決算最終審定制度與公共課責:代理成本之分析

Abstract

預算制度為國家實現政策、計畫之財政基礎，政府之財務資訊及財務報表是否充分、允當表達並符合法定預算與相關規定，則賴肩負財務司法重責之專業獨立審計機關提供相關審計服務並揭露審計結果予各類報表使用者，以使政府財政透明，並有助於良好公共課責。 隨著國家民主化發展，在權力分立制衡的憲政設計下，審計功能是否確實發揮，值得藉由代理成本途徑，以我國獨具之決算最終審定制度運作情形，觀察分析代議式民主，在財政上，實務運作所衍生之代理問題與耗用之代理成本內涵，暨相關成本之耗用，對財政透明及公共課責之影響。 本研究透過文獻分析法、深度訪談法、問卷調查法及參與觀察法等4種研究方法研析後，獲致：1.決算最終審定制度所耗費之監督及擔保成本，有助於政府財政形式透明、降低立法院及監察院對行政體系資訊及專業不對稱問題，但因擔保成本付出不足及最終審定之信度及效度不足，對財政實質透明產生負面影響；2.決算最終審定制度所耗費之監督及擔保成本，對國家財政剩餘損失之影響尚難估測，但對公共課責之實質助益尚待強化；3.決算最終審定制度所耗費之代理成本，未盡經濟，但制度調整或變革之問題及挑戰不少等3項研究發現，並據以提出3項對審計機關之建議意見，期能改善現存問題，提升政府財政透明度，並踐行良好公共課責，協助政府良善治理，增進全民福祉。

The public budget is described as a series of policy goals with price tags attached. The levels of accuracy, adequacy, and compliancy of governmental financial information and statements depend on an independent audit system, which provides audited information to enhance fiscal transparency and improve public accountability. This thesis analyzes agent costs incurred by Taiwan’s specific final audit system, as well as the impacts of those costs on fiscal transparency and public accountability. Four research methods are employed to investigate the contents and outcomes of those agent costs, including analyses of literature, in-depth interview, survey, and participant observation. The results of this thesis are as the following. First, “monitoring cost” and “bonding cost” incurred by the government’s financial-statement-audited system increase “opaque fiscal transparency” while reduce asymmetrical information between the agent (the elected politicians and the bureaucrats) and the principal (the Legislative Yuan and the Control Yuan). Nevertheless, the insufficient bonding cost and the lack of reliability and validity of the government’s financial-statement-audited hurt “real fiscal transparency”. Second, the impacts of incurred monitoring and bonding costs on fiscal residual loss are indeterminate, while those impacts on public accountability are inadequate. Finally, the overall agent costs incurred by the government’s financial-statement-audited system is uneconomic, and therefore future problems and challenges for the government’s financial-statement-audited system reforms are foreseeable. This thesis provides policy recommendations for the audit system to review. Those recommendations are expected to improve current problems that have occurred in our audit system. They are also expected to improve the level of fiscal transparency, to lead to better public accountability, to enhance good governance, and to achieve social good.