The Functions Of Governmental Accounting In State Governance Under The Perspective Of Public Power

The idea of “promoting the modernization of the state governance system and governance capacities” was proposed in the Third Plenary Session of the 18 th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.Since then,facilitating the modernization of state governance has become one of the most important political propositions in the new era.Governmental accounting,as a specialized information system,is a mainstay information support mechanism in state governance.The proposal of the concept of modernized state governance has opened up a broader space for the fulfillment of governmental accounting functions.As such,governmental accounting should become a more effective tool to advance the modernization of state governance.A systematic discussion of the functions of governmental accounting in state governance by centering around its property as an information tool helps contribute new approaches to advancing the modernization of state governance.Identifying the role of governmental accounting in state governance,sorting out the method and clue of how governmental accounting plays a role in state governance,and then scientifically defining the functions of governmental accounting in state governance helps direct actors of state governance to follow the mechanism of how functions of governmental accounting are formed in state governance,promote the generation and transmission of these functions and thus facilitate the fulfillment of modernized state governance.On this basis,this paper focuses on “the functions of governmental accounting in state governance” and specifically explores the following questions: What are the functions of governmental accounting in state governance? How these functions are fulfilled? How to empirically validate the functions of governmental accounting in state governance through quantitative research methods? How to promote full fulfillment of functions of governmental accounting in state governance?As a grand cause,state governance concerns with it a variety of aspects like politics,economy,society,culture and ecological civilization.To enable accurately reflected key points and theme,this paper focuses on state governance in its core categories of the allocation and operation of public power and examine it from a microscopic perspective of public power.Specifically,against the background of advancing modernization of state governance and based on the property of governmental accounting as an information tool,this paper follows a logic chain of “theoretical foundation → institutional background → function definition → empirical test → policy implications” to systematically discuss the functions of governmental accounting in state governance.Firstly,this paper analyzes basic theories,including Public Fiduciary Duty,Power Supervision,Public Choice,Signal Transmission/Signaling,Governance Tool,and Institutional Change,in order to provide theoretical support for the functions of governmental accounting in state governance.In addition,this paper reviews the current domestic and foreign literature of the related topics to offer basic data and identify insufficiencies of the existing literature,thus pinpointing the future direction of this study.Secondly,it summarizes the construction and development of related systems from such dimensions as the reforms and status quo of China’s government accounting system under accrual accounting;the evolution of Chinese government information disclosure and government accounting information disclosure systems;and the construction of government accounting system from the perspective of state governance,to provide the institutional basis for the functions of governmental accounting in state governance.Thirdly,it presents a definition of the functions of governmental accounting in state governance from a perspective of public power,and the functions of governmental accounting in state governance are divided into three categories:the function to allocate public power,the function to supervise public power operation and the function to evaluate the effectiveness of public power operation.Fourthly,starting with the discretionary power of local government budget,anti-corruption governance,the efficiency of local government governance,the function of governmental accounting to evaluate public power in state governance is empirically validated.Finally,combining with the results of theoretical analysis and empirical test,this paper from such aspects as the construction of government accounting systems,the use of government accounting information,as well as the coordination between government accounting and other governance tools,strategies are proposed to fully play the roles of government accounting in state governance and the shortcomings and possible research directions are provided.Drawing on precedent studies,this paper has the following innovations: First,in terms of research content design,this paper defines the functions of governmental accounting in state governance,and specifies these functions as the function to allocate public power,the function to supervise public power operation and the function to evaluate the effectiveness of public power operation,filling the void of specific function analysis in research of this field.Second,in terms of methodology,this paper adopts the quantitative approach and uses provincial panel data to empirically validate the functions of governmental accounting in state governance,expanding the empirical study of governmental accounting.Third,with respect to research perspectives,this paper focuses on state governance in core categories of the allocation and operation of public power,and constructs an analytical framework of the functions of governmental accounting in state governance from the public power perspective.Fourth,for the expansion of academic viewpoints,this paper probes into government accounting as a major information tool for state governance,enriching the theoretical studies on information tools.