1. The meaning of fiscal transparency
Fiscal transparency is an inevitable requirement of modern government public management. With the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), OECD and other international organizations vigorously calling for and promoting countries to carry out accrual based government accounting reform, the government's improvement of fiscal transparency has gradually become an international trend [1].
What is fiscal transparency? The initial definition of fiscal transparency was given by George Kopits and Jon D. Craig (1998), which disclosed to the public to the greatest extent the fiscal transparency information about the structure and functions of the government, the intention of fiscal policy, public sector accounts and fiscal forecasts, and these information is reliable, detailed, timely, easy to understand and comparable, It is convenient for voters and financial markets to accurately estimate the financial status of the government and the real costs and benefits of government activities. Financial transparency is an aspect of good financial management, but it is not an end in itself. It is a method to improve efficiency and ensure the responsibility of the government and officials. It is a comprehensive and complex concept, which requires the government to provide accurate, timely, complete and maximum information about the past, present and future of government financial activities, so as to help the public understand the work of the government's financial level and make judgments [2].
2. Current situation and cause analysis of China's fiscal transparency
2.1 current situation of fiscal transparency in China
Fiscal transparency is an inevitable requirement of modern government public management, and China's fiscal transparency started late. Before the reform and opening up, the government finance of our country was basically closed and the financial transparency was very low. Until entering the 21st century, fiscal transparency has become an international trend, and China's fiscal transparency has been improved. However, according to the "2017 China fiscal transparency report" released by the public policy research center of Shanghai University of Finance and economics, on the whole, the disclosure of the final accounts of provincial governments in China is still not ideal, with more than 50% of the information not disclosed, while the lowest province of fiscal transparency only discloses less than 30% of the survey information. The report shows that the average score of fiscal transparency of 31 provinces in 2017 was 48.26 points, more than double the average score of 21.71 points in 2009. There are significant differences in fiscal transparency among 31 provinces. Shandong Province has the highest average score of fiscal transparency and Hubei Province has the lowest. In terms of specific items, the information disclosure of government assets and liabilities and the management funds of the special fiscal account is the worst, with 17.71 points for government assets and liabilities and only 4.68 points for the special fiscal account, which is the lowest score among the nine information elements. This reflects that relevant departments have long ignored the information statistics and information disclosure of government assets and liabilities and special fiscal accounts [3].
2.2 analysis of the current situation of fiscal transparency in China
2.2.1 in terms of system, the implementation of some local governments is not enough
In recent years, the State Council and the Ministry of finance have issued a series of normative documents, such as the opinions on strengthening the management of local debts, the screening measures for the inclusion of local government stock debts in budget management, the opinions on further promoting the work of budget disclosure, and the operating procedures for the publicity of local budgets and final accounts, but some local governments still fail to implement them, There is a "transparency report" that "more than 50% of the information is not disclosed".
Therefore, in order to establish and improve the rigid constraint mechanism of fiscal transparency, we should incorporate fiscal transparency into the performance evaluation of local government officials and effectively improve the level of fiscal transparency.
2.2.2 in the form of information disclosure, the government financial information disclosure is not perfect
The operating procedures for the disclosure of local budgets and final accounts issued by the Ministry of Finance in October 2016 standardized the disclosure methods of local budgets and final accounts, but China's government financial reporting system is not perfect, the disclosure methods are not standardized, and there is a lack of detailed financial information disclosure guidelines.
The main ways of government financial information disclosure in major western developed countries are government budget reports and government financial reports. In contrast, China's government financial reporting system has just started, and it is still in the pilot preparation of government financial reports by 2015.
Therefore, we must standardize the accounting information disclosure system and make the government budget on the road of standardization and legalization [4].
2.2.3 on the basis of accounting, budget accounting does not reflect the financial situation and performance of the government comprehensively
With the reform of government accounting, extra budgetary funds and local government debts have been included in the management of the budget, the full caliber budget has been further improved, the integrity of the budget has been enhanced, and remarkable results have been achieved in promoting fiscal transparency. However, the current budget accounting system based on cash basis still cannot truly and comprehensively reflect and disclose accounting information, and it is difficult to track all kinds of accounting information in the process of budget implementation. The government accounting system based on the cash basis has also been difficult to meet, can not fully reflect the government's fiduciary responsibility and performance, and can not afford to provide the government financial accounting information required by all parties. At present, we should accelerate the reform of government accounting, amend the cash basis accounting system, implement unified accrual government accounting standards, and disclose the overall financial situation of the government, budget implementation and other relevant accounting information in a timely, accurate and complete manner, so as to promote the transparency of government finance.
2.2.4 technically, the government accounting information technology is not perfect
The current government accounting information technology can not completely and clearly reflect the government assets and liabilities, which is not conducive to strengthening the government's accounting reform. In order to meet the dual needs of Finance and budget management, promote the accrual basis step by step, and reform the financial reporting system, we need to improve government accounting information technology, constantly consolidate and upgrade the level of information technology, and realize the dual track operation of budget accounting and government financial accounting.
3. New requirements of fiscal transparency for China's Government Accounting Reform
3.1 the government should comprehensively clean up and verify the items of government assets and liabilities
Clean up, review, evaluate and confirm the asset items of the government and the liability items for which the government is responsible, especially the engineering public infrastructure assets owned by administrative institutions and directly responsible for maintenance and management for the use of the public, so as to truly, completely and accurately reflect the situation of government assets and liabilities. Establish a system for the disclosure of departmental state-owned assets, and disclose the overall situation, distribution and composition, main physical asset data and asset changes of state-owned assets held and used by all departments and units.
3.2 the government should provide the public with more comprehensive financial information
The disclosure of financial information is essentially the transparency of government behavior, the need of building a sunshine government and a responsible government, and the need of administering according to law and preventing financial risks. We often say that fiscal revenue is "taken from the people and used for the people". How can the people understand and the society supervise? The government should improve fiscal transparency, and must provide the public with comprehensive financial information in a timely, full and accurate manner, so that the public can understand and evaluate the government's financial fiduciary responsibility.
3.3 the government should ensure the authenticity of the financial data in the government report
Continuous improvement of China's financial transparency has become a development trend of China's accounting reform, which is not reflected in some data in the current government financial report, such as a huge number of public infrastructure and government implicit debt. In order to effectively reduce financial risks, the government's assets and liabilities should be fully reflected in the financial statements, otherwise, the authenticity, integrity and timeliness of financial data cannot be reflected. To reflect the overall wealth of the government? Trillion pure cups (16) star pavilions are dirty? For medium and long-term sustainability, for example, to fully ensure the quality of government financial reports, we must accelerate the reform of government accounting, fully integrate external audit standards with international external audit standards, and establish a system for reporting external audit results to relevant legislative bodies.
4 Conclusion
The 2017 China fiscal transparency report released by the public policy research center of Shanghai University of Finance and economics reminds us with vivid and rich data that the construction of fiscal transparency is always on the way. It is expected that local governments can take achievements as incentives, problems as warnings, promote fiscal transparency to a new level with practical work, narrow the gap between China's fiscal transparency and the basic requirements of IMF fiscal transparency, gradually meet the requirements of reflecting the government's public accountability, and truly achieve the goal of "letting power operate in the sun".