China News Service, Beijing, January 25 (Zhang Yuhui) Recently, in some grassroots units, the problem of official cards turning into "dormant cards" has attracted attention.
As early as more than ten years ago, the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank decided to comprehensively promote official cards in fiscal and budget units, and later included 16 fees in the compulsory settlement items of official cards.
In recent years, audit departments in many places have introduced regulations related to official cards to standardize the use and management of official cards.
Official cards refer to credit cards held by staff of central budget units and mainly used for daily official expenses and financial reimbursement services.
After public servants use the official card to make purchases, they must return to the unit for reimbursement, and the financial staff will repay the official card.
What are the problems when using a business card to pay and settle?
How to activate "dormant card"?
Swiping business cards for fear of expiration
According to media reports, in recent years, public reports from audit departments at all levels show that the problem of failure to implement the official card settlement system is relatively common in various places.
In grassroots budget units, especially those in counties and towns, there are phenomena such as a low proportion of official card applications and a low utilization rate to a certain extent.
A public official in Changzhou, Jiangsu Province, told China News Service that in the past, official consumption of less than 200 yuan could be paid in cash, but now "everything purchased for official business requires a business card for even one penny."
But sometimes, it takes a month for the reimbursement to arrive, which exceeds the repayment period of the business card.
"If the reimbursement does not arrive immediately, I usually advance the money and repay it myself." This public official said that the limit of the official card is 20,000 yuan, and his daily work involves official expenses such as office purchases, business travel accommodation, etc. You have to swipe your card, and in order to avoid overdue payment, you usually advance thousands of dollars by yourself.
She also mentioned that the company recently counted which employees did not use official cards, and those who did not use them had to write an explanation.
Even so, there are still public officials who do not activate and use official cards. Some public officials said, "Some people borrow them everywhere because they are unwilling to activate them."
Tang Jinshan, former director of the Financial Department of Wuhan Municipal Finance Bureau, Hubei Province, told the media that once overdue, business cards, like ordinary credit cards, must bear overdue interest and be recorded in personal credit files, which will affect personal credit and easily cause cardholders to be concerned about official business. Card usage conflicts.
What is the significance of the official card system?
As early as July 2007, in order to further deepen the reform of the centralized payment system of the treasury, facilitate the use of funds by budget units, reduce cash settlements, improve payment transparency, and strengthen budget execution monitoring and management, the Ministry of Finance and the People's Bank of China formulated the "Central Budget Unit Official Card" Interim Measures for Management.
At that time, when answering reporters' questions about the trial implementation of the official card system in central budget units, the relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Finance stated that the implementation of the official card system will not only improve financial transparency, promote the prevention and control of corruption at the source, but also strengthen the budget units. Financial management and promoting the development of the national bank card industry are all of great significance.
Pan Helin, co-director and researcher of the Digital Economy and Financial Innovation Research Center of the International Joint Business School of Zhejiang University, told China News Network that using business cards for payment and settlement is, first, to control expenditures, and second, to ensure that official expenditures are traceable.
He believes that it is necessary and worthy of promotion from the perspective of maintaining fairness to require official cards to be used for official consumption. Only expenses on the official card can be reimbursed.
According to previous reports from China News Service, in December 2011, the Ministry of Finance issued the "Notice on Implementing the Compulsory Settlement Catalog for Official Cards of Central Budget Units", requiring that 16 expenses be included in the compulsory settlement items for official cards starting from January 1, 2012.
The notice stated that the establishment of a compulsory settlement catalog for official cards will help increase the usage rate of official cards, give full play to the advantages of the official card system, and further strengthen and standardize the management of official expenditures.
Expert: Official consumption should not be linked to personal credit report
"In order to prevent business cards from becoming 'dormant cards', firstly, other reimbursement channels should be restricted, and secondly, the difficulty of reimbursement for business cards should be reduced." Pan Helin pointed out to China News Network.
He believes that banks and other departments should set longer repayment cycles than ordinary credit cards; the financial department should improve the efficiency of centralized payment by the treasury and reduce personal credit problems caused by overdue repayments on business cards.
Pan Helin also pointed out that official consumption should not be linked to personal credit.
"Currently, there is a complete chain for the application and reimbursement of official consumption. If it is indeed proved that the consumption was caused by official business, it should not be included in the personal credit report. Because official cards can also be used for personal consumption, it is necessary to distinguish between personal consumption and The boundary of official consumption. In addition, it can also be stipulated that official cards cannot be used for personal consumption to avoid such problems."
Article 21 of the "Interim Measures for the Management of Official Cards of Central Budget Units" emphasizes that all official expenditures settled by cardholders using official cards must be reimbursed to the financial department of their unit within the interest-free repayment period specified by the card issuing bank. .
Penalty interest, late fees and other related expenses caused by untimely reimbursement by the cardholder shall be borne by the cardholder; responsibilities such as interest and other expenses caused by untimely reimbursement by the cardholder's unit, as well as the resulting impact on personal credit, shall be borne by the cardholder. The unit is responsible.
The Ministry of Finance and the People's Bank of China stated in the "Notice on Issuing the Measures for the Administration of Business Cards for Enterprises (Trial)" issued in January 2016 that with the development and changes of the economy and society, individuals with limited credit limits based on personal credit Business cards can no longer fully meet the payment and settlement management needs of budget units. It is necessary to explore the introduction of business cards for units with the unit as the debt-bearing entity and which can meet the needs of large-amount payments.
Article 2 of the "Measures for the Management of Unit Official Cards (Trial)" clarifies that the unit official card referred to in these Measures refers to a card held by a designated staff member of a budget unit and used only for official expenditures and financial reimbursements, with the unit as the main party responsible for repayment. credit card.
Personal business cards are credit cards held by budget unit staff, mainly used for official expenditures and financial reimbursements, and are associated with personal credit records.
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