Foreign experiences of government audits and China’s response

Белорусского государственного университета

In recent years, external audits of government departments and agencies in China have increased in response to citizen criticism of issues related to public accountability, such as misuse of public funds, evaluation of the effectiveness and results of government programmes, disclosure of information based on the "right to know," and the requirement to disclose government financial data through balance sheets. We must strengthen public accounting and auditing to face these challenges. As the final step in establishing public accountability, public audits must include a system of government audits conducted by supreme audit institutions, sometimes known as national audits (thus hereinafter "government audits"). Government audits are included in the external audit systems of Western Europe and the United States. Audits of the government include financial, performance, and cost-effectiveness audits. This study examines performance audits, which evaluate the government programs.