| As an important substitute and supplementary tool for public expenditure policy,quasi-fiscal activities play an important role in public policy and public finance practice.But it has long failed to enter the mainstream reform agenda,to a large extent,due to the lack of relevant research,standardized measurement and reporting mechanism hasn't been established.In this context,the management based on good governance has become difficult,and budget management reform of quasi-fiscal activities moves slowly.Based on this,this paper aims to design a set of standardized measurement and reporting system to support the management based on good governance,and to provide a basis for the "inclusion" or "comparison" of quasi-fiscal activities in the budget.Quasi-fiscal activity is usually a special type of expenditure activity carried out by a government or a government-controlled entity.Compared with the public expenditure policy tools promoted by budget expenditure,quasi-fiscal activities have no visible fund flow and are rather hidden.They have not been included in the scope of budget in developing countries,especially countries in transition.But quasi-fiscal activities,like public spending instruments,consume public resources and play a similar role in public spending.Therefore,in essence,quasi-fiscal activity is an important substitute and supplementary tool for public expenditure policy.Quasi-fiscal activity plays an important role in public policy and public finance practice.It is a tool for the state to implement macro-control and achieve economic,political and social goals,and has been widely adopted by China and many other countries.In some western developed countries(such as the United States,Canada,etc.),quasi-fiscal activities,like other financial activities,are an indispensable part of government activities.Quasi-fiscal activities not only have special legal norms,but also fall into the scope of budget management.The quasi-fiscal activity report is part of the budget report.The scale of quasi-fiscal activities in China is huge,but the related research is insufficient,especially the lack of standardized measurement and reporting system leads to the lack of structured management information based on good governance.Good governance is the quality judgment standard of quasi-fiscal activity management,and the management based on good governance follows the basic principle of good governance.According to the view of information economics,information is the foundation of management.The managementfollowing the basic principle of good governance needs good structured information,and the standardized measurement and reporting system solves the structural integration of information.Therefore,the establishment of a standardized and normalized measurement system and reporting system is the cornerstone of achieving good governance,and is the key to good management.According to the constitution and the legal system,the budget must be approved by the legislature,whose act of approving the budget is the statutory authorization,which is the bottom line of good governance.Based on the statutory authorization,on one hand,the administrative department has a wide range of powers,including the uncertain "discretionary power",and the opportunity to overuse its power;On the other hand,in order to prevent the abuse of power,the principal-agent relationship between the public and the government requires the agent to make a reasonable explanation and be responsible for his behaviors,especially the acquisition and use of public funds,which is called as fiduciary duty.Fiduciary duty is the remedy mechanism of legal authorization.The act of government administration is the action to fulfill the fiduciary duty,which is the core of good governance.To protect and promote fiduciary duty,it is required to disclose public accounts transparently in a timely manner,so that the public can have timely and free access to relevant information,which is the importance of transparency mechanism.Transparency mechanism is one of the important guarantee mechanisms of fiduciary duty and also a key factor for good governance.Foresight mechanism and participation mechanism are two other powerful mechanisms to guarantee accountability.It is different from transparency that foresight emphasizes that stakeholders need to foresee what the government will do,and resources can be well allocated only when the resource flow is highly foreseeable.Participation mechanism,through the expression of citizens and the response of government,which can not only strengthen accountability,but also form the premise of good decision-making.Statutory mandates,fiduciary duty,transparency,foresight and participation go hand in hand to form the five basic principles of good governance.Standardized and normalized information measurement and reporting systems are conducive to the effective implementation of the five basic principles of good governance.In the authorization mechanism,the budget report approved by the NPC contains structured information.In the accountability mechanism,the principal and the agent have the right andobligation to demand explanation and report the fiduciary duty.Transparency requires timely and free disclosure of information.The key to strengthen foresight in the management of quasi-fiscal activities is to establish standardized measurement and reporting system.Extensive citizen participation in the budget process is conducive to the improvement of information completion and reflects the interests of the public.Budget is the core tool of public management,and all the goals of public expenditure management can be achieved through a good budget process.or "comparing with the budget" could be the effective way to manage quasi-fiscal activities."incorporating into the budget" requires not only the incorporation of quasi-fiscal activities into the budget document(such as budget report),but also the incorporation into the formal budget process.Incorporation into the budget process is a priority agenda to reform the management of quasi-fiscal activities.Including quasi-fiscal activities in the budget process requires two premises: structured information and good governance.A standardized measurement and reporting system are also important to support the inclusion of quasi-fiscal activities in the reform of budgetary management.Without a standardized measurement and reporting system,inclusion in the budget is water without a source.Incorporation into the budget process refers to quasi-fiscal activities are incorporated into each stage of the budget,which includes the budget preparation stage,budget approval stage,budget implementation stage,budget evaluation and audit stage,so as to realize the seamless connection between the well-structured information provided by the standardized measurement and reporting system and the budget process.Index data and report information are the prerequisite of the budget declaration and approved.During the budget execution phase,automatically monitoring and tracking target in real time schedule and the degree of deviating from the target value.In the budget evaluation and audit stage,the indicator results of budget implementation should be regularly analyzed and give out standardized performance reports and audit reports for the next cycle of the budget process.In summary,this paper is devoted to three successive efforts: to construct an appropriate information base for the management reform of quasi-fiscal activities-"standardized measurement and reporting system";good structured information is essential to support governance based on good governance;The orientation of the management over good governance should be on"Toward budget" ,especially the joint progress with budget.Aroundthese three contents,this paper focuses on the design of standardized quasi-fiscal activity measurement and reporting system to support good governance-based management.The main contents of this article include the following five parts:Part one: the presentation of the problem."No measurement,no management".This part firstly analyzes the research background and significance of quasi-fiscal activities,and then points out the importance of quasi-fiscal activities management.At the same time,on the basis of combing the current research situation of quasi-fiscal activities domestically and abroad,this paper analyzes that the deficiency of current research lies in the failure to construct a standardized and regular measurement and reporting system,which leads to a high risk of lagging behind and deviating from the management reform of quasi-fiscal activities.Therefore,the idea and main content of this paper is to build a standardized and normalized measurement and reporting system for quasi-fiscal activities,support the management based on good governance with the standardized and normalized measurement and reporting system,and support quasi-fiscal activities merging into the budget.The second part: the analysis of the theory and the present situation.Quasi-fiscal activities have its own merits and demerits,and their important function depends on good management,and the proper information is the basis of management.This part introduces the connotation and importance of quasi-fiscal activities,summarizes the current situation and reasons of quasi-fiscal activities management in China,and points out that the sound management of quasi-fiscal activities requires the basis of good structured information.Piecemeal and scattered information go against effective management.Standardized measurement and reporting mechanism could solve the structural integration of information,so that it is urgent to construct standardized measurement and reporting mechanism.The third part is the content of standardized measurement and reporting mechanism of quasi-fiscal activities,which is also the focus of this paper.Metrology is the process of obtaining relevant information in an appropriate way.In a broad sense,metrology also includes report and disclosure.The main content of this part is to design a standardized measurement and reporting system,which is specifically divided into two chapters: chapter 3is the design of measurement indicators of quasi-fiscal activities,and chapter 4 is the construction of the reporting mechanism of quasi-fiscal activities.The design of quasi-fiscal activity measurement indexes should meet the technicalstandards of quasi-fiscal activity management,such as objectives,contents,relevance,measurability,interpretability,etc.,so that it is necessary to design indexes from five aspects:quantity,suitability,performance,risk and transparency.At the same time,two typical quasi-fiscal activities,tax expenditure and government loan guarantee,are used as the entry point to design specific indicators,and because of strong measurement characteristics,the cost indicators are calculated or explained.Reporting is the process of presenting and disclosing measurement information to relevant users.The information from quasi-fiscal activity measurement index system should be disclosed through reports.Therefore,the establishment of a standard quasi-fiscal activity reporting mechanism is not only conducive to solving technical problems in management,but also convenient for the public to understand and friendly for its users.Because there are various types of quasi-fiscal activities,the design of complete statements and reports is very complicated.Thus,the fourth chapter also takes the tax expenditure and the government loan guarantee as the entry point to designs the report mechanism,covering aspects of basic information,report content,statement design,evaluation audit report,and related description.This chapter also briefly expounds the disclosure standard and method of the report.The fourth part is the application of quasi-fiscal activity measurement and reporting mechanism.The value of information lies in its application.Standardized measurement and reporting information systems support governance based on good governance.This part firstly demonstrates the effect of information of measurement and reporting system for the management based on good governance.Statutory authorization,fiduciary duty,transparency,predictability and participation in the implementation mechanism are inseparable from the standard reporting information.Then,this part analyzes the role of supporting quasi-fiscal activities to be incorporated into budget management,and points out that the process of incorporating quasi-fiscal activities into budget is the process of integrating measurement and reporting information into each stage of budget preparation,review,implementation and evaluation.The fifth part is international experience and reform agenda design.Budget is the core tool to achieve management,and the management based on good governance relies on the inclusion of budget,so the reform of quasi-fiscal activity management towards budget is imperative.This part,on the basis of drawing lessons from international quasi-fiscal activitymeasurement,reports and budget management experience,points out that the reform of quasi-fiscal activity management based on good governance should be oriented towards two effective approaches —— "inclusion into the budget " and " according to the budget" .The priority agenda for the reform of quasi-fiscal management activities towards the budget is to follow the basic principles of good governance and integrate them into each stage of the budget process — — the budget preparation stage,the budget review stage,the budget implementation stage,the budget assessment stage and the audit stage.In short,as an important tool of public expenditure policy,the proper management of quasi-fiscal activities depends on a good information structure.Based on the current situation of accurate financial activity management,this paper builds the standardization of the measurement and reporting system,demonstrates how the standardization system of measurement and reporting information support management based on good governance,and help merge its the role into the budget.Finally,this paper points out toward the budget of financial activity management reform is on the basis of conforming the principles of good governance,on the premise of standardization of the measurement and reporting system,to integrate into budget process.The main conclusions of this paper are as follows:(1)The structured integration information is the basis of quasi-fiscal activity management.Quasi-fiscal activities,as an important alternative and supplementary tool for public expenditure policies,are disjointed from the budget mainly due to the lack of structured information,especially the failure to construct standardized and normalized measurement and reporting mechanisms.(2)Good structured information relies on standardized measurement and reporting systems.The measurement indicators of quasi-fiscal activities can be designed from five aspects including quantity,suitability,performance,risk and transparency.A complete report of quasi-fiscal activities should include some basic prescribed materials and the result materials from qualitative and quantitative analysis,such as statement design,evaluation,audit and relevant explanations.(3)Good structured information is essential for the management based on good governance.On the one hand,standardized and normative measurement and reporting mechanisms is vital to provide basic principles of good governance,which can ensurestatutory mandates,strengthen fiduciary duty,enhance transparency,enhance predictability and increase citizen participation.On the other hand,standardized and normalized measurement and reporting mechanism information is also important to support budget management,which are prerequisites for budget preparation and budget review;real-time progress of indicators and implementation reports reflect the process of budget execution;budget evaluation and auditing rely on the quality of information,assessment reports and audit reports reflect the effect of budget execution.(4)Towards budget is the orientation of quasi-fiscal activity management reform----" inclusion into the budget " or " according to the budget " .The key to the reform of quasi-fiscal activity budget management is to realize the seamless connection between good structured information and budget process.Integrate quasi-fiscal activities into budget preparation and preparation;establish a separate quasi-fiscal activity budget review mechanism;assess and audit the compliance and the effectiveness of fiscal activities.Possible innovations of this paper include:(1)Due to the lack of attention to quasi-fiscal activities in China,research on building structured information is even more blank.Standardized measurement and reporting system can solve the structured integration of information.The main contribution of this paper is the creation of standardized metrics and reporting systems to provide structured and integrated information.(2)The structured integration of information is the basis of management.The quasi-fiscal activity management based on good governance is highly dependent on structured information integration.Good structured information is essential to promote management based on good governance.Based on the construction of standardized measurement index and report system,this paper demonstrates the role of this information system to support "Basic Principles of Good Governance" and "quasi-fiscal activities into budget" .(3)Budgeting is a core tool of public expenditure management.An effective path for budgetary management reform of quasi-fiscal activities is to include budgets,which include budget progress and budget report.Based on the fragility of China's quasi-fiscal activities management and experience of other countries,this paper clarifies the basic content of China's quasi-fiscal activities budget management reform and the operational process of budget. |
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