State Auditor General Ngo Van Tuan. (Photo: DUY LINH)

Preventing negativity, embezzlement and waste through auditing

The State Audit has just sent a report to National Assembly deputies on a number of contents related to the group of questions at the 7th Session of the 15th National Assembly.

In the report, State Auditor General Ngo Van Tuan said that the audit results over the past time have pointed out many shortcomings, limitations and inadequacies in the management, operation and use of public finance and assets of ministries, branches, localities and audited units, such as the management and operation of fiscal and monetary policies are still limited; the determination of financial plans and capital recovery time of BT and BOT contracts has many unreasonable issues;...

Through that, the State Audit has made recommendations to help audited units and state management agencies rectify financial-budgetary management and accounting, prevent negative behaviors, embezzlement, waste, and loss of state money and assets; help units improve their management policies and mechanisms, ensure management and use of state money and assets in accordance with the law and effectively.

The State Audit's audit results have also provided authentic information on the management and operation of the state budget, money and assets, and have made many recommendations to the National Assembly and the Government to contribute to amending and perfecting mechanisms and policies to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of state management.

Specifically, in the last 5 years (from 2019 to 2023), the State Audit has audited and issued 1,345 audit reports, recommended 331,367.4 billion VND (including increasing state budget revenue by 30,539.6 billion VND; reducing state budget expenditure by 96,183.8 billion VND; other recommendations of 204,644 billion VND); recommended reviewing, amending and supplementing 1,069 documents including 14 Laws, 1 Resolution of the National Assembly; 16 Decisions; 42 Decrees; 124 Circulars and 872 other documents.

From 2019 to 2023, the State Audit has audited and issued 1,345 audit reports, recommending VND 331,367.4 billion (including increasing state budget revenue by VND 30,539.6 billion; reducing state budget expenditure by VND 96,183.8 billion; other recommendations of VND 204,644 billion)...

Notably, 663 audit reports have recommendations to review the responsibilities of relevant organizations and individuals. In addition, the State Audit has also transferred 19 cases with signs of law violations through audit to police investigation agencies at all levels for consideration and handling.

Focus on auditing “hot” issues

The State Auditor General stated that over the past time, the Government, ministries, branches and localities have made efforts and achieved many important results in the management of public finance and assets; strictly implementing audit conclusions and recommendations.

Auditing activities have contributed to the increasingly public and transparent management and use of the state budget; many violations in the management and use of the state budget have been discovered and strictly handled; many inappropriate mechanisms and policies have been revised, supplemented and newly issued, contributing to the improvement of institutions, strengthening discipline, improving the effectiveness and efficiency of public finance and asset management.

The audit results have made much progress but have not yet met the expectations of the Party, the State and the people; the State Audit currently plays a role and is effective mainly in the aspect of prevention, the number of cases transferred to investigative agencies is still limited.

Accordingly, in the field of project auditing and corporate auditing in the scope of questioning from the beginning of the term (2021) to present, audit results in recent years for investment projects show that there are still common errors right from the stage of investment project preparation to the final settlement of completed projects.

Errors in accounting and declaration of obligations to the state budget still occur in audited state-owned corporations and groups; debt management is not strict, allowing large amounts of overdue and bad debts to arise; provisions for bad debts are not made in accordance with regulations; there is still a situation of long-term inventory of poor quality and slow circulation; investment and use of fixed assets are not effective...

Regarding solutions to overcome the above-mentioned shortcomings and limitations, the State Auditor General stated that in the coming time, it is necessary to continue to do a better job of thoroughly grasping and strictly implementing the Party's viewpoints, policies, and regulations, and the State's laws on the work of preventing and combating corruption and negativity, including the role of the State Audit through auditing the management and use of public finance and public assets.

In addition, improve the quality of comprehensive audit activities in all three aspects of capacity, effectiveness and efficiency, especially improving the effectiveness of direction and administration, promoting administrative reform, innovating methods and ways of organizing audit implementation.

Continue to strengthen auditing to implement the goals of the State Audit Development Strategy to 2030, focusing on auditing "hot" issues of interest to public opinion, the National Assembly and voters, and tasks assigned by the Party and State leaders.

Strengthen coordination with relevant authorities in auditing activities and implementing audit conclusions and recommendations, and at the same time publicly disclose audit results and results of implementation of conclusions and recommendations of the State Audit; promptly provide competent authorities with information for inspection, supervision, investigation.

According to nhandan.vn