| Global attention should be paid to environmental issues,and the implementation of energy-saving and emission reduction measures for environmental protection cannot be delayed.As a basic energy-based industry in China,the healthy operation of the thermal power industry is of great significance to economic stability and low-carbon development.In the context of low-carbon policy,thermal power generation enterprises are affected by the external environment due to their high energy consumption and high emission characteristics.At present,more and more thermal power companies are embarking on the road of low-carbon transformation,and they are making efforts to move towards the "double carbon" goal proposed by China through low-carbon power generation,carbon-reducing technologies and electrification of consumption,and they have achieved good results under the guidance of the national low-carbon policy.However,while fully recognizing the low-carbon initiatives of thermal power companies,it is also important to realize that the low-carbon economic environment has brought new challenges to the development of enterprises,and the truthfulness and reliability of accounting information and legal compliance of operations of thermal power companies have become the key concerns of all sectors.In this low-carbon context,research on audit risk and prevention in the thermal power industry is increasingly important.This paper studies the audit risk and prevention of thermal power enterprises in the low-carbon context,and the main research contents are as follows: Firstly,based on a review of the literature,the paper conducts a theoretical analysis based on modern riskoriented audit theory,principal-agent theory and low-carbon economic theory.Secondly,the article analyzes the audit risk by combining the characteristics of thermal power industry and the current situation of low carbon development,focusing on two aspects of material misstatement risk and inspection risk.Again,the paper selects Datang Power Generation Company,which has a predominantly thermal power asset structure,as a case study.Based on the enterprise’s own installed capacity,carbon emissions and the current status of low-carbon operation,the paper combines the results of the industry analysis to conduct an in-depth exploration of the material misstatement risk and inspection risk of Datang Power Generation in the context of low-carbon.Through the industry and case study,it is found that the audit risk of thermal power enterprises is more influenced by the low carbon background,which is further reflected in the material misstatement risk in terms of complex external environment,high operational risk,high investment and financing risk,high asset impairment risk,and high floating cost of power generation;and in the inspection risk in terms of weak linkage and synergy mechanism and insufficient comprehensive capability of auditors.Finally,in view of the various audit risks in the industry analysis and Datang Power’s case study,this paper proposes some measures to prevent audit risks in thermal power enterprises.This paper concludes that,in the context of low carbon economy,the Chinese government has significantly increased the carbon emission control for various energy enterprises.This pressure falls on thermal power enterprises such as Datang Power Generation,which burdens the enterprises with greater transition pressure in their business development,thus triggering audit risks.When conducting audit risk identification of thermal power enterprises in the low-carbon context,we should focus on items related to energy conservation and emission reduction,and purposefully conduct audits on the external environment,low-carbon strategy,internal control,asset quality,power generation cost,and R&D investment of the audited entity to address the risk of material misstatement of thermal power enterprises.It also enhances the auditor’s comprehensive capability and prudence by building a supervisory synergy mechanism to prevent related inspection risks. |
