SNG PILLAR: INTERGOVERNMENTAL FISCAL RELATIONS
Scores by Dimension
Overall Indicator Score
HLG-1 Transfers from Higher Levels of Government
D
Notes:
HLG-1.1 Outturn from higher-levels of government
D
Notes:
In all three years, the deviation of actual grants from the original budgeted grants was more than 116% of the original budget. The outturns for 2016, 2017 and 2018 are 229.5%, 275.9% and 230.9%, respectively.
HLG-1.2 Transfers composition outturn
D
Notes:
The composition variance of ear-marked grants was more than 15% for each of the three completed FYs. The variances in 2016, 2017 and 2018 were 67.2%, 113.1% and 66.8%, respectively.
HLG-1.3 Timeliness of transfers from higher-levels of government
C
Notes:
A disbursement timetable is prescribed by law. Over 50% of actual transfers were on time in two of the last three completed FYs.
HLG-1.4 Predictability of transfers
D
Notes:
The HLG provides only partial information on transfers for the coming FY ,and there is no explanation for changes between the current and the previous year.
HLG-2 Fiscal rules of monitoring of fiscal position
NU
Notes:
HLG-2.1 Fiscal rules for subnational governments
NU
Notes:
HLG-2.2 Debt rules for subnational governments
NU
Notes:
HLG-2.3 Monitoring of subnational governments
NU
Notes:
I. BUDGET RELIABILITY
Scores by Dimension
Overall Indicator Score
PI-1 Aggregate expenditure out-turn
D
Notes:
PI-1.1 Aggregate expenditure out-turn
D
Notes:
Aggregate expenditure outturn deviated significantly from the budgeted amounts in the last three FYs, the outturn is 248.2%, 193.9% and 157.1% of the approved budget respectively.
PI-2 Expenditure composition outturn
D+
Notes:
PI-2.1 Expenditure composition outturn by function
D
Notes:
Variance in expenditure composition by functional classification was more than 15% for each of the last three years. The variances of three years are 62.9%, 68.7% and 56.5%, respectively.
PI-2.2 Expenditure composition outturn by economic type
NA
Notes:
There was no economic classification for governmental funds in the last three completed fiscal years.
PI-2.3 Expenditure from contingency reserves.
A
Notes:
In the last three FYs, the budget for contingency reserves was arranged but not used. Therefore, actual expenditure charged to a contingency vote was on average less than three percent of the original budget.
Notes:
PI-3.1 Agregate revenue outturn
B
Notes:
In 2016, 2017 and 2018, the variances in aggregate revenue were 97.9%, 71.4% and 96.1% respectively. The actual revenues were between 94% and 112% of budgeted revenues in two of the last three years.
PI-3.2 Revenue composition outturn
D
Notes:
Composition variance in revenue collection in the last three years was 58.8%, 53.7% and 25.0% respectively, all more than 15%.
II. TRANSPARENCY OF PUBLIC FINANCES
Scores by Dimension
Overall Indicator Score
PI-4 Budget Classification
D
Notes:
PI-4.1 Budget Classification
D
Notes:
The budget documentation is nationally consistent. The GPB is based on functional and economic classifications, but the GFB is only based on functional classification.
PI-5 Budget Documentation
C
Notes:
PI-5.1 Budget Documentation
C
Notes:
The budget documentation contains three basic elements and two additional elements.
PI-6 Subnational government operations outside financial reports
A
Notes:
PI-6.1 Expenditure outside financial reports
A
Notes:
There are three public hospitals in Yizhang. Although they are budgetary units, they have extrabudgetary activities. And all extrabudgetary expenditure were recorded in the financial reports of the Health Bureau in the last three FYs.
PI-6.2 Revenue outside financial reports
A
Notes:
There are three public hospitals in Yizhang. Although they are budgetary units, they have extrabudgetary activities. And all extrabudgetary revenue were recorded in the financial reports of the Health Bureau in the last three FYs.
PI-6.3 Financial reports of extrabudgetary units
A
Notes:
Financial reports of all extrabudgetary activities, containing full information on revenue, expenditure, financial and tangible assets, liabilities, guarantees, and long-term obligations, and supported by a reconciled cash flow statement, are submitted to the SNG annually within one month of the end of the FYs.
PI-7 Transfers to subnational governments
NA
Notes:
PI-7.1 System for allocating transfers
NA
Notes:
There are no separate lower-level SNGs, rather deconcentrated units of the county government.
PI-7.2 Timeliness of information on transfers
NA
Notes:
There are no separate lower-level SNGs, rather deconcentrated units of the county government.
PI-8 Performance information for service delivery
C+
Notes:
PI-8.1 Performance plans for service delivery
C
Notes:
Information on the activities to be performed under the policies or programs for all service delivery units is published annually.
PI-8.2 Performance achieved for service delivery
B
Notes:
13 service delivery departments published the performance achieved in FY 2018 on their websites.
PI-8.3 Resources received by service delivery units
A
Notes:
Information on resources received by frontline service delivery units is collected and recorded for the selected service delivery units, disaggregated by source of funds.
PI-8.4 Performance evaluation for service delivery
D
Notes:
Independent evaluations of the efficiency or effectiveness of service delivery were carried out for less than 25%of the service delivery units in 2017.
PI-9 Public access to fiscal information
D
Notes:
PI-9.1 Public access to fiscal information
D
Notes:
The Yizhang Government made available to the public one basic elements within the specified time frame.
9bis Public consultation
NU
Notes:
9bis.1 Public consultation in budget preparation
NU
Notes:
9bis.2 Public consultation in the design of service delivery programs
NU
Notes:
9bis.3 Public consultation in investment planning
NU
Notes:
III. MANAGEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES
Scores by Dimension
Overall Indicator Score
PI-10 Fiscal risk reporting
C+
Notes:
PI-10.1 Monitoring of public corporations
D*
Notes:
No evidence is available about the submission of the financial reports of the ten largest PCs to the government. But for one of the PC, the financial report was audited and published. There is no consolidated report for all PCs.
PI-10.2 Monitoring of subnational governments
NA
Notes:
There are no SNGs within Yizhang.
PI-10.3 Contingent liabilities and other fiscal risks
A
Notes:
There are no state insurance schemes and guarantees in Yizhang. In FY 2018, 4 out of 5 operating PPP projects incurred significant contingent liabilities.
PI-11 Public investment management
D+
Notes:
PI-11.1 Economic analysis of investment proposals
C
Notes:
Economic analyses are conducted according to national guidelines to assess all major investment projects, and are reviewed by a third party (DRC); but they are not published.
PI-11.2 Investment project selection
C
Notes:
The Yizhang DRC is responsible for selecting the projects and making proposals to the County Committee. The general principles for prioritizing investment projects were published, but no clear criteria were provided.
PI-11.3 Investment project costing
D
Notes:
Investment project costing information is not included in the budget documents.
PI-11.4 Investment project monitoring
D
Notes:
The total costs and physical progress of half major investment projects are monitored monthly throughout project duration by Yizhang Development and Reform Bureau.
PI-12 Public asset management
C+
Notes:
PI-12.1 Financial asset monitoring
C
Notes:
The Yizhang Government maintains records for its holdings in major categories of financial assets (including cash, term deposits, account receivables, leases, equity).
PI-12.2 Nonfinancial asset monitoring
C
Notes:
The Yizhang Government maintains records for its holdings of fixed assets and collects partial information on their usage and age.
PI-12.3 Transparency of asset disposal
B
Notes:
Procedures and rules for the transfer or disposal of financial and non-financial assets are established. Information on asset disposal is included in the state-owned assets management report.But the report is not submitted to the county’s People’ s Congress
Notes:
PI-13.1 Recording and reporting of debt and guarantees
C
Notes:
Domestic and foreign debt records are complete, accurate, updated monthly, and reconciled annually. Comprehensive management and statistical reports covering debt service, stock, and operations are produced annually.
PI-13.2 Approval of debt and guarantees
A
Notes:
The Yizhang Finance Bureau is the responsible debt management entity. It is authorized to borrow on behalf of the county government and monitor the financing transactions according to the debt management rules. Annual borrowing is approved by the Yizhang People’s Congress.
PI-13.3 Debt management strategy
D
Notes:
There is no mid-term DMS indicating the risk indicators such as interest rates, exchange rates and refinancing alternatives.
IV. POLICY-BASED FISCAL STRATEGY AND BUDGETING
Scores by Dimension
Overall Indicator Score
PI-14new Medium term budget strategy
D+
Notes:
PI-14new.1 Underlying forecasts for medium-term budget
C
Notes:
The budget preparation was based on information of transfers, revenue and expenditure.
PI-14new.2 Fiscal impact of policy proposals
D
Notes:
No estimates about the fiscal impacts of policy changes have been conducted. The list of policy changes were not provided to the assessors.
PI-14new.3 Medium-term expenditure and revenue estimates
D
Notes:
No Medium-term expenditure and revenue estimates conducted.
PI-14new.4 Consistency of budgets with previous year's estimates
NA
Notes:
No Medium-term expenditure and revenue estimates conducted.
PI-14 Macroeconomic and fiscal forecasting
NU
Notes:
PI-14.1 Macroeconomic forecasts
NU
Notes:
PI-14.2 Fiscal forecasts
NU
Notes:
PI-14.3 Macro-fiscal sensitivity analysis
NU
Notes:
Notes:
PI-15.1 Fiscal impact of policy proposals
NU
Notes:
PI-15.2 Fiscal strategy adoption
NU
Notes:
PI-15.3 Reporting on fiscal outcomes
NU
Notes:
PI-16 Medium term perspective in expenditure budgeting
NU
Notes:
PI-16.1 Medium-term expenditure estimates
NU
Notes:
PI-16.2 Medium-term expenditure ceilings
NU
Notes:
PI-16.3 Alignment of strategic plans and medium-term budgets
NU
Notes:
PI-16.4 Consistency of budgets with previous year estimates
NU
Notes:
PI-17 Budget preparation process
B
Notes:
Notes:
Date of issuance of the 2019 budget circular was October, 11 2018. The deadline for submission of estimates was December 1, 2018. Seven weeks are provided to allow budgetary units to meaningfully complete their detailed estimates on time
PI-17.2 Guidance on budget preparation
B
Notes:
The expenditure ceiling is provided on 15 Nov. 2018, after the circular’s distribution to budgetary units, but before budgetary units have completed their submission on 1 Dec. 2018.
PI-17.3 Budget submission to the subnational council
D
Notes:
Only in one of the last three years, the executive has submitted the annual budget proposal to the legislature at least one month before the start of the FY.
PI-18 Legislative scrutiny of budgets
C+
Notes:
PI-18.1 Scope of budget scrutiny
B
Notes:
Budget scrutiny by the People’s Congress covers details of expenditure and revenue, and fiscal policies, but not medium-term fiscal forecasts and medium-term priorities.
PI-18.2 Legislative procedures for budget scrutiny
A
Notes:
The Budget Law of PRC and Rules of the Financial and Economic Committee of the Yizhang People’s Congress stipulate the legislative procedures for budget scrutiny.
PI-18.3 Timing of budget approval
C
Notes:
Only one of the last three FYs, the county legislature approved the annual budget proposal before the start of the FY, but the delay in the other two FYs did not exceed one month.
PI-18.4 Rules for budget adjustments by the executive
B
Notes:
Clear rules about budget adjustments exist which were adhered to in majority instances.
V. PREDICTABILITY AND CONTROL IN BUDGET EXECUTION
Scores by Dimension
Overall Indicator Score
PI-19 Tax administration
NA
Notes:
PI-19.1 Rights and obligations for tax measures
NA
Notes:
PI-19.2 Property tax register and value assessment
NA
Notes:
PI-19.3 Tax risk management, audit and investigation
NA
Notes:
PI-19.4 Tax arrears monitoring
NA
Notes:
PI-20 Accounting for revenue
A
Notes:
PI-20.1 Information on revenue collections
A
Notes:
The Treasury Office of the Finance Bureau obtains revenue data from the departments responsible for collecting fiscal revenue (the Taxation Bureau and the Non-Tax Revenue Administration) and compiles a unified income completion report every month. The report details the monthly completion and cumulative completion of various types of revenue.
PI-20.2 Transfer of revenue collections
A
Notes:
All tax revenues are transferred to the Treasury on a daily basis, while non-tax revenues are paid directly to the special accounts under the TSA system.
PI-20.3 Tax accounts reconciliation
NA
Notes:
Governments at county level are not authorized to administrate and collect taxes. The duty of tax revenue reconciliation is not applicable to Yizhang county.
PI-21 Predictability of in-year resource allocation
D+
Notes:
PI-21.1 Consolidation of cash balances
C
Notes:
The Yizhang Finance Bureau obtains a daily balance report from the Treasury, and the balances of special accounts are consolidated monthly.
PI-21.2 Cash forecasting and monitoring
D
Notes:
Except for monthly forecasting on tax income, no evidence shows thatthe Yizhang Finance Bureau has conducted other cash flow forecasting and monitoring.
PI-21.3 Information on commitment ceilings
D
Notes:
Payment can be made within the approved budget. But originally approved budget expenditure accounts for less than 75% the actually executed expenditure.
PI-21.4 Significance of in-year budget adjustments
C
Notes:
Significant budget adjustments happened more than twice. Part of the adjustments are approved by the People’s Congress of the county.
PI-22 Expenditure arrears
D
Notes:
PI-22.1 Stock of expenditure arrears
D*
Notes:
Since Yizhang county has not set up a monitoring system of expenditure arrears, data on stock of arrears is not available.
PI-22.2 Expenditure arrears monitoring
D
Notes:
There is no monitoring system for expenditure arrears in Yizhang county.
Notes:
PI-23.1 Integration of payroll and personnel records
A
Notes:
The approved employee list, personnel database and payroll are linked to each other through the documents approved, and reconciled at least monthly before payoff, which constitutes an effective assurance for budget control and data consistency.
PI-23.2 Management of payroll changes
A
Notes:
Necessary changes to personnel records and payrolls are updated in real time.
PI-23.3 Internal control of payroll
A
Notes:
The authority to change personnel records and payrolls is restricted with separate posts and system privileges, results in an audit trail, and is adequate to ensure full integrity of data.
Notes:
Yizhang carried out special projects to identify and clean up all the ‘ghost’ employees.
Notes:
PI-24.1 Procurement monitoring
D*
Notes:
The contract data for small contracts are not available, and there is no sound document to facilitate the assessment of this dimension.
PI-24.2 Procurement methods
D*
Notes:
Since the contract data for small contracts are not available, it is not feasible to calculate the total value of contracts awarded through competitive methods.
PI-24.3 Public access to procurement information
D
Notes:
One out of six criteria are met.
PI-24.4 Procurement complaints management
A
Notes:
All six criteria are met.
PI-25 Internal controls on nonsalary expenditure
B
Notes:
PI-25.1 Segregation of duties
A
Notes:
Segregation of duties is prescribed throughout the whole budget execution process with responsibilities clearly defined for each stage.
PI-25.2 Effectiveness of expenditure commitment controls
D
Notes:
No effective expenditure commitment control system has been established.
PI-25.3 Compliance with payment rules and procedures
A
Notes:
All (more than 90%) the payments are in line with regular payment procedures, and all exceptions are authorized in advance.
Notes:
PI-26.1 Coverage of internal audit
D
Notes:
Internal audit was applied to the budgetary units that implement less than 50% of the budget expenditures and collected all of the budget revenues.
PI-26.2 Nature of audits and standards applied
A
Notes:
Internal audit activities focused on verifying the adequacy and effectiveness of internal control. The internal audit function has a quality assurance process and audit activities meet professional standards, including adopting the risk-based approach.
PI-26.3 Implementation of internal audits and reporting
A
Notes:
The sampled department with an internal audit unit prepares an annual audit work plan and a summary report for its annual audit work, which shows the completion rate of the planned internal audit tasks.
PI-26.4 Response to internal audits
A
Notes:
The management of the sampled departments proactively responded to the auditors’ suggestions included in the audit report within 12 months after the audit reports were issued.
VI. ACCOUNTING AND REPORTING
Scores by Dimension
Overall Indicator Score
PI-27 Financial data integrity
B
Notes:
PI-27.1 Bank account reconciliation
B
Notes:
Reconciliation of all bank accounts is completed within 10 days after the end of each month.
PI-27.2 Suspense accounts
NA
Notes:
There is no suspense account.
PI-27.3 Advance accounts
NA
Notes:
There is no advance account.
PI-27.4 Financial data integrity processes
B
Notes:
The Golden Finance Project network system is managed by the Finance Bureau. Changes to the financial records are strictly restricted. Access to the system must be authorized in advance and is secured by password.
PI-28 In-year budget reports
B+
Notes:
PI-28.1 Coverage and comparability of reports
A
Notes:
There are monthly reports and analyses on budget execution. All revenues and expenditures including de-concentrated units within the SNG are included in the in-year budget reports.
PI-28.2 Timing of in-year budget reports
A
Notes:
There are monthly reports and analyses on budget execution released within ten days of the end of the reported period.
PI-28.3 Accuracy of in-year budget reports
B
Notes:
The in-year budget report data are largely consistent and useful for the analyses of budget execution. An analysis report is prepared on a monthly basis and covers the information of the expenditure stage, but the report is not audited.
PI-29 Annual financial reports
D+
Notes:
PI-29.1 Completeness of annual financial reports
C
Notes:
An annual budget execution report was prepared and is comparable with the approved budget. The report included information on revenues, expenditures, and liabilities, but not on financial assets or tangible assets.
PI-29.2 Submission of reports for external audit
B
Notes:
Budget execution reports were submitted to the County Audit Office within six months after the end of the FY.
PI-29.3 Accounting standards
D
Notes:
The budget execution reports were prepared in line with the national standards stipulated by MOF.
VII. EXTERNAL SCRUTINY AND AUDIT
Scores by Dimension
Overall Indicator Score
Notes:
Notes:
In the past three FYs, the expenditures being audited by external auditors accounted for less than 50% of total expenditures.
PI-30.2 Submission of audit reports to the subnational council
A
Notes:
During the past three FYs, the Audit Office submitted the audit reports to the legislature within three months after receiving the financial reports.
PI-30.3 External audit follow-up
A
Notes:
The rectification reports show that in the last three FYs, required followup actions were taken by the related entities effectively and timely to respond to the issues disclosed by the auditors.
PI-30.4 Independence of the public audit institution in charge of subnational governments
B
Notes:
The Audit Law and related regulations provide concrete basis to secure the independence of the SAI.
PI-31 Legislative scrutiny of audit reports
B+
Notes:
PI-31.1 Timing of audit report scrutiny
A
Notes:
The County Audit Office submitted the audit report to the Standing Committee of the County People’s Congress for the first review in June.
PI-31.2 Hearings on audit findings
A
Notes:
An in-depth hearing was held on the main findings of the audit report once every year.
PI-31.3 Recommendations on audit by subnational council
A
Notes:
For three consecutive years, once receiving the follow-up reports from the auditees, a summarized report was prepared by the Audit Office and submitted to the Standing Committee.
PI-31.4 Transparency of legislative scrutiny of audit reports
D
Notes:
The hearings on the audit report for FY 2018 was not open to the public. The follow-up report for FY 2018 was not published on the government’s website.