Ministry of Finance: Focusing on improving independent audits

Ministry of Finance Ho Duc Phoc. Photo: Quochoi.vn

20-24 auditing firms will be inspected in 2024

At the questioning session in the field of audit according to the program of questioning and answering questions, delegate Hoang Duc Thang (Quang Tri delegation) said that there was an opinion that despite many efforts, there were still negative behaviors of some state auditors in audit activities. Therefore, the delegates proposed to build an independent and regular inspection mechanism in audit activities to ensure strict control.

Participating in answering questions related to this issue, Minister of Finance Ho Duc Phuc said that there were two audit systems.

The first system is the State Audit - an agency established by the National Assembly. It operates following the law with the principle and scope of implementation that wherever there is state property and money, there is audit activity. The State Audit will assess, verify, conclude and recommend on the audited matters.

With experience working at the State Audit, Minister Ho Duc Phoc assessed that the State Audit had a strict process, applied information technology in many activities, and was also one of the leading auditing agencies on capital construction investment.

The second system was an independent audit. This system included independent audit practitioners and firms,… complying with the Law on Independent Audit, and providing independent audit services for enterprises.

Moreover, according to the Minister, the independent auditor would also coordinate with the state audit through contracts and requisitions to carry out the audit at the request of the state audit.

With the above 2 systems, the Minister said that the Ministry of Finance did not directly perform audits but managed audit quality following regulations through the promulgation of mechanisms, policies, strategies, inspection, examination and supervision with audit organizations.

Accordingly, in 2023, the Ministry of Finance has inspected and examined 21 auditing firms and 3 practicing auditors. The Ministry of Finance also inspected 62 audit dossiers, of which 16 documents were satisfactory, 26 were unsatisfactory, and 20 are weak. Since then, 17 auditors have been suspended, 21 auditors have been reminded and audited firms have been criticized.

In 2024, the Ministry of Finance will conduct inspections of 20 to 24 enterprises, including 8 enterprises that audit public interest entities in the securities sector.

With these results, the Minister affirmed that the Ministry of Finance has focused on improving the quality of independent audits through training, licensing, inspection, and examination following legal regulations. In addition, the Ministry of Finance has directed to enhance the quality and capacity of auditors as well as professional skepticism, risk-based auditing, and especially internal control systems to become increasingly tight and effective.

In the coming time, according to the Minister, with the assigned roles, functions and scope of work as well as complying with the law, the Ministry of Finance will continue to improve the quality of independent audits to serve the audit services of agencies, units as well as businesses.

National Assembly deputies attended the question and answer session on June 5. Photo: Quochoi.vn

Improving the quality of state budget settlement reports

Also, at the question and answer session, delegate Nguyen Dai Thang (Hung Yen delegation) raised questions about solutions to continue to improve the quality of audits and state budget settlement reports in the coming time.

Regarding this opinion, Minister Ho Duc Phoc said that the settlement of the State budget included both local and central budgets. For the central budget, the Ministry of Finance will collect the settlement reports of ministries and agencies. The Department of Public Expenditure under the Ministry of Finance would audit the settlement reports submitted by ministries and agencies.

For localities, the settlement of the budget is under the authority of the People's Council. The Economic - Budget Committee of the People's Council of Localities audits the budget settlement reports of the People's Committee of the province, after which the People's Council votes to approve. The Ministry of Finance will synthesize these reports.

"In the process of budget management, the Ministry of Finance both monitors and inspects many organizations and units to warn to help units manage the budget more effectively," the Minister said.