving government accountability and transparency. Though a great deal of research has discussed the role of government auditing in discovering and deterring corruption, there is little empirical evidence on whether government auditing actually helps to reduce corruption. Using China’s provincial panel data from 1999 to 2008, this paper empirically examines the role of government auditing in China’s corruption control initiatives. Our findings indicate that the number of irregularities detected in government auditing is positively related to the corruption level in that province, which means the more severe the corruption is in a province, the more irregularities in government accounts are found by local audit institutions. Also, post-audit rectification effort is negatively related to the corruption level in that province, indicating that greater rectification effort is associated with less corruption. This paper provides empirical evidence on how government auditing can contribute to curbing corruption, which is also helpful for understanding the role of China’s local audit institutions in government governance and can enrich the literature on both government auditing and corruption control.     

Government auditing in China: Problems and reform

This paper evaluates the current government auditing system in China and the proposal to move it from the control of the executive body (the State Council) to the control of the legislature (the National People's Congress). Interviews with government auditors, government and people's congress officials, and leading academics identify the problems caused by lack of audit independence. Although audit independence can be increased by moving the control of government auditing to the legislature, many of our interviewees considered such a move as infeasible in the current political climate. To smooth the reform toward a legislature-led audit system, we propose a “Dual-Track System” in which the different audit responsibilities currently undertaken by the government auditing system are separated. The responsibility for auditing the use and control of fiscal budgets by the central and regional governments would be under the control of the legislature as this area of government auditing has a clear need for audit independence. Other audit functions including economic responsibility auditing, special purpose funds auditing, financial service auditing and state-owned enterprise auditing would remain under the control of the government. This dual track approach would, we argue, be a politically acceptable compromise as it would strengthen audit independence where it is most needed but also enable the government to maintain strong economic control.     

增强责任性与改善绩效——政府绩效审计的目标剖析

增强政府责任性与改善政府绩效是政府绩效审计的目标追求,但是,二者之间存在着明显的差异。本文分析在不能兼顾政府责任性与绩效的情况下,政府绩效审计更适合追求什么目标。文章指出,就政府绩效审计而言,它对标准的热衷、过程的关注及其从传统审计中沿用的查错途径,使得它在提高政府的责任性方面具有先天优势;然而,政府绩效审计对绩效标准的看重及其使用的绩效归因方法,却在一定程度上阻碍绩效审计实现改善绩效的目标。在这样的背景下,更为现实的政府绩效审计目标应该是力求提高政府责任性,而非兼顾两者。     

The Seven Deadly Sins of Performance Auditing: Implications for Monitoring Public Audit Institutions

Performance auditing is a longstanding feature of democratic government in many countries. It aims to lift the efficiency and effectiveness of public sector organisations, but numerous authors have voiced scepticism about its ability to do so. From three decades of performance auditing literature, this paper distils seven critiques of performance auditing: ‘anti‐innovation’, ‘nit‐picking’, ‘expectations gap’, ‘lapdog’, ‘headline hunting’, ‘unnecessary systems’ and ‘hollow ritual’. The paper concludes that the critiques are not valid in all cases, but serve to categorise risks to be managed in the design of performance audit programs and associated institutional arrangements. In light of the critiques, the paper proposes desirable elements of frameworks for monitoring and reporting the performance of institutions with performance audit mandates.     

国家审计能提升大气污染治理效率吗?

近年来,大气污染问题已成为公众关注的重要话题,考验着政府对生态环境的治理能力。国家审计作为党和国家监督体系的重要组成部分,在助力打好三大攻坚战中发挥积极作用,而国家审计能提升大气污染治理效率吗?本文选取我国2006~2016年30个省的数据,利用超效率DEA模型计算大气污染治理效率,然后对国家审计与大气污染治理效率之间的关系进行了实证分析。研究发现,国家审计能够促进大气污染治理效率。进一步研究发现,不同财政状况下,国家审计对大气污染治理效率发挥重要作用。基于分析结果,本文提出完善大气污染防治攻坚战跟踪审计、大力推进资源环境审计信息化建设、提高审计人员专业素养等大气污染治理的对策建议。本文研究为国家审计在大气污染治理中发挥作用提供了经验证据,对大气污染治理具有参考价值。     

审计公开制度体系建设研究

实行审计公开是一项重要的制度创新,在我国政府信息公开工作体系中占有重要地位。但审计公开在我国尚处于发展初期,保障审计公开顺利推进的相关法律法规和规章制度还不够健全完善,审计公开的推进还面临制度性障碍。本课题从推进审计公开工作的实务出发,从宏观、中观、微观三个层面设计了审计公开制度体系建设的总体框架,并提出了审计公开制度建设的近期目标和远景规划。     

论我国政府绩效审计的内涵

审计署2008至2012年审计工作发展规划提出要全面推进绩效审计,提高财政资金和公共资源配置、使用、利用的经济性、效率性和效果性。到2012年,每年所有的审计项目都开展绩效审计。可见,政府绩效审计是在财政财务收支审计发展到一定阶段推出的又一新的审计领域,对推动政府审计工作、建立节约性政府、创建和谐社会具有很好的现实意义。本文着力论述了政府绩效审计的必要性,对经济性、效率性、效果性的内涵做了相应的探讨。     

政府审计信息披露质量评价体系构建

政府审计信息公开是政务信息公开的一个重要方面,审计署公开审计信息一方面提高审计监督的透明度,另一方面保障公民、法人和其他组织对审计的知情权、参与权和监督权。文章阐述了政府审计信息披露的理论基础和现状,并在此基础上对审计署近几年公布的审计信息公开工作报告进行加工整理,进而对政府审计信息公开工作报告存在的问题做出尝试性的归纳和总结。最后,提出中国政府审计信息披露质量评价指标体系由及时性、完整性、准确性、客观性、重要性及清晰性等六个方面质量特征构成。     

财政科技创新项目绩效审计评价指标设计及应用

财政项目支出绩效审计是政府绩效审计的重要内容,如何构建合理的绩效审计评价指标并运用科学的评价方法是获得客观的审计结论的重要前提。本文分析了绩效审计评价指标体系的构建原则,在此基础上构建了一项财政科技创新项目的绩效审计评价指标,并采用层次分析法和模糊综合评价法对该项目进行绩效审计评价,将定性评价的指标演算为量化的评价结论。最后,在结论部分,对模糊层次分析法在绩效审计评价中的运用进行了总结。     

New development: Breaking out or hanging on? Internal audit in government

Public audit is in transition. On the one hand, professional organizations claim it is time ‘to break out’ and develop new roles for auditors that ‘add more value’. On the other hand, critics are concerned about public sector accountability deficits necessitating more control and urging auditors to hold on to their traditional role. This article discusses tensions and relevance between these positions and their implications for auditing in government. The article will help policy-makers in their strategic decision-making on the role and focus of internal audit in government.     

PERFORMANCE AUDITING IN THE CENTRAL GOVERNMENT OF JAPAN

Performance auditing is a common interest in the Supreme Audit Institutions of the developed countries. In Japan, the Board of Audit (JBA) has been developed and has expanded performance audits since its establishment (1880). In this paper, the methodological and organizational problems which arise according to expansion of performance audits are discussed, based on JBA's experiences. As for methodological problems, a self-development approach should be needed, added to the compliance approach (that is, traditional auditing concept). And as for organizational problems, the function presenting feedback information to the Diet should be put in an important position in government auditing to avoid "unintended effects".     

清朝雍正初期的审计机构——会考府考略

会考府是清朝雍正皇帝设立的政府审计机构,虽存续三载,却有明显的审计特性,《中国审计史》对其做过简要记述。本文依据现存史料档案,对会考府的设置与裁撤时间、机构编制、职责权限、审计特点等进行了较详细的介绍和考证,并就会考府的审计特性进行了分析和探讨。     

经济效益审计方法研究

经济效益审计在企业乃至政府中的作用正逐渐显现,而经济效益审计方法则是影响经济效益审计效用的一个非常重要的因素。本文以经济效益审计方法为切入点,首先通过阐述经济效益审计的含义,引申出其方法与传统审计方法的异同;然后结合经济效益审计方法的各种应用条件,对各种方法的具体使用进行详解;最后汇总概括本文主旨并提出建议。     

会计稳健性与审计收费:基于审计风险控制策略的分析

随着监管趋于更加严格,会计师事务所承担的法律责任和赔偿也越来越高。如何采取有效措施防范和控制风险,最大可能地降低损失,已经成为会计师事务所的重要议题。本文对2001至2006年我国上市公司展开研究后发现:作为一种风险控制策略,强制审计客户保持一定的会计稳健性能够降低审计风险,从而降低审计收费;但稳健性发挥作用受到法律环境和诉讼风险的影响,仅对同时发行A股和其他类型股票的企业起到了显著作用。较高审计收费的风险控制策略与强制客户保持一定稳健性的风险控制策略之间存在替代关系。     

加强我国审计监督工作的若干思考

20年来，审计工作在促进深化改革、整顿规范市场经济秩序、惩治腐败和加强廉政建设等方面发挥了重要作用，积累了丰富经验。当前中国审计工作面临一系列重要课题，为此，本文提出了相应对策。     

社会保险稽核工作存在的问题与对策研究

社会保险稽核工作取得了很大成绩，但由于社会保险法制建设滞后等原因，社会保险稽核工作还存在不少问题。通过加速社会保险立法进程，完善相应的法规体系，强化政府责任，加强区域间、部门间的协作，才能确保社会保险稽核促进社会保险费应收尽收、维护参保人员合法权益，防止基金流失，保证基金安全运行。     

Government audit supervision,financialization, and executives' excess perks: Evidence from Chinese state-owned enterprises

In recent years, the phenomenon of corporate financialization has become increasingly prevalent in China. This paper uses data from Chinese state-owned listed firms from 2006 to 2018 to investigate whether large-scale financial investments by companies facilitate executives' excess perk consumption, and whether government auditing, as an important component of the national governance system, can play a governance role in this behavior. The results show that corporate financialization behavior significantly exacerbates executives' excess perks, and government auditing can mitigate the effect of corporate financialization on executives' excess perk consumption. We find that increased cash flow is the mechanism by which financialization behavior positively affects executives' excess perks. Furthermore, this study reveals that the implicit corruption of state-owned enterprise executives through corporate financialization is primarily based on compensation psychology, which will reduce the effectiveness of monetary compensation contracts. However, government auditing can effectively constrain this influence.     

An Examination of Substitution among Monitoring Devices: The Case of Internal and External Audit Expenditures

Much of the agency literature assumes that various monitoring devices are partial substitutes in reducing total agency costs. In particular, internal and external auditing often are characterized as monitoring devices that should be partial substitutes. We argue that reliable evidence of this relation is lacking because prior studies using cross-sectional archival data have not carefully considered the implications of microeconomic theory of substitution for the models estimated. Our analysis leads to a reexamination of the relation using time-series data. We find no evidence that systematic substitution of internal for external auditing (or vice versa) occurred during the period 1989–1993. Further analysis indicates that the relative prices of internal and external auditing inputs did not change during the period. Therefore a necessary condition for substitution to occur did not exist. Although we do not detect substitution with our sample, the analysis and methodology we develop contribute to the literature by enhancing researchers understanding of substitution among monitoring methods.     

Auditing program evaluations: The Canadian case

In 1983, the Canadian Auditor General reported to Parliament on the State of program evaluation in the Federal Government. Nineteen departments and agencies were audited and it was found that, since 1978, the government has made progress in implementing program evaluation.This paper describes the audit on which the opinion was based. The background to the audit is presented, followed by a discussion of the audit methodology developed and the audit standards employed. The findings of the audit are summarized along with a brief discussion of the implications of effectiveness auditing for auditing and public administration.