Based on the accountant accreditation system, Jiaozuo City launched a department budgeting system at the end of 2000. Shen said: “With budgeting, each department should have an account book, recording every item of expense. In the past, the finance bureau had no say in how each department should spend their money. They wanted to do everything they wished to do, whether entertaining or buying cars. Department budgeting aims to check this problem. If the money is set to buy computers and you use it to buy something else, you cannot get it reimbursed.”
According to the rules, the accounting office would reject any account that is not included in the budget plan of an individual department. Then how should the finance bureau see to it that the budget of a department is eligible? Shen answered: “Each department should submit a budget report, and we'll send personnel to make sure how many staff members they have, whether the tables need to be replaced, etc. The finance bureau doesn't have the final say. We have a budget committee with all Party members and department heads. Sometimes we invite financial supervisors from outside to join our discussion and augmentation as to where and how the money should be spent, and how it will benefit the ordinary people. It is all open. The city Party committee and government as well as an expert panel will further verify the feasibility of the budget. The report will still have to go through the standing committee of the city Party committee and government and then the local People's Congress for approval before it becomes legal and finally settles down.”
Financial capital in Jiaozuo is spent this way: Each department submits a budget at the beginning of the year to the finance bureau, city government and Party committee for approval and the local People's Congress to pass. A large purchasing project is done through bidding by the government-purchasing center. Other expenses are reimbursed according to the budget. Shen said: “The finance bureau is supervising others. Who will then supervise the finance bureau? If not properly handled, small brokerages may become big, and sporadic ones become collective or small corruption bigger. The reform actually started with ourselves. We readjusted our departments; each one is no longer in possession of any capital and set up a financial capital supervision committee. The head of the discipline inspection team oversees the basic functions of the committee. It is responsible to the Party committee and the city government instead of a single director in charge. Take me for an example, if I approve one expense that is not included in the budget, the accounting office would reject it and you cannot get the money back. It is like a production line; if one section is jammed, the others won't be able to move. And the money doesn't flow out.”
In addition to the accountant accreditation system and department budgeting plan, Jiaozuo City also carried out a series of other finance-related reforms. Financial reform has been going on in Jiaozuo City for three years since 1999. Zhang Qinghe, director of Jiaozuo Labor and Social Security Bureau of Henan Province, said: “We feel assured. And all money is spent where it is most needed.” Deputy Director of Jiaozuo Public Security Bureau, Henan Province, Li Changgen said: “One pity is that it is not as convenient as before. But speaking from the positive side, convenience might not be something good. Sometimes it is not so easy to have self-control. Outside supervision is nothing bad; it is something positive.”
Nobody would raise doubts then. It was different than in the past. If you have drunk the cup of tea, you have and cannot deny it. Now everything is clear. After the implementation of the accountant accreditation system, the qualities of tables and chairs our schools bought are better, but the prices are lower. Is there any change in the financial power in your hands as vice mayor in charge of finance? Vice Mayor Hou Chenyi said: “This is a reform of expense management. I was part of it. I made a rough estimation. Before the reform, each year around April or May all departments would make a temporary budget, hoping to get more money from the government. Those temporary budgets can be this thick putting together. After the reform, the budget of each department is open to the public.” Mao Chaofeng, mayor of Jiaozuo City, said: “The financial power of the government is to help the public make good use of financing. It is not a personal power.”
We have seen the budgets of several departments, public security and the education department all say that their expenses on communication and construction were reduced. Where did the government spend the saved money? Mayor Mao answered: “It is basically used to satisfy the public needs.”
Once unable to guarantee teachers' salaries, Jiaozuo City has in the past three years invested in all social undertakings a sum that was the equal to the total spent in ten years prior to 1999. Jiaozuo City is the home to shadowboxing. Many people come to do morning exercise in the parks every day. Three parks began to open to the public for free last year. And for this only, the city government has to subsidize 1 million RMB each year. Mayor Mao said: “This reform enables us to gather some of the capital and to prioritize social resources in order to satisfy public needs and welfare.” Former Mayor of Jiaozuo City of Henan Province, Qin Yuhai said: “One big change is that before the reform, financial management largely relied on one's morality, while it is reliant on a system and mechanism for financing now. It is more up to standard and more scientific.
At the beginning of 2001, teachers in Anyang received 18 months' due salary, and they got a bankbook as well. They now will get their monthly pay directly from the city finance bureau.
Editor: Wang Yin
(Dec 28th,2002)
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