The Business of Auditing in China

Public finance audit

Public finance audit is an important method taken to guarantee the implementation of the state economic policies and safeguard the economic order of a country. During its audit of the financial revenues and expenditures of district/county governments over recent years, the municipal audit department has exposed quite a few cases of discipline violation in which taxes were cut or exempted and financial revenues were retained beyond the limits of power and recovered the funds tied-up or embezzled therein. Pursuant to the Audit Law of the People's Republic of China, the municipal audit department started in 1995 to exercise, under the leadership of the Mayor and the National Audit Office of the People's Republic of China, audit supervision of the People's Government of Beijing Municipality in its implementation of local financial budgets.

Government agencies audit

While continuing with audit of the financial revenues and expenditures of government departments, audit supervision over special funds earmarked for the development of science, education, public health and other sectors has come into the spotlight to keep line with the economic construction in the capital and the pivotal work of the Municipal Government. Such audit supervision has helped departments concerned perfect their legal systems, strengthen fund management, and raise the efficiency of funds application.

Capital construction audit

Capital construction audit means audit supervision by audit departments of implementation and final account of state construction projects. Thanks to capital construction audit over the years, cases of occupation, embezzlement and transfer of state funds and unauthorized expansion of the scale of investment have been investigated and handled, the funds that have been tied up have been recovered, the final accounts of some projects have been cut, and investment has been saved, thus guaranteeing smooth construction of key state projects.

Monetary audit

Monetary audit means exercise of audit supervision of the balance sheets of state-owned financial institutions. In the course of monetary audit, internal control is given first priority and attention is paid to the quality of financial assets and the legality of credits for the purpose of taking stock of what is precisely there. Monetary audit provides a remedy for cases of violation of financial disciplines and plays an important role in preventing financial risks and improving the quality of financial assets.

Social security audit

Social security audit is designed to strengthen audit of funds earmarked as the basic pensions of retirees, unemployment insurance funds, funds earmarked for guaranteeing the basic life of workers laid off from state-owned enterprises, funds earmarked for guaranteeing employment of the disabled, special funds earmarked for rewarding instead of subsidization of community construction, and issuance of welfare lotteries. Its purpose is to encourage departments concerned to institute an effective system of self-control throughout the process of collection, management and spending of funds, reduce cases of occupation and embezzlement of funds, and increase the efficiency of funds utilization to serve social stability and development.

Agriculture, resources and environmental protection audit

This kind of audit covers agriculture, forestry, water conservancy, and environmental protection. Since its introduction a few years ago, agriculture, resources and environmental protection audit has played an active role in promoting the development of modern agricultural economy, effective application of resources, and environment-friendly construction in Beijing.

Accountability audit
Accountability audit is designed to cater to the need of reform and socialist market economic development in China and strengthen supervision and management of officials. After years of exploration and practice, accountability audit has come to play an important role in promoting clean government, enforcing financial laws and disciplines, and maintaining economic order.

Enterprise audit
Enterprise audits covers departments in charge of industry, transportation, commere, grain, supply and marketing, foreign trade and other sectors and their subsidiary companies (groups) and enterprises. In the course of enterprise audit over the years, audit of the revenues and expenditures of enterprises has been taken as the basis and focus has been laid on the audit of the assets, liabilities, and gains and losses of enterprises along with term-end accountability audit and reform of state-owned enterprises to explore ways and methods for enterprise audit. Enterprise audit has helped correct cases of law and discipline violation and bring to surface problems in the reform of state-owned enterprises such as confusion of property rights after restructuring, falsification of registered capital, imaginary list of actual capital funds, and increase of the risks of debtors, thus guaranteeing the maintenance and multiplication of the value of state-owned assets.