State Audit,Social Audit And Public Funds Consumption Of State-Owned Enterprises

As the fight against corruption continues,it has become clear that corruption in state-owned enterprises(SOEs)is a serious issue,with public funds consumption being particularly affected.To improve governance in the country,the 20 th Party Congress report pointed out that we should punish new types of corruption and invisible corruption and deepen the reform of the state-owned assets and SOEs.Therefore,public funds consumption in SOEs must be addressed.This is not only essential to promoting SOE governance and initiating a new round of SOE reform,but it is also a political task at the SOE level in the new era of anti-corruption governance,which is key to the long-term stability and prosperity of the nation.Audit supervision is a key component of economic oversight for SOEs;state audits can act as an immune system to influence the governance of public funds consumption by SOEs;and social audits can work in tandem with state audits to further enhance the governance effect of state audits.This thesis examines the governance effects of state audits on public funds consumption by SOEs and the impact of social audits on this relationship in the context of the fight against corruption in the new era.Based on research data of listed central enterprise groups from 2007 to 2017,this thesis uses a multi-period double difference model to arrive at the following conclusions.Firstly,public funds consumption of SOEs decreases following the intervention of state audits,thus demonstrating their governance role.Secondly,social audits can further increase the restriction effect of state audits on public funds consumption.Thirdly,a time lag is observed in the governance role of state audits on public funds consumption by SOEs.Moreover,state audits show a stronger inhibitory effect on public funds consumption in SOEs with high audit frequency,high degree of regional rule of law,and high analyst attention.Finally,this thesis shows that state audits can reduce corporate agency costs and consequently discourage public funds consumption.The present thesis offers three key policy insights: Firstly,the importance of state audits in governing public funds consumption by SOEs should be actively promoted.To this end,the audit authority and coverage should be expanded.Secondly,state audits should devise reasonable audit programmes and strategies,such as cyclical audits,circular audits,look-back audits,and focused audits,to ensure regular and continuous audit supervision of SOEs.Finally,social audits should be actively used to enhance governance and efforts should be made to cooperate with national audits in their audit work.This thesis enriches the discussion on the audit governance of SOEs and broadens the research perspective of corruption governance in SOEs.It also offers valuable references for national audits to support SOE reform and national governance.