Text/Zhao Jianhua

　　From south to north, from east to west, how did the local governments at all levels in the country spend their money, and where did they spend it?

To know this, you have to look at the account book-the local budget and final accounts.

In order to let the people see, see clearly, and understand the accounts of local governments, the Ministry of Finance has repeatedly urged all localities to disclose their local budgets and final accounts in accordance with the law in recent years to create a sunny fiscal system.

　　Nowadays, the publicity of government budgets and final accounts of local governments has been greatly improved from the past.

However, compared with brother provinces and municipalities, the performance of each region is different.

　　On the 30th, the Ministry of Finance announced the ranking of the publicity of local budgets and final accounts for 2019 and 2020.

The ranking covers 31 provinces and municipalities in mainland China, as well as 5 separate cities in Dalian, Qingdao, Ningbo, Xiamen and Shenzhen, totaling 36.

According to the comprehensive scoring of the special inspection on the disclosure of 36 budgets and final accounts by the Ministry of Finance, Guangdong ranked first for two consecutive years, and Jiangxi and Jilin ranked bottom for two consecutive years.

　　Guangdong, the country's economic leader, has a high degree of marketization and rule of law, ranking first, and is well received.

Shaanxi in the central and western regions ranked second for two consecutive years, and Hebei and Hunan ranked in the top five for two consecutive years. Their account transparency rankings far surpass those of economically developed Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and also lead Shenzhen.

　　The performance of the four municipalities was not satisfactory.

Shanghai: 30th in 2019, 25th in 2020.

Beijing: 13th in 2019 and 20th in 2020.

Tianjin: ranked 34th and third from the bottom in 2019, and ranked 32nd and fifth from the bottom in 2020.

Chongqing: 16th in 2019 and 29th in 2020.

　　The openness of local ledgers is not related to the level of economic development, and is more related to the importance of localities.

Bai Yanfeng, dean of the School of Finance and Taxation of the Central University of Finance and Economics, said that this shows that the degree of economic development and the level of development are not the only determinants of the openness of local budgets and final accounts. Further advancement is equally promising.

Five years of continuous investigation by the Ministry of Finance

　　From May to August 2021, the Ministry of Finance organizes special inspections on the disclosure of budgets and final accounts of all provinces (autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government, and cities under separate state planning) in 2019 and 2020.

This is the fifth time since 2015 that public inspections of local budgets and final accounts have been conducted nationwide.

　　Judging from the inspection situation, local party committees and governments at all levels have thoroughly implemented the decisions and deployments of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, taking multiple measures to promote the disclosure of budget and final accounts. The management level of budget and final accounts has been continuously improved, and the work of public budget and final accounts has achieved remarkable results.

The management level of local budget and final accounts has been continuously improved, and the “should be disclosed as much as possible” has been basically realized. The system of budget and final accounts has been gradually improved, and the transparency of budget and final accounts has been continuously enhanced.

　　According to the Ministry of Finance, the budgets and final accounts that should be disclosed in 2019 are 269,900 and 272,300 respectively, while only 2 and 4 companies are not disclosed; the budget and final accounts that should be disclosed in 2020 are 256,100 and 261,400 respectively (the number of departments is due to the number of departments. The impact of institutional reform has decreased compared with the previous year), and only 4 companies have not been disclosed.

　　Inspections over the years have shown that there were 93,000 local departments at all levels that did not disclose their budgets and final accounts in 2015, which has dropped sharply in successive years. Since 2018, they have been in single digits for three consecutive years. The public budget and final accounts have achieved remarkable results.

　　During this period, the central and local governments have made concerted efforts to advance top-level design and effective implementation, and build a scientific and open system.

The Ministry of Finance promotes the revision of the "Regulations for the Implementation of the Budget Law of the People's Republic of China" to further clarify the requirements for the disclosure of budget and final accounts; publish the "Guidelines for the Publicity of Basic Government Affairs in the Field of Fiscal Budget and Final Accounts" to achieve the standardization and standardization of budget and final accounts; establish provincial-level budget and final accounts disclosure Column, and incorporate the disclosure of local budgets and final accounts into the central government’s assessment system for local financial work, and guide and urge local governments to do a good job in the disclosure of budgets and final accounts.

Local party committees and governments at all levels have continuously increased their emphasis on the openness of budget and final accounts, and the awareness of active disclosure has been further strengthened. The main leaders personally deployed and implemented them, and strengthened the public management of budget and final accounts in accordance with local conditions.

　　Local party committees and governments at all levels continue to innovate and improve disclosure methods, improve disclosure content, and enhance transparency.

All provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities have established a unified disclosure platform at the provincial, municipal, and county levels, and some regions have added WeChat public account pushes, small videos, and other public channels that are popular with the public.

Some regions have formulated a unified public template to standardize the expression format for the "three public" funds, government debt, government procurement, and poverty alleviation funds that are of public concern to increase readability and comparability among different regions.

　　At the same time, there are still weak links in the disclosure of budget and final accounts in some localities.

High heat, medium temperature, low temperature

　　Despite repeated orders, but there are still some departments that have not disclosed their budget and final accounts.

The requirements for statute of limitations have long been written in black and white, and there are still some governments and departments that have not disclosed them in a timely manner.

In some places and departments, the public content is incomplete, detailed and inaccurate, and the public content is not readable.

　　According to the Ministry of Finance, in 2019 and 2020, there are 8 departments with undisclosed budgets and final accounts in the two years. Among them, there are 2 undisclosed budgets, 4 undisclosed final accounts in 2019, and 4 undisclosed budgets in 2020. And final accounts.

　　In accordance with the disclosure requirements within 20 days after the approval, a total of 371 government and departments did not disclose their budgets in time and 304 did not disclose their final accounts in time in 2019. In 2020, there are 156 and 237 companies respectively.

　　Some departments’ public content is incomplete, and some data descriptions are missing; some departments’ public content is not detailed, and key information is “passed by”; some departments’ public content is inaccurate, and the data in the tables and descriptions are inconsistent, and the logical relationship does not match, etc. .

　　The budget and final accounts information is more professional, and necessary professional term explanations and index instructions are needed to help the public better interpret the content.

When some departments disclosed departmental budget and final accounts, they did not disclose the final accounts compilation catalog on the unified platform and lacked index instructions.

Some departments lack explanations or simple explanations for professional terms, which are difficult to meet the needs of the public.

　　Bai Yanfeng, who is also the director of the China Financial Development Collaborative Innovation Center, said that the ranking covers the local budget and final accounts of more than 30 provinces, cities, and counties in my country.

The openness of provincial budget and final accounts in many places is different from that of municipal and county local governments. It takes a long time for the formation of "hot in the middle but cold in the bottom".

Do good

　　In order to let the people "understand the account", the Ministry of Finance will adhere to the "three orientations", continue to urge local governments to increase the transparency of budgets and final accounts, and continuously improve the level of open standardization and standardization.

　　Results-oriented: The Ministry of Finance will continue to track, collect and sort out opinions and suggestions from all sectors of society on the openness ranking of budget and final accounts, promptly respond to social concerns, encourage advanced and spur backwardness, and play the positive effect of public budget and final accounts.

　　Goal orientation: Starting from 2021, the scope of budget and final accounts disclosure will be lowered to the department's subordinate units, and the disclosure quality and efficiency will be further improved.

The Ministry of Finance will continue to conduct in-depth public inspections of actual budget and final accounts, give full play to the role of inspections to promote reforms, and promote the implementation of major fiscal reforms.

　　Problem-oriented: In response to related problems found in the inspection, the Ministry of Finance 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 consolidate local responsibilities, strengthen rigid constraints, and encourage local party committees and governments at all levels to make the public budget and final accounts in place, continue to improve the level of local budget management, and help modernize the national governance system and governance capabilities.

　　The budget and final accounts are public, and the public is very concerned.

Zhao Peng, Dean of the Institute of Rule of Law and Government of China University of Political Science and Law, said that the Ministry of Finance has promoted the open budget and final accounts of various localities in accordance with laws and regulations, and has continuously improved fiscal transparency, which effectively protects the public’s right to know and supervise the government’s "account books". It is a government under the rule of law. What it should be.