Research On The Performance Audit Of The Policy Of Returning Farmland To Forest In My Country

Performance evaluation which regards "3E" as its standard,greatly promoted the development of government's performance audit around the world.The National Audit Office of the People's Republic of China "The 2008-2012 Planning of Audit Development",requires the national audit bodies,to pay attention to the levels of structure,mechanism,system,policy and measures,to find,analyze,research on issues; to put forward audit opinions and recommendations,and promote the policies and laws to be implemented and improved;to advance the deepening of reform;to strengthen macro-management.The Conversion of Farmland to Forests Policy(CFFP) in China is by far the strongest adherence,the biggest investment and covers the most widely,the highest level of the masses to participate in the construction of an ecological policy.The target of CFF in 2003 was 3.33 million hm~2.However,since the start of 2004,the annual target of CFF substantially and sharply reduces to 0.0076 million hm~2.A significant change in this policy,led the groups of society to re-examine the policy itself and its improvement.(1) The major content of this studyUnder the supporting of New Public Management Theory,Sustainable Development Theory,and Public Policy theory,based on the basic theory of performance audit,this paper explains the theoretical framework of policy performance auditing(PPA) and elements such as nature,objectives,methods,procedures of PPA.As an example of the Conversion of Farmland to Forests Policy Performance Audit(CFFPPA) in China, author explains the determination of objectives of CFFPPA,the construction of evaluation index system of CFFPPA,and the determination of comprehensive evaluation model of CFFPPA.Regarding Z County of X Province as the sample area of the implementation of the CFFP,auditors assesses the effects of CFFP,and put forward audit recommendations of the formulation and implementation of CFFP.1) The basic theoretical framework and elements of PPAIn this paper,the nature of policy performance audit(PPA) is the logical starting point of the theoretical structure of the framework for PPA.The objectives,assumptions, standards,procedures and methods are the theoretical elements of the framework for PPA.First of all,the nature of PPA determines the objectives of PPA.The objective of PPA is to ensure that Policy accountability should be fulfilled,is to ensure that Policy accountability should be effectively assessed.Second,the objective of PPA influences assumption of PPA.Assumptions of PPA which are a set of possible presumptions to achieve the objectives of PPA,are designed according to the objectives of PPA. Assumption of PPA is a prerequisite which is influenced and restricted by the objective of PPA.Third,assumption of PPA is a theoretical area that has effects on practice of PPA,including audit standards,audit procedures and audit reports.In accordance with accountability theory and auditing theory,this paper argues that the nature of PPA is to inspect and evaluate the implementation of accountability of policy.Assumptions of PPA should include:?independence assumptions;?assumptions of the relationship of policy accountability.The relationship of policy accountability is:one party entrust with policy accountability,the other party accept and report the situation of implementation of policy accountability to the former;?assumptions of legitimate doubts;?assumptions of policy's effects being verifiable;?assumptions of trustworthiness of the results of PPA;?assumptions of the effects of policy being divided into social,economic and ecological benefits.China's PPA procedures should include the five steps:determination of audit projects,development of audit programs,collection and evaluation of audit evidence,preparation and submission of audit reports,follow-up inspection.Methods of PPA should include: before-after contrast,assessment of target groups,expert assessment,cost-benefit analysis,and so on.China's report framework for PPA should include:?title page;?summary of audit;?the context of audit matters;?audit findings;?audit conclusions;?audit recommendations;?feedback of audit-related units;?attachment.2) The objectives,standards,evaluation index system and model of China's CFFPPAWhether or not the use of public resources achieves the established effects,that is, whether the objectives of public policy achieve,as well as the objectives could be attributed to the implementation of the policy,are the overall objective-effectiveness objective of PPA.China's overall objective of CFFPPA is:national audit institutions and auditors inspect and evaluate the effects of CFFP resources utilization,and put forward audit recommendations to promote the implementation and improvement of CFFP.China's environmental and fairness objectives of CFFPPA are:national audit institutions and audit staff,inspect and evaluate the environmental and fairness effectiveness of CFFP resources utilization,and put forward audit recommendations to promote the implementation and improvement of CPPF.Environmental and fairness objectives are united into effectiveness objective.Reference of the main indexes of economic and social development in China's "Eleventh Five-Year Plan",the State Forestry Administration's monitoring indexes of effects of CFFP,and other related evaluation indexes,after theoretical pre-selection and selection of experts,the paper derives China's CFFPPA evaluation 19 specific indexes. China's CFFPPA evaluation standards can be divided into ecological performance standards,economic performance standards and social performance standard. Expert-scoring can be used to determine the specific evaluation criteria of China's CFFPA,at the same time,the indexes value announced by authority could be the specific evaluation criteria of China's CFFPA.This article takes a combination of induction and comprehensive approach to build China's CFFPA evaluation index system.From advanced to low-level,the level of the index system is divided into 4 ranks:A,B,C,and D,respectively,the levels are below:General index,sub-domain indexes,synthetic indexes,specific(single) indexes.Based on comprehensive mathematical models,this paper determines a suitable comprehensive evaluation model for China's CFFPPA.3) Application of the theory of China's CFFPPA on Z County caseZ County of X Province is one of the first pilot counties of China's CFFP.Regarding Z as sample,by using the above-mentioned China's CFFPPA evaluation theories and models,respectively,this paper assesses Z County's acquisitions under the implementation of CFFP of ecological performance,economic performance,social performance and comprehensive performance.Auditors conclude that,under the implementation of CFFP,Z has had significant ecological results.To some extent, China's CFFP has improved the ecological environment of Z.Under the implementation of CFFP,farmer households participating in CFFP have had an increase in revenue;the rural economy structure has been improved;Z has laid a foundation for increasing income for farmers and improving rural economic development.The reduced area of arable land and declined per capita grain production,have brought about the stress of the local food supply's lack.At the same time,Part of redundant labor force liberated from CFF transfers to city,to non-agricultural sectors.CFFPPA comprehensive evaluation data show that,in the years 1999-2006,CFFP performance of Z County keeps the good momentum of sustained and steady growth.4) Performance audit recommendations of CFFP in ChinaPolicy performance audit recommendations that are based on audit evaluation,aim to improve policy performance and put forward recommendations about policy's formulation and implementation.Combining case Z and actual situation of China's formulation and implementation of CFFP,respectively based on economic theory and policy theory,this paper puts forward recommendations about CFFP's formulation and implementation.In policy-making,the central government should bear the full cost of CFFP,appropriate to local government funding in full for CFF;In light of the actual of various regions,the central government should further refine the subsidy standards;the government should pilot first,and gradually establish forestry property acquisition system.At the level of policy's implementation,governments at all levels should establish the right concepts of "ecological" performance;CFF Performance should be incorporated into government performance evaluation;The CFF planning should stick to "taking the lead in the forestry sector,inter-departmental,cross-sector cooperation" principle and;Government should promote farmer households' participation in the management and supervision.(2) The basic conclusions of this studyTaking a panoramic view of the full text,the conclusions of this study can be summarized as follows:1) PPA is in a high positionIn accordance with the classification of subjects of PPA,performance audit can be broken down into PPA,project performance audit,organizational performance audit, management performance audit.Because of the different subjects of performance audit, the above-mentioned different performance audits are in different status.Among them, the "policy" is the guidance and constraints of other subjects.Because of policy's higher position,policy performance audit stands over the other types of performance audit.2) PPA is the inspection and evaluation of effectiveness,environment,fairness of the use of policy resourcesThe nature of PPA is an inspection and evaluation of implementation of performance accountability of policy's resources.The overall objective of policy of PPA is to inspect and evaluate the effects of policy.The environmental objective of PPA is to inspect and evaluate the environmental effects of policy.The fairness objective of PPA is to inspect and evaluate the fairness effects of policy.From different angles,respectively,PPA environmental objective and fairness objective are to inspect and evaluate the extent of policy's achievement.That is,from different perspectives,to check whether the application of policy's resources meet the effects of environmental protection and promotion of fairness.Environmental and fairness objectives are united in the effectiveness objective.3) China's CFFPPA based on environmental audit objective is a kind of effectiveness audit and has macro-characteristics.Primary objective of China's CFFP is to safeguard our country's ecological security. Based on this central objective,this paper builds China's CFFPPA evaluation index system and model which reflects mainly eco-performance.Among China's CFFPPA evaluation index system,ecological index has the most numbers and weights.Regarding China's CFFP as performance audit subject,using the method of policy theory,the paper analyzes and evaluates the performance of CFFP,puts forward audit recommendations to refine and improve CFFP formulation and implementation, embodies the macro-characteristics of PPA.(3) The probable innovation of this studyFrom the perspective of performance audit,this study has the probable innovations as follow:?In the study,policy performance audit is stripped out of Performance audit.This study reveals the nature of policy performance audit.The nature of PPA is to inspect and evaluate the implementation of accountability of policy's performance.Logically starting from the nature of PPA,the objectives,assumptions,standards,procedures and methods report of PPA are the theoretical elements of the framework for PPA.?The study constructs China's CFFPA evaluation index system.Reference of "The 2008-2012 Planning of Audit Development" and China's objectives of CFFP,after theoretical pre-selection and selection of experts,the paper derives China's CFFPPA evaluation 19 specific indexes to build China's CFFPA evaluation index system.Using AHP,this paper determines a suitable weight of each index in CFFPPA evaluation index system.