Implement audit conclusions and recommendations to unlock resources and develop the economy.

According to the State Audit Office (SA), in recent years, in addition to many ministries, branches, localities and units that have made efforts to implement audit conclusions and recommendations, there are still many conclusions and recommendations that have not been implemented. In fact, many audit recommendations have been "suspended" for many years with thousands of billions of VND in arrears. The reason is that many bottlenecks in mechanisms and policies have not been cleared...

Implement audit conclusions and recommendations to unlock resources and develop the economy.

According to statistics and reviews of the State Audit, most of the audit conclusions and recommendations have been seriously and diligently implemented by the units (an average of about 75-80% for the year immediately preceding the audit year) and will continue to be implemented in the following years for the remaining recommendations each year at a rate of about 15-20%. However, there are still many audit conclusions and recommendations that have not been fully and promptly implemented, including the conclusions and recommendations of the State Audit for the state budget years of 2021, 2020 and 2019 and earlier that have not been implemented and are being monitored and urged by the State Audit.

This means that if not given attention and handled resolutely, thousands of billions of dong in financial handling recommendations regarding increased revenue, reduced expenditure, and recovery to the state budget will not be fully and promptly implemented and will risk causing loss and waste.

For example, through urging and reviewing, the State Audit of Sector IV pointed out a series of projects with outstanding audit recommendations. Typically, at the Phap Van - Cau Gie Road Upgrade Investment Project, Hanoi City under the BOT contract form (audited in 2021 with the State budget year 2020), as of March 31, 2023, Phap Van - Cau Gie BOT Joint Stock Company has not implemented financial settlement recommendations of more than VND 109 billion. At the National Highway 18 Renovation and Upgrade Project, Bac Ninh - Uong Bi section under the BOT contract form (audited in 2018, State budget year 2017), the number of outstanding financial settlement recommendations that have not been implemented by Pha Lai BOT Joint Stock Company as of March 31, 2023 is more than VND 106.7 billion...

Or in Hanoi, through the review and coordination with the State Audit Office in urging the implementation of audit recommendations, it shows that the number of pending recommendations that have not been implemented in the city is still large. As of July 31, 2023, the number of recommendations for financial and other handling that have not been implemented is more than 9,326 billion VND.

In particular, there are many recommendations for handling the financial backlog of a large amount of money due to problems with mechanisms and policies with a total amount of more than 1,220 billion VND. In particular, the main recommendations are in the audit report of the Duong Noi New Urban Area Project for Nam Cuong Group and the People's Committee of Ha Dong District in implementing other recommendations related to the allocation of service land (525,658 million VND); recommendations that have not been implemented due to the contractor's lack of cooperation, or there are disputes between the investor and the contractor (12 recommendations) with an amount of more than 1,731 billion VND...

In addition to the backlog in implementing financial handling recommendations, the results of implementing audit recommendations related to amending, supplementing, and replacing legal documents and legal norms to "plug loopholes" in mechanisms and policies; recommendations on reviewing and handling individual responsibilities - are also very modest. In particular, many documents recommended by the State Audit to be amended and supplemented have a great impact on the work of operating, managing the economy - society, and using the state budget, but have not been focused on by units.

From a local perspective, Vice Chairman of the Hanoi People's Committee Ha Minh Hai said that the City has identified 14 reasons why many audit recommendations have not been implemented. Some of the major reasons include: The contractor has not yet reached an agreement with the investor on the implementation of the audit recommendations; the project is in the implementation phase and has not been finalized yet, so it has not been implemented; the enterprise or related units are facing financial difficulties.

However, "the most fundamental reason is still the lack of determination and decisiveness of the audited unit, and the implementation of audit recommendations has not received due attention," Mr. Ha Minh Hai emphasized.

According to Tran Van Lam, Standing Member of the Finance and Budget Committee, there are many reasons leading to the backlog of many audit recommendations. Among them, there are objective reasons, that is, the audit recommendations are very correct, the time of making the recommendations is very accurate, but then due to changes in the situation, especially the subjects that have to implement the recommendations have changed such as: enterprises dissolve, go bankrupt or some subjects reform, arrange, change the apparatus, payroll, people... making the organization of implementing the audit recommendations difficult, even impossible to implement.

Emphasizing that the audited units did not implement the conclusions and recommendations in a drastic and thorough manner was the main factor that prevented the conclusions and recommendations from being implemented, Mr. Lam also frankly pointed out that in some cases, the recommendations of the State Audit Office were not strictly ensured. That became an excuse for the audited entities to not implement those recommendations, and even not implement other recommendations.

Vice Chairwoman of the National Assembly's Finance and Budget Committee Vu Thi Luu Mai said that the accumulation of a large number of audit recommendations on financial handling, if compared to budget revenue, can be considered a waste and loss of great resources, while the economy is still facing many difficulties and the need for investment and development is very large.

According to delegate Pham Thi Thanh Mai, Deputy Head of the Hanoi National Assembly Delegation, the recommendations on mechanisms and policies from the 2019 audit year onwards that have not been implemented are one of the "bottlenecks" that need to be focused on removing. In particular, mechanisms and policies that are not in accordance with State regulations and practices need to be clarified and handled appropriately; because "if they are wrong and not implemented immediately, they will continue to be wrong in the following years".

Chairman of the Finance and Budget Committee Le Quang Manh said that the Finance and Budget Committee will recommend the Government and the Prime Minister to direct central agencies to promptly guide and handle according to their authority or report to competent agencies to handle proposals and recommendations under the state management functions of ministries, branches and agencies.

At the same time, it is recommended that the Government promptly study and propose amendments to relevant legal regulations such as the State Budget Law or decrees and circulars of ministries and branches... to create a legal corridor to better implement audit conclusions and recommendations; prevent violations in the management of public finance and public assets.

However, all solutions to innovate and thereby improve the implementation of recommendations originate from the human factor, in which the leader plays a key role. Therefore, to truly create changes in the implementation of audit conclusions and recommendations, many opinions also emphasize the role and responsibility of the head of the agency or unit in directing and urging the implementation of audit recommendations.

The leader of the Finance and Budget Committee also said that he would propose that the National Assembly Standing Committee direct the Ethnic Council, the National Assembly Committees, and the National Assembly Delegations to strengthen activities to monitor the implementation of the conclusions of the State Audit Office. At the same time, he recommended that the National Assembly Standing Committee assign the Finance and Budget Committee to work with the State Audit Office, ministries, branches, and localities to continue monitoring and completing data to synthesize reports for the National Assembly when considering and approving the state budget settlement.

Source: https://thoibaonganhang.vn/thuc-hien-ket-luan-kien-nghi-kiem-toan-de-khoi-thong-nguon-luc-phat-tien-kinh-te-151589.html