Studies On Economic Accountability Audit

Economic accountability audit by competent authorities in the Chinese government has been going on for more than twenty years,which has been playing an important role in the nation's economic order and stability as well as in power balancing and supervision etc.After years of development,the economic accountability audit in China has been institutionalized and standardized,significantly checking and supervising the exercising of public power,maintaining the nation's economic stability and order,contributing a lot to the nation's effort against corruption and adding to many other activities in the nation.However,problems with the auditing practices and the auditing environment as well as many other elements have created a lot of problems if the nation hopes to further improve quality and effects of the auditing practice.This thesis argues that,in final analysis,problems with the economic accountability audit are results of misunderstanding of,or mistakes in,identifying the auditing objectives.From the perspective of public accountability theory,state governance theory,power checking and supervision theory and so on,this thesis analyzes the guiding principles and basic rules in identifying objectives for economic accountability audit,which,as it's believed,shall stay in line with principles of systematic assessment, power-responsibility equivalence,feasibility,and collaborative governance etc.Also,the history of economic accountability audit is reviewed,and current relationship between state governance and government auditing is taking into consideration,to further analyze the auditing environment and the auditing practices themselves as well as other elements that can have a great impact on identifying objectives for the accountability auditing.On this basis,the thesis concludes a system framework for objectives in economic accountability audit.The thesis thinks that objectives of economic accountability audit constitute a hierarchical system that is composed of four layers,namely the fundamental objective,the general objective,the detailed objectives and project-level objectives,among which,the fundamental objective shall stay in line with the functions and objectives of the auditing authorities in the government and is the utmost objective of all economic accountability audit activities,reflecting the auditing ideals and expectations.And the general objective shall stay in line with the nature of and shall reflect expected outcomes of the accountability auditing at different time and toward different audited entities.The project-level objectives shall demonstrate the involvement of objectives for economic accountability audit,and shall adapt themselves to different types of accountability auditing as well as to the social,political and economic environment,so as to stay in line with specific objectives of various economic accountability audit activities.The detailed objectives are specified objectives of the general objective,serving as the general guidance for defining the project-level objectives,and,as a matter of fact are as a transitional step between the identification of the general objective and that of the project-level objectives.After establishing a system framework of objectives in economic accountability audit that aims at effective service performance verification,power checking/supervision as well as unfailing implementation of accountability reporting programs,the thesis takes the economic accountability audit in the Jiangning district of Nanjing,Jiangsu Province as an example to further study the development of economic accountability audit from an empirical perspective.According to such studies,economic accountability audit in this district has undergone three phases,namely of exploration,standardization and innovation,while playing an important role for better management of and supervision over the officials,establishment and improvement of power checking and supervision mechanisms,better economic,social and scientific developments,improved mechanisms concerning accountability reporting,identification and enforcement,as well as improved mechanisms against corruption or ensuring corruption-related penalties.Meanwhile,in this district,the economic accountability audit has a lot of problems;for example,objectives are only vaguely identified for performance-related auditing;management of economic accountability audit is far from being scientific;also,the economic accountability audit in most cases only focuses on financial aspects;last but not the least,accountability reporting mechanism related to economic accountability audit has not been able to operate in an effective manner.Targeting at these problems,the thesis proposes the following policies and measures,to further improve the economic accountability audit in this district:the auditing shall be target-oriented and shall be assessed in terms of performance;focuses of the economic accountability audit shall be standardized;accountability for officials shall be scientifically assessed and identified;auditing authorities shall join hands with other competent authorities to present coordinated supervision;supporting resources for auditing shall be coordinated and the auditing staff members shall be subject to better capacity building etc.