Auditors to perform balancing act
( 2002-01-16 00:56 ) (1 )

State auditors will scrutinize China Construction Bank's balance sheets and State firms' accounting books to see how funds raised through special treasury bond issues since 1998 have been used, officials said.

"We will keep a close eye on violations of law and any waste brought on by poor decision-making by officials and State firm bosses,'' Li Jinhua, auditor-in-chief of the National Audit Office (NAO), said at a working conference Tuesday in Beijing.

Government auditors reviewed 107,000 institutions in the first 11 months of last year, spotting malpractice involving 160 billion yuan (US$19.3 billion), Li said.

NAO picks one of the major State banks for auditing every year. Last year, the Bank of China was reviewed.

Li said this year's audit of China Construction Bank will cover its headquarters in Beijing and its subsidiaries nationwide.

Auditors will review its asset quality and its projects financed by international organizations.

The auditors also will check tax bureaux' activities last year to find out if they exaggerated their performance, Li said.

China's tax revenues have surged by an average of 20 per cent a year in the last five years.

But there are rumours that some tax collectors raked in taxes last year that were meant to be taken this year so as to meet government targets -- a practice believed to have hurt enterprises' health and distorted budget management in the future.

"We should check to see if governments and enterprises have used government funds and banking loans to artificially increase tax income,'' Li said.

NAO wants to check how funds raised through treasury bonds have been used because the proper management of these funds, which are outside the government budget, is a concern for the central government and the public.

China has floated more than 500 billion yuan (US$60 billion) in special government bonds to launch a series of infrastructure projects necessary for generating domestic demand.

Turning to individuals, Li said the auditors will scrutinize bosses of 12 large State-owned enterprises this year as part of the central government's drive to improve efficiency of these enterprises.

The Ministry of Finance, customs, the People's Bank of China and its subsidiaries will be on State auditors' radar this year.

Last year, the work of top officials at 10 State companies was reviewed.

(China Daily by Xu Binglan)