Five years into the law of "disclosure of budget and final accounts": only 8 companies have not disclosed
"Sunshine Finance" is on the way
Putting the "state ledger" under the effective supervision of the people requires a "knife-inward" reform, committing to "making the best use of things" and "making the best use of them", and truly "using them for people" and "benefit the people".
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93,000:8, the comparison of these two figures reflects the profound changes that have taken place in China's fiscal transparency in the past five years.
In 2015, the Ministry of Finance conducted a special inspection on the disclosure of local budgets and final accounts for the first time. The results of this major inspection involving about 260,000 budget units at the provincial, municipal and county levels showed that there were 93,000 local departments at all levels that did not disclose their budgets and final accounts in 2015. Family.
According to a recent report released by the Ministry of Finance, there are 256,100 units and 261,400 units that should disclose their budgets and final accounts in 2020 (the number of departments has decreased compared with the previous year due to the impact of institutional reform), and 4 units have not been disclosed. Add up to 8.
"Local party committees and governments at all levels continue to build 'sunshine finance', basically realizing that budget and final accounts information should be made public." The relevant person in charge of the Supervision and Evaluation Bureau of the Ministry of Finance said that from the inspection results, local party committees and governments at all levels have deepened Implementing the decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, and taking multiple measures to promote the disclosure of budget and final accounts, the management level of the disclosure of budget and final accounts has been continuously improved, and remarkable results have been achieved in the disclosure of budget and final accounts.
In 2009, the State Council released for the first time four budget tables approved by the National People's Congress, including central fiscal revenue, central fiscal expenditure, central government expenditure at its own level, and central government-to-local tax rebates and transfer payments.
Since then, my country has made different degrees of beneficial exploration on budget transparency from central agencies to grass-roots departments.
In 2015, the budget law was overhauled for the first time, and after the "disclosure of budget and final accounts" was written into the law, the progress of fiscal transparency of my country's provincial governments was even more obvious.
The financial budget is related to the "money bag" of the common people, and it is "the wealth of the people and the wealth of the people".
Wang Huayu, associate professor of Shanghai Jiaotong University Kaiyuan Law School and deputy director of the Financial and Taxation Law Research Center, believes that controlling the government's "money bag" will also control the source of the government's power and ensure that public power is relatively modest. To exercise it properly, and make the best use of the "people's wealth" in accordance with the performance principle.
He said that the basic premise and fundamental purpose of "sunshine finance" is whether the people can fully and effectively supervise the government's budget management process.
"A little bit of tax" is "taken from the people", and it is necessary to "manage the account book well" in accordance with the "will of the people".
Cages to Build Institutions
In the past five years, many aspects have demonstrated the effectiveness of my country's open budget and final accounts.
In 2015, there were 93,000 local departments at all levels that did not disclose their budgets and final accounts. After that, they dropped sharply in successive years. Since 2018, they have been in single digits for three consecutive years.
The Ministry of Finance has gradually set up a column for the disclosure of provincial budgets and final accounts, and incorporated the disclosure of local budgets and final accounts into the central government’s assessment system for local financial work, instructing and urging local governments to do a good job in the disclosure of budgets and final accounts.
System building is extremely important.
The above-mentioned report issued by the Ministry of Finance mentioned that in recent years, my country's budget and final accounts disclosure system has been gradually improved.
The central and local governments have made simultaneous efforts, and the top-level design and effective implementation have been coordinated to build a scientific open system.
Liu Shangxi, president of the Chinese Academy of Fiscal Sciences, once said that the 'cage' of the financial system can constrain public power. For example, the budget is arranged with public funds. The budget must be approved by the National People's Congress and can only be implemented after approval. The income and expenditure of the land means that it is illegal without the authorization of the law.
"To effectively restrain public power, we must build a 'cage' of the financial system and establish a rule of law finance, which is the governance of public power."
Government budget expert and Professor Deng Shulian from Shanghai University of Finance and Economics has been tracking the transparency of government budgets for a long time, and she is very concerned about the changes in each evaluation indicator.
She told China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily that the modern financial budget system is the most important part of the modern national system, which is determined by the foundation and pillar status of finance in a country's governance.
The reason why "sunshine finance" is important is that it is the only effective tool for regulating public power and allowing fiscal power to operate under "sunshine".
An open and transparent budget is the soul of the modern budget system.
Over the years, local party committees and governments at all levels have continued to innovate disclosure methods, improve disclosure content, and enhance transparency.
It is understood that at present, all provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) have established unified public platforms at the provincial, municipal and county levels.
Some regions have formulated a unified public template to standardize the presentation format for the "three public" funds, government debt, government procurement, poverty alleviation funds, etc. of public concern, so as to increase readability and comparability between different regions.
The School of Public Economics and Management of Shanghai University of Finance and Economics has been evaluating the transparency of financial information for 10 consecutive years since 2008. Deng Shulian is one of the members of the research group.
Looking back on the changes in the past 10 years, she is quite emotional - at the beginning of the project, many people did not understand why they did such a "thankful" thing, "At that time, few people realized that information disclosure is an existing It is the best 'system cage' to hold public power under the political system."
One indicator in the task force's evaluation criteria best reflects the government's changing attitude towards fiscal budget transparency.
The research team specially added an "attitude and responsibility score" with a weight of 4% and a full score of 50 points in the report. The evaluation standard is whether the government department gives feedback to applicants for financial information disclosure.
At the beginning of the project, many governments and functional departments scored 0 for this item, indicating that they did not understand or pay attention to this survey.
Subsequently, the situation gradually improved.
By the time of the fifth assessment in 2013, all provinces had no 0 points for "Attitude and Responsibility".
Deng Shulian said that in recent years, governments at all levels have vigorously promoted the openness and transparency of budgets and final accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Budget Law and the Implementation Regulations of the Budget Law, and the construction of fiscal transparency in my country has entered the track of legalization and standardization.
Regarding the report of the research group, although no clear feedback has been received, "Governments at all levels actually attach great importance to it, and even go over and take a look at the details."
"Sunshine Finance" cannot be a mere formality
Disclosure is only the first step. The refinement and scientificization of the budget and the rigidification of budget constraints are the deeper connotations of "sunshine finance", which requires that the accounts can be clearly understood and supervised by the public.
During the inspection, the Ministry of Finance found that in the disclosure of budget and final accounts, there were some problems such as the failure of certain departments to disclose the budget and final accounts, the untimely disclosure of some governments and departments, and the insufficient readability of the disclosure content. "It has attracted widespread attention in the industry.
There are several situations in this: some departments have incomplete disclosure contents, and some data explanations are missing; The data is inconsistent and the logical relationship is unclear.
Wang Huayu believes that these governments and departments not only lack an accurate grasp of the essence of the budgetary rule of law, but also may lower the public's evaluation of the credibility of the government's budget.
He said that the disclosure of budget and final accounts is closely related to the modernization and legalization of governance thinking and governance capabilities of relevant departments.
Without open and transparent finance, it will be difficult to build a transparent and accountable government, and it will be even more difficult to implement policies that are "people-centred".
Deng Shulian said that if the disclosed content is incomplete, not detailed, and inaccurate, the public, deputies to the National People's Congress and other users of government information will not be able to obtain sufficient information about supervision, restraint financial rights, and personal investment, consumption and other behaviors. , necessary and effective financial information, "sunshine finance" will be a mere formality.
According to the 2021 budget arrangement, the government will spend about 47 trillion yuan for the whole year.
Among them, whether it is the government budget or the departmental budget, various project budgets, which account for about half of the budget expenditure, have not disclosed complete and detailed economic classification information.
Deng Shulian said that this type of information shows how the government spends money, that is, the way it spends money. "Without economic classification information, it is impossible to judge how much a project should spend and whether the money is spent efficiently."
The government budget expert suggested that individual project budgets should be disclosed as soon as possible, economic classification should be disclosed to categories and sub-level subjects, and the disclosed content should be refined.
She said that if the project budget is made public, my country's fiscal transparency will be further improved on the existing basis.
The Ministry of Finance promised to continuously improve the standardization and standardization of the disclosure of local budgets and final accounts.
From 2021, the scope of disclosure of budget and final accounts will be lowered to the units affiliated to the department, and it is required to further improve the quality and efficiency of disclosure.
The Ministry of Finance continued to conduct in-depth public inspections of budgets and final accounts.
In response to the relevant problems found in the inspection, the Ministry of Finance stated in the relevant report that it will further improve the local budget and final accounts disclosure system, expand the scope of disclosure, and refine the disclosure content.
At the same time, we will further consolidate local responsibilities, strengthen rigid constraints, and promote local party committees and governments at all levels to do a good job in disclosing budgets and final accounts.
Looking back on the public work of budget and final accounts in recent years, Wang Huayu said that great progress has been made. my country has established a basic indicator system for budget transparency, a budget transparency evaluation and analysis mechanism, and a budget transparency legalized governance framework. "Sunshine Finance" is still on the way.
He sighed with emotion that placing the "national ledger" under the effective supervision of the people requires a "knife-blade inward" reform, committing to "making the best use of things" and "making the best use of things", and truly following the principle of performance" Use it for the people" and "benefit the people".
China Youth Daily, China Youth Daily reporter Zhang Junbin Source: China Youth Daily