The Research On Government Purchasing Audit Services In The Context Of Full-coverage Auditing

At present,not only socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era,but also the auditing cause with Chinese characteristics has also entered a new era.Full-coverage auditing is an important feature and inherent requirement of the auditing cause in the new era.Full-coverage auditing is not only a policy and background,but also a goal and requirement.To achieve full-coverage auditing for public funds,state-owned assets,state-owned resources,and economic responsibilities of leading cadres,it is necessary for national auditing organs and government internal auditing organs to continuously improve their ability,but in the case of insufficient personnel and insufficient professional skills,it need to purchase audit services from social institutions such as accounting firms.The government purchasing audit service has become an important means to achieve full-coverage auditing in China,which is conducive to condensing auditing forces,forming auditing synergies,integrating auditing resources,and optimizing auditing resource allocation."The full-coverage auditing" not only requires full coverage,but also requires improving audit quality and enhancing the overall effectiveness of audit supervision.The government purchasing audit services spans the "government" and "market" and serves as a bridge and link between national audit,government internal audit and social audit,which is conducive to expanding audit coverage and improving audit quality.This paper systematically studies the development history and current situation of the government purchasing audit services,the theoretical basis and legal basis of the government purchasing of audit services,the motivation of the government purchasing audit services,the purchasing process of the government purchasing audit services,the division of duties and responsibility and the risk prevention and quality control in the process of implementing audit services.These studies will help enrich the research content system of the government purchasing audit services,promote the systematic and in-depth research of this issue,and provide more perfect theoretical support for better implementation of government procurement audit service practices.At the same time,the research in this paper also has direct practical significance,which helps to promote the practice of the government purchasing audit service.This paper studies the following main issues and draws the corresponding research conclusions:First,regarding the policy legal basis and theoretical basis of the government purchasing audit services.After reviewing and analyzing the literature,data and policy laws,this paper believes that the policy and legal basis for the government purchasing audit services has been basically improved.It has the policy basis of the Party Central Committee and the State Council,and has legal and normative basis at the level of laws,administrative regulations,local regulations,and administrative regulations.But unfortunately,there is no clear provision in the Audit Law of the People's Republic of China,and The National Audit Office has not formulated a unified auditing organ to purchase auditing services.It is recommended that the government purchasing audit services be clearly defined and authorized when the audit law is revised,and the relevant regulations will be issued by the Audit Commission.On the theoretical basis,under the background of full-coverage auditing,the theoretical basis for the Chinese government purchasing audit services can be expressed as: the theoretical system with the "immune system theory" as the core and the public fiduciary economic responsibility theory and other relevant theories as the auxiliary,this system includes the "common" theoretical basis of transaction cost theory,new public management theory,and collaborative governance theory,as well as the "personality" theoretical basis of "immune system theory" and public fiduciary economic responsibility theory.Second,regarding the motivational aspects of the government purchasing audit services.After empirical analysis,this paper believes that the main motivation for government purchasing audit services can be deconstructed from three levels under the background of full-coverage auditing: The first level is the macro national requirements,namely,the policy and legal driving level.The Chinese government realizes "full-coverage auditing " by formulating policy requirements,authorizes the government to purchase appropriate social audit services and integrates audit resources through legal provisions,which becomes the top-level driving factor for the government purchasing audit services.The second level is the need level of specific audit organs and internal audit organs.The direct driving factors for the government to purchase audit services are the pursuit of audit institutions and internal audit institutions to complete heavy audit tasks,the practical need to make up for the shortage of personnel and professional quality through the participation of social audit forces,and the pursuit of reducing transaction costs and improving audit quality.The third level is the needs of social audit institutions.Undertaking audit services entrusted by national audit organs and internal audit organs is one of the important business and income sources of social audit institutions.This interest appeal is an indirect driving factor for the government purchasing audit services.Third,regarding the purchasing process of the government purchasing audit services.Empirical studies have found that there are certain differences in the purchasing efficiency and effectiveness of different purchasing methods.The bidding method has the lowest transaction efficiency and the longest time,followed by competitive negotiation.The fastest purchasing method is competitive negotiation.However,compared with competitive negotiations,the government is more likely to choose a high-quality accounting firm with a good market reputation by means of bidding and competitive negotiation.High-quality accounting firms have higher transaction prices and fewer "discounts" than other firms,which is in line with audit pricing principles.This paper believes that in the context of full-coverage auditing,the centralized purchasing link of government purchasing audit services can not only "purchase fast" and "low transaction price",but should emphasize "quality oriented." In this paper,it is suggested that if the quantity standard is lower than public bidding,the purchasing method of competitive negotiation should be adopted to increase the opportunity of negotiation,the supplier should be determined by comprehensive scoring method,and some certified public accountants should be selected as evaluation experts in the evaluation process,so as to avoid the situation that the low-priced one may neglect the quality.Fourth,regarding the government purchasing audit services to implement the audit business.This paper holds that risk prevention and quality control are the core,contract signing and performance are the key,and responsibility division and responsibility assumption are the guarantee in the implementation of audit services under the background of full-coverage auditing.After questionnaire survey and analysis,this paper finds that the most important links in the process of implementing audit business are "risk prevention and quality control","signing business contract","performance appraisal and responsibility division",followed by "on-site guidance supervision","Business training","interim inspection and assessment" and other links.In terms of risks,"the risk of insufficient professional ability of social auditing institutions","the risk of social audit institution independence" and "the risk of rent-seeking" are possible "very large" risks,followed by "the risk of business contractual agreement is not clear","the risk of audit target deviation" and "the risk of business monopoly".To prevent risks in the process of the government purchasing audit services,it is of the utmost importance to strengthen the whole-process supervision and communication.Secondly,it is also important to improve the selection and appointment procedures of social audit institutions and standardize the signing and performance of contracts.It is also important to increase penalties on violators or institutions and strengthen the service performance evaluation of social audit institutions.In addition,regarding the division of duties and responsibilities,according to the theoretical basis of the immune system theory,the government purchases audit services,in essence,"the immune system" with the help of external forces,"with the help" is not all "transfer",and ultimately play the immune function is still its own "immune system".Therefore,"Services" can be purchased,but "responsibility" cannot be outsourced.When social audit institutions implement audit services,national audit organs and government internal audit organs shall guide,follow up and supervise the whole process.If the audit results provided by social audit institutions are adopted and formed into audit opinions,the responsibility shall be borne by the national audit organ or government internal audit organ.Based on the research of this paper and other research literature,this paper puts forward policy suggestions for perfecting the government purchasing audit services under the background of full-coverage auditing from the aspects of perfecting the relevant policy and law,clarifying the types and categories of business for purchasing audit services,perfecting the purchasing methods and procedures,paying attention to risk style and quality control,and clarifying the division of duties and responsibilities of the relevant subjects.The main innovations in this article are: first,this paper carefully sorted out the development process and current situation of the government purchasing audit services at home and abroad,focused on the systematic analysis of the current situation of its policy and legal basis,and proposed that the current policy basis of the government purchasing audit services needs to be converted into legal basis as soon as possible.The normative documents on which the government purchases audit services are of a low level of effectiveness and need to be authorized in the regulatory document of the higher-level level of the Audit Law;it is recommended that the Audit Commission issue specific regulations.The second is to systematically explain the theoretical basis of the government purchasing audit services,and try to reconstruct the theoretical basis system with the immune system theory as the core and other related theories such as the public trust economic responsibility theory as support.In addition,there are innovations in the purchasing motivation,the purchasing link and the implementation link of government purchasing audit services.This paper systematically analyzes the driving factors of the government purchasing auditing services,the purchasing efficiency and effectiveness of different purchasing methods,the rights and obligations of all parties involved in the auditing business,risk prevention and quality control,division of duties and responsibility.In terms of research methods,most existing research literatures on the government purchasing audit services are conducted in the way of normative research,and empirical research papers are extremely rare.This paper conducts empirical research on relevant issues through nearly 3,000 samples collected manually,which is of certain innovation.