Question 2: What do you mean by special funds?
The so-called special funds refer to the funds allocated by the state or relevant departments or superior departments with special designated purposes or special purposes. This kind of funds need to be accounted for separately and earmarked, and cannot be used for other purposes.
In the current system and regulations, special funds have different names, such as special expenditure, project expenditure, special funds and so on. And there are some differences in the specific content. But on the whole, its meaning is basically the same. Generally speaking, special funds refer to the funds allocated by the financial department or the superior unit to the administrative institutions to complete special work or projects and need to be accounted for separately. In other words, special funds have three characteristics: first, they come from finance or higher-level units; Second, it is used for specific matters; Third, separate accounting is needed.
The unit's work business funds are insufficient, and the business funds applied separately are used to make up for the lack of funds, which are not special funds.
Composition and classification of special funds
At present, there is no unified definition of the composition of special funds. From the point of view of financial fund management, in daily operation, the "deduction definition method" is generally adopted, that is, all financial funds arranged or added by higher-level units, excluding recurrent funds, are regarded as special funds. According to the nature of expenditure, special funds include personal parts (such as special subsidies, special awards, etc.). ) and public parts (such as special procurement and special maintenance, etc. ); From the classification of expenditure purposes, special funds can be divided into capital construction expenditure, special business expenditure, special purchase expenditure, special repair expenditure and other special expenditures.
The Measures for the Administration of Expenditure Budget of Central-level Projects issued by the Ministry of Finance stipulates that the project expenditure budget is an annual project expenditure plan (or special fund expenditure plan) prepared outside the basic expenditure budget. Projects can be divided into capital construction projects, administrative projects and other projects according to their nature. For local governments, the classification of special funds is basically the same as the classification of central project expenditures, but there are differences in the source and use of funds. The sources of local special funds are mainly budgetary funds, extra-budgetary funds, funds subsidized or allocated by higher authorities, government funds and transfer payment funds arranged by local financial departments; The use of local special funds is mainly the special undertakings such as infrastructure construction and development undertaken by local governments.
Proportion of special funds in total fiscal expenditure.
Special expenditure accounts for a large proportion of public expenditure. The use and management of special expenditure and the choice of expenditure methods and means can directly affect the efficiency of the use of a certain amount of financial funds.
Current regulations on the management of special funds
According to the current Accounting System of Administrative Units and Financial System of Administrative Units, the expenditure of administrative units is divided into recurrent expenditure and special expenditure according to the requirements of fund management. Specific items of recurrent expenditure and special expenditure include basic salary, supplementary salary, other wages, employee welfare expenses, social security expenses, official expenses, business expenses, repair expenses, equipment purchase expenses and other expenses. These special expenditures should be used in accordance with the approved projects and purposes, and need to be accounted for separately, that is, separately from the normal appropriation, and at the same time accept the inspection and supervision of relevant departments. The special balance of the completed project can only be used after it is approved by the competent budget unit or the financial department.
In addition, in recent years, the Ministry of Finance has also formulated relevant regulations on specific fund management. For example, the "Several Provisions on Financial Management of Capital Construction" issued by the Ministry of Finance has formulated relevant regulations on the use and management of capital construction funds; In addition, the principles of project expenditure budget management are stipulated in the Measures for the Administration of Project Expenditure Budget at the Central Level. At the same time, according to local characteristics, local financial departments have also introduced some special fund management measures, such as: Beijing has successively formulated a series of special fund management systems for science and technology, such as the Measures for the Management of Funds for Projects Supported by Natural Science Foundation of Beijing, the Measures for the Management of Special Funds for Popular Science Activities in Beijing, the Measures for the Management of Funds for Science and Technology Rising Stars in Beijing and the Measures for the Management of Funds for Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Beijing.
The introduction of these systems, regulations and methods has undoubtedly made special funds have rules to follow in all aspects such as budget, implementation and accounting, which has played a positive role in standardizing management. However, with the deepening of the financial system reform, some new situations and problems are difficult to be solved and standardized with the existing system, which needs further discussion and research.
Problems existing in the management of special funds
At present, some outstanding problems in the management of special funds mainly include:
1, lack of scientific definition of special funds.
Special funds are funds allocated by finance to special undertakings and are an important part of public expenditure. At present, there are two main classifications of public expenditure in theoretical circles: theoretical classification and statistical classification, but there is no clear definition of special expenditure in either classification method.
2. The budget of special funds is not standardized.
In recent years, the preparation methods of departmental budget and detailed budget have been widely implemented in local financial budgets. Basically, it is "personnel funds are based on standards, public funds are based on quotas, and special funds are based on reality". However, there is no clear conclusion on how to use the special funds according to the actual situation.
3. Budget preparation and implementation are seriously out of line.
The function of preparing financial budget is to arrange and control the use of financial funds reasonably and effectively. But at present, in practice, there is a serious disconnect between budget preparation and budget implementation in various places.
4. Distribution structure of special funds.
The distribution structure of special funds refers to the combination of various special projects in the total special expenditure and the proportion of various special projects in the total special expenditure. The structure of special funds reflects the policy trend and changes in a period, and its optimization is related to whether local governments can effectively perform their functions under certain financial constraints.
5. The illegal use of special funds is serious.
Although the state and local governments have successively formulated and promulgated a series of special fund management systems and methods in recent years, there are still a lot of irregularities in the use and accounting of special funds. Mainly includes:
Special funds are not accounted for separately, and project funds are mixed with regular funds, which leads to the misappropriation of special funds, which cannot be correctly reflected and it is difficult to evaluate the performance of special funds;