Types of Audits Applied in State Budget Auditing

The State Audit also provides management agencies with weaknesses and inadequacies in state budget management; units violating policies and regulations on state budget management. On that basis, management agencies propose appropriate measures to better manage the state budget. For cases of violations of policies and regulations on state budget management that the State Audit has discovered, management agencies have measures to recover for the state budget such as recovering fraudulent taxes, recovering expenditures in violation of regulations, maintaining order and discipline in state budget management.

Through the results of the State budget audit, the State Audit Office publicizes data and the management and use of the State budget on the media, press conferences or performs the reporting obligation at forums of the National Assembly and the Government to ensure the transparency of the State budget. In a state of law, all state activities must be closely inspected and supervised by the legislative body - the body elected by the people and representing the interests of taxpayers who make up the State budget. The need for information of the people and the agencies with the right to supervise requires the State Audit Office, as a public finance inspection agency, to publicize data and the management and use of the State budget through its State budget audit activities. This will create pressure on the subjects of management and use of the State budget to manage and use the State budget more effectively.

Second, Advisory function through expressing opinions

Consulting is an important function of the State budget audit. This function comes from the objective of State budget audit to help improve the management, operation and use of the State budget by audited entities. The form of expression of the consulting function is recommendations or suggestions. The objects of State budget audit are units and individuals using the State budget. In some cases, the function of expressing opinions of the State Audit is expressed at a high level, having the right to judge like a court.

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Through its findings within the framework of each State budget audit, the State Audit Office makes recommendations and solutions to overcome and correct errors and violations of the State's financial and accounting management regime, and prevent them from happening.

They will be repeated in the future, contributing to the health of the national financial system. At the same time, through its activities, the State Audit Office performs the function of advising the National Assembly in drafting laws, especially those on finance, budget, credit, accounting, and auditing. The opinions of the State Audit Office will create a multi-dimensional information flow, serving as a basis for discussion and decision-making. This function is based on the State Audit Office operating according to the laws promulgated by the National Assembly. They must not only have a deep understanding of the law but also through auditing practice, from which they can clearly grasp which laws are being enforced, which laws are still flawed, which laws are lacking and do not exist. Also based on the practice of auditing the State budget, the State Audit Office can also advise the National Assembly and the Government in the process of drafting the State budget plan, considering and deciding on investment plans for key national projects, planning macro-financial policies and organizing the internal control system (IS) in state agencies and organizations.

1.1.5.2. Types of audits applied in state budget audits

There are many ways to classify audits according to different criteria. According to the specific object, audits can be divided into financial (reporting) audits, operational audits and joint audits. In the specific field, according to the audit objectives, audits can be divided into information audits, compliance audits, performance audits and efficiency audits. According to the relationship between the time of audit and the time of performing the business, audits include pre-audits (estimates), current audits and post-audits (finalization).

To perform various types of audits to achieve audit objectives, similar to auditing in general, State budget audits must also seek sufficient, appropriate and reliable evidence as a basis for expressing opinions on audited subjects through the verification function. Audit evidence in State budget audits must satisfy general requirements for evidence according to accepted practices such as completeness and validity as a basis for preparing audit reports. During the State budget audit, auditors implement different audit methods originating from general audit methods such as document audit.

and non-documentary audits. However, because the subjects of State budget audits are very diverse and each audit has very different objectives, the methods of applying audit types have their own characteristics suitable for specific subjects.

Based on the basic objectives of State budget audit, which are to examine and determine the correctness, honesty and legality of the materiality of the budget settlement reports and financial reports of audited units; assess compliance with the law, economy, effectiveness and efficiency in the management, use and operation of the State budget and the operational efficiency of public agencies, the Thesis delves into three types of audits by subject: financial statement audit, compliance audit and performance audit.

One is, Auditing financial statements

The principle issue in state management activities or production and business activities in their relations with the state, investors, management agencies, consumers, etc. is to publicize information on financial reports. This information, before being made public in a market economy and international integration trends, is essential to be checked and confirmed by an independent external agency, so the type of financial statement audit appears as an objective necessity. This has the effect of preventing false reporting on the financial statements of economic units. The risks of organizations and individuals using information on the public financial statements of units will be limited because this information has been audited, checked and confirmed.

Auditing financial statements is the process of checking and confirming the truthfulness and reasonableness of financial statements as well as reviewing whether financial statements comply with accounting principles, standards and legal requirements or not?[12, p.10]

The objective of financial statement auditing is that through auditing, auditors give independent and objective comments and assessments on the truthfulness and reasonableness of the information in the financial statements as well as comments on the accuracy of the information.

Present information in accordance with recognized accounting principles, standards and legal requirements.

In the field of State budget audit, the issue of auditing financial statements and settlement reports of state agencies, organizations, units using the State budget, and state-owned enterprises (SOEs) using state capital is very necessary to ensure the use of the State budget is increasingly economical and effective. The most commonly audited financial statements are budget settlement reports at all levels, financial statements of budget units, enterprises, settlement reports of capital investment for basic construction (CIC) and accompanying explanatory notes...

When applying the type of financial statement audit, the auditor must give his/her opinions on the issues presented in the financial statements, on the financial situation of the audited entity. The audit report must fully present and clearly express the auditor's opinions on the financial statement comments, explain the financial situation, and the results of budget revenue and expenditure in accordance with the provisions on accounting principles and prescribed standards. The auditor is responsible for giving conclusions and determining the level of reliability on the truthfulness and legality of the audited financial information based on professional judgment, not raising general comments. The auditor gives his/her opinions on the following contents: Are the financial statements prepared in accordance with accounting practices, principles and standards; Are the financial information in accordance with current regulations and legal requirements? All financial information of the unit is consistent with the auditor's understanding of the functions and duties of the audited unit; the financial information satisfactorily presents all material issues, honestly and reasonably.

The characteristics of financial statement audits are reflected in the presentation of audit conclusions, which are general assessments and views of auditors on the financial statement figures and related financial information of the unit. In general, financial statement audit conclusions have 4 types of opinions: fully accepted opinions, partially accepted opinions, excluded opinions, and rejected opinions.

Second, the type of compliance audit

In the initial stage of the formation of auditing, auditing activities were mainly limited to auditing financial statements. Due to the increasing requirements of management, auditing has also developed. Auditing activities have been expanded to the fields of compliance auditing and performance auditing. Compliance auditing has become a type of auditing activity that plays an important role for the State Audit in general and for the State budget audit in particular.

Compliance auditing is understood as a type of auditing that aims to assess the implementation of laws and regulations of competent authorities during the operation of the audited unit [16, p. 254].

The concept of compliance auditing is primarily related to the concepts of law and regulations. Compliance with law is understood as compliance with regulations to regulate and relate to the activities of the audited unit issued by competent authorities according to law.

All agencies and organizations in their operations must comply with the law and regulations. Non-compliance with the law and regulations refers to acts of wrong implementation, omission, incomplete implementation, untimely implementation or non-implementation of the law and regulations, whether intentional or unintentional, by the unit; these acts include acts committed by groups or individuals under the name of the unit or its representative. Non-compliance with the law by the unit, on the one hand, will adversely affect the interests of the state, society, related units or the interests of the unit's collective of employees; on the other hand, it also makes the assessment of information, effectiveness... in the unit's operations inaccurate. Therefore, compliance audit is an indispensable type of audit of the State Audit Office.

Because the function of the State Audit in auditing the State budget is to inspect, control, and evaluate the management, operation, and use of the State budget, at the same time, there is a certain relationship between auditing financial statements and auditing activities.

compliance, so compliance audits are often not organized as a standalone audit but are often associated with one of the two types of audits above or a combination of all three forms of audits to form a joint audit. In that case, compliance audits have specific objectives and demonstrate their main roles as follows:

First, Compliance Audit aims to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of the internal control system of the unit. As the main method to evaluate the reliability of the internal control system of the unit, compliance audit is an important basis to determine the audit model (materiality, risk, content, scope, method... audit) in accordance with the audit objectives. Assessing the reliability of the internal control system is an activity prescribed in the audit process and complies with the requirements of the State Audit standards system; it is considered an indispensable condition and basis for establishing and operating the audit plan.

Next, Compliance Audit aims to assess compliance with laws and regulations in the unit's operations; thereby assessing the legality of information, compliance with processes, principles and procedures in the unit's operations; that is also one of the important objectives of a financial statement audit or an operational audit; on the other hand, it is on that basis that the objective of assessing the objectivity of the use of financial resources and assets at the unit can be achieved. Therefore, compliance audit activities are considered the basis for conducting audits.

Finally, based on compliance assessments, auditors advise the unit on financial and public asset management in accordance with the law and regulations, draw conclusions to strengthen financial-accounting discipline, protect and use assets... and also advise the unit on management activities, first of all, to strengthen and improve the operational efficiency of the internal control system, thereby improving the quality of management activities.

In short, as an activity of auditing, compliance auditing

Auditing is an indispensable content, constituting the contents of the audit. On the other hand, it has a direct supporting role in the implementation of the main objectives at all stages and for all types of applications in audits to minimize audit risks and comprehensively implement the audit objectives.

Third, Types of performance audits

Along with the socio-economic development, budget revenue and expenditure are also increasing day by day. This requires enhancing the role of the State Audit agency in auditing the State budget, not only a matter related to principles and compliance but also a role in explaining the effectiveness and efficiency of public spending, through the type of performance audit. Performance audit is a new type of audit but has been quickly applied in practice and is becoming more and more important for the activities of the State Audit, especially in the field of State budget audit. According to INTOSAI: Performance audit is an audit to assess the economy, efficiency and effectiveness of the use of resources to perform the assigned responsibilities of the audit entity [34, p.22].

Performance audit is a type of audit, so it also has the function of verifying and expressing opinions. However, because the audit object is a specific activity, the function is also expressed in the direction of proposal rather than evaluation. Performance audit is aimed at both financial and non-financial activities taking place in the present and the future and is concretized into specific business cycles that are continuous in a system. The ultimate goal of performance audit is to improve the quality of operations and optimize efficiency, so performance audit needs to evaluate the effectiveness of internal management, specific performance and in general, management performance. Performance audit is a type of audit that focuses on evaluating the effectiveness of information systems and internal management, the effectiveness of operations and the effectiveness of management of activities that have been and are taking place in an organization or agency. In performance audit, there may be elements of

information audit and compliance audit. When conducting an operational audit, the review is not limited to accounting but may include an assessment of the organizational structure, management processes, computer operations, operating methods, etc.

The subject of performance audit is sometimes considered as policies, programs, organizations and management. The subject of performance audit in State budget audit is very diverse, it can be general revenue collection activities, or a specific tax, it can also be the management, operation and use of budget expenditure of a locality, a ministry or just a project, a program in a budget unit, an enterprise.

The content of operational audit has many unique characteristics and is more difficult to define specifically than financial statement audit. However, to achieve its basic objectives, operational audit needs to focus on evaluating the implementation of operational objectives; checking and evaluating the use of resources (material, financial, human resources); checking and evaluating programs and activities; checking and evaluating control and management systems; checking and evaluating the impact of the external environment.

The conduct of an operational audit and the reporting results are more difficult to determine than those of a compliance audit and a financial statement audit. The evaluation of the efficiency and effectiveness of the operations is much more difficult to assess objectively than the compliance and presentation of the financial statements according to accepted accounting principles. The development of standards and criteria for evaluating quantifiable information in an operational audit is a highly subjective matter. Therefore, an operational audit is more akin to management consultation or management decision making.

To conduct an effective performance audit, it is necessary to create the necessary conditions. Performance audit requires a full legal environment, meaning that the objectives and scope of activities must be codified and established in the constitution or the State Audit Law, and at the same time, it is necessary to popularize the concept of raising awareness about

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