RESEARCH OVERVIEW AND RESEARCH METHODS

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Socialist Republic of Vietnam on June 25, 2014 and took effect since 2017) is an innovation in the state management. The State budget based on the results of task performance with the method of making estimates, implementing and finalizing the budget based on the results of task performance (Article 3, point 13 of the 2015 2015 State Budget Law).

similarities, it is quite different in terms of processes as well as the specific role of each entity in the management of national budget expenditures.

Studying the Australian experience: From the second half of the 1990s, Australia began to apply the Outputs Budgeting and Management Framework. Under the decentralized framework at the federal level, results management (including performance measurement and evaluation) is the responsibility of ministers and subordinate agencies, but results must be agreed upon. with the Minister of Finance and Administration. The Australian Government’s results-based management policy requires agencies and units in the government sector to fully define outputs and measure them to determine quantity, quality, and price. effective and efficient for the activities of their agencies and organizations. Agencies and units must report on the above contents in the budget plan as well as the year-end results.

For Canada, in 1993 the Canadian Parliament passed the Act on Performance Evaluation of State Agencies, which stipulates the application of a targeted spending plan. Starting in 1995, the output-based state budget expenditure management method has been applied in many government agencies. According to this method, the agencies using the State Budget must determine the results of their activities, and on that basis develop a cost plan funded by the State Budget. At the end of the fiscal year, agencies using the State Budget must make reports on their performance. At the same time, the Government of Canada has also implemented a medium-term financial plan to ensure the connection of annual operating results with expected results in the medium term..

In Vietnam, recently, before the requirements of supplementing and amending the State Budget Law, there have been many research works on the state budget in each aspect of revenue, expenditure, and decentralization of the state budget... in the form of scientific works at ministerial and academy levels, theses and scientific articles published in specialized journals. However, the separate research on the state budget cycle has not been paid much attention by research and management agencies; sporadically, some authors have paid attention to research on the state budget cycle following the approach to study each process segment such as the process of making, implementing, paying, finalizing the state budget, auditing the state budget audit in the form of scientific articles published in specialized journals or published on websites, specifically:

The Article: “The relation between the preparation and implementation of the state budget and inflation” (2011) is implemented by Dr. Vu Si Cuong, who is the member of the policy advisory group, the Ministry of Finance and posted on www.sbgov.vn/wcm/conect/. In this article, Dr. Vu Si Cuong has a preliminary assessment of the state budget estimation and implementation in association with the current inflation situation in Vietnam. Maybe due to the framework of an article, the author does not have the conditions to analyze the advantages and disadvantages of the current state budget process in Vietnam. The author Cao Ngoc Xuyen, Deputy Chairman of the Finance and Budget Committee, National Assembly Standing Committee (2011) in the Article “Improving the process of budget decision by the National Assembly”, said that the National Assembly Standing Committee has promulgated the Regulations on making, verifying and submitting to the National Assembly for making the decisions on the state budget estimates, central state budget allocation plans and approving the state budget settlements, which prescribed the order, deadlines, responsibilities, forms for making and sending the state budget estimates and finalization reports.

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The article “Legal Research on Public Finance in Vietnam” by Dr. Pham Thi Thu Giang - Hanoi Law University, who is the chairwoman of the 2011 project, assessed the actual situtation of the law on the preparation, implementation and finalization of the state budget and proposed directions to improve the budget management process. The authors pointed out the shortcomings in each stage of the preparation and implementation of the state budget estimates and finalization and said that “weaknesses of the current state budget management method are due to the fact that we are still maintaining the traditional management method, also known as the management of the input-base state budget, which has already exposed many weaknesses.

- The article by MSc. Vu Van Cuong (2012)- Deputy Director of Legal Consulting Center - Hanoi Law University (HLU) titled “Assessment of the actual situation of making, implementing and finalizing the state budget and directions for improvement”. In this article, the author has presented the shortcomings in implementing the process of making, implementing and finalizing the state budget under the provisions of the 2002 State Budget Law. The author made an in-depth analysis about the inadequacies and proposed the important conclusions about the biggest limitation of the state budget process, which is the integration in the system of state budget levels.

The above topics and research works have built scientific bases and drawn practical experience on some basic contents of state budget expenditure management, especially the scientific basis of establishing the state budget management process, state budget allocation, improvement of state budget management efficiency, as well as proposing the diverse solutions to improve the efficiency of state budget expenditure management at the national level, medium-term state budget management stability, output-based state budget management innovation... However, there has not been a long-term research work in the form of a separate scientific topic on the state budget cycle from a theoretical perspective as well as an assessment of the status quo. From the current state of research on the state budget process, it shows that a methodical implementation of research and innovation in the state budget expenditure cycle is absolutely necessary in order to contribute to the innovation in the implementation of the state budget expenditure management cycle based on the results of task performance under the 2015 State Budget Law in Vietnam in the coming time.

To achieve the above goal, this study employed the qualitative research methods mainly to analyze and synthesize theories, previous studies on the state budget expenditure cycle, collecting the experiences from countries on relevant contents, combining the research on theoretical issues with an assessment of the current status of Vietnam as well as synthesizing and analyzing experiences of some countries in order to clarify issues related to the output-based state budget expenditure cycle in Vietnam, thereby forming a scientific basis for proposing solutions to renew the cycle of state budget expenditure management based on the results of task performance in Vietnam in the near future.

3. RESEARCH RESULTS

In Vietnam, the new output-based state budget management method has been applied in a limited way, mainly through a number of expenditures of public administrative units, expenditures on investment and development projects. development, state budget expenditures for national target programs and budget allocations for administrative management. Not only that, depending

on specific conditions, each locality, each sector determines its own goals, steps and solutions in line with the Government’s policy of reforming state budget expenditure management.

In recent times, Vietnam has actively implemented many solutions to redefine the role and position of budget levels in the budget system of Vietnam. The promulgation of Decree 16/2015/

ND-CP dated February 14, 2015 of the Government stipulating the autonomy mechanism of public administrative units (hereinafter referred to as Decree 16) has promptly met the requirements of the Government on innovation and development of public administrative activities in the socialist-oriented market economy. Decree 16 adjusts the operating and financial mechanisms for public administrative units in the direction of enhancing autonomy and self-responsibility, encouraging conditional units to achieve self-reliance at a high level. Public non-business units that cover their own recurrent and investment expenditures are given a wide range of autonomy, such as deciding the number of employees, receiving preferential credit loans from the state, or receiving interest rate support for their employees. Investment projects using loans from credit institutions according to regulations, are entitled to decide on their own the level of deduction for income supplementary funds without being restricted in the level of deduction of income supplementary funds like other types of non-business units. is different. Shifting from allocation to ordering mechanism, from assigning funds based on input to quantity and quality of output, from supporting suppliers to direct support to beneficiaries... Public non-business units are encouraged to improve their financial autonomy, exploit lawful sources of revenue to gradually ensure regular operating expenses and spend a part of investment spending, and enhance efficiency and quality of the activities, improving the living standards of workers.

However, the renovation of the financial mechanism of public administrative units still faces many difficulties and inadequacies such as the implementation of financial autonomy is still slow, the degree of autonomy is not high, and the financial autonomy is not really synchronized.

autonomy, self-responsibility for task performance, organizational structure, payroll with financial autonomy... On June 21, 2021, the Government issued the Decree No.60/2021/ND-CP on the financial autonomy mechanism of public administrative units (referred to as Decree No.60). The Decree No.60 promulgated many innovations to overcome the limitations of the Decree No.16, in which especially noteworthy are the new and more detailed regulations on the classification of financial autonomy; financial resources and use of financial resources; financial autonomy, assigning autonomy to public administrative units. Amending and supplementing regulations on determining the level of financial autonomy of public administrative units and principles of state budget support for public administrative units. To step up the renewal of the financial autonomy mechanism, to assign financial autonomy to public administrative units; increase the number of units that self-finance recurrent expenditures, investment expenditures and self-finance recurrent expenditures; clearly define revenue sources, expenditure tasks, distribution of additional income, authority and responsibility of the head of the unit; Strongly change the allocation mechanism according to the estimate to the payment-by-order mechanism, assigning tasks associated with the quantity and quality of products and services, service provision prices and user demand; have a specific roadmap for implementing the service provision bidding mechanism; gradually reduce the number of products and services performed by the method of assigning tasks.

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On April 10, 2019, the Government issued the Decree No.32/2019/ND-CP on regulations on assigning tasks, ordering or bidding for the provision of public products and services using the State budget from capital sources. recurrent expenses. Accordingly, there are 04 types of public administrative services using the state budget to carry out orders, specifically: Printing banknotes and valuable papers, producing metal coins, printing and minting gold bars; Services to ensure maritime safety, coastal information; Management and maintenance of railway infrastructure;

Services using ports and stations. In addition, the Decree also stipulates the use of the State budget for bidding or placing orders for the following services: Management and maintenance of road traffic infrastructure, operation and exploitation services. overland ferry terminal; Management and maintenance of inland waterways; Service of park management, planting and care management of ornamental plants, ornamental flowers, sidewalks, streets, medians, roundabouts; Urban lighting services... On the other hand, the Decree also stipulates that the funding for the task of providing public administrative services using the state budget can be adjusted in the following cases: salary mechanism and policy; The superior management agency adjusts the assigned tasks with the cause of changing the quantity or volume of implementation or other objective reasons.

With regard to state budget expenditures, state budget expenditures are decentralized into central budget expenditures and local budget expenditures and are mainly focused on: development investment expenditures, recurrent expenditures and debt payment, paying interest on loans, spending on provisions and spending on salary reform, in which, recurrent expenditure always accounts for the highest proportion of total state budget expenditure, accounting for an average of 61% of total state budget expenditure, expenditure on development investment accounts for about 23%, debt payment and aid account for about 23%. about 7% in the period 2008 - 2018. The proportion of recurrent expenditure in the total state budget expenditure tends to increase and peak at 70.7% in 2017. Meanwhile, expenditure on development investment in total State budget tends to decrease from about 26.3% in 2008 down to about 21.27% in 2017 [9]. The recurring expenditure tends to increase while the expenditure on development investment, which is the source of long-term economic development tends to narrow.

(i) Regarding allocation and distribution of state budget expenditure estimates, in the past time, the allocation and use of state budget estimates at ministries and central agencies and promoting socio-economic development, improving effective and efficient financial management of the state budget. However, there are still situations where the allocation and use of annual budget estimates are not timely, the number of sources transferred to the next year’s budget is large, the debt for capital construction investment is still large and prolonged without any measures. dealt with definitively, typically in localities. The preparation of state budget expenditure estimates in localities is mainly based on the results of the implementation of the state budget estimates of the previous year and adjacent years, not paying much attention to fluctuations in the socio-economic situation and conditions of each locality, major changes in the State’s economic and financial management policies and regimes. The practice of thrift and anti-waste has made fundamental changes, and thrift has changed from passive to active implementation; waste is also gradually being controlled. The management and use of operating funds of agencies and units have been more linked with the measures of thrift practice and waste prevention; The provisions of the State Budget Law, from the stage of making estimates to the

implementation and finalization of the State budget, have been strictly implemented. Although many important results have been achieved, in general, the observance of recurrent expenditure estimates of the state budget over the past time still has certain limitations, especially at agencies and units using the state budget in localities such as:

The work of making and adjusting estimates in some ministries and central agencies is still slow, leading to the untimely appraisal of the allocation and assignment of estimates by the Ministry of Finance to units. Some audited ministries and central agencies make expenditure estimates much higher than those checked by the Ministry of Finance, which is not close to reality. The allocation and assignment of estimates in excess of the norm, spending in excess of the estimate, using the wrong funding sources, exceeding the prescribed standards and regimes. In the past time, spending is higher than the estimate and the state budget overspending appears to be higher than the overspending level set by the National Assembly. Specifically, the years 2008, 2009 and the period from 2012 to 2015, the overspending was higher than the estimate; even in some years the overspending was 31.5%

higher than the estimate. Recently, the state budget deficit has tended to decrease gradually thanks to the policy of increasing the state budget expenditure discipline, reducing overspending and public debt. Accordingly, the public debt to GDP has also increased from 44.3% of GDP in 2008 to 63.7%

of GDP in 2016 and gradually decreased down to 61% in 2018. The State Audit also discovered and recommended the handling of financial violations of trillions of Vietnam Dong…

(ii) Regarding the organization and implementation of state budget expenditure estimates, in recent years, the allocation and use of state budget estimates at ministries and central agencies have promoted socio-economic development, improve the effectiveness and efficiency of state budget financial management. The management and use of state budget funds for recurrent expenditures are strictly managed and controlled from the preparation to execution of state budget estimates and finalization, expenditure tasks are classified in order of priority. Prioritize, limit additional additions outside the estimate, advance capital; Expenditure according to standards, norms and regimes according to regulations. The management and use of operating funds of agencies and units has been more linked with thrift and anti-waste practices; The provisions of the State Budget Law, from the stage of making estimates to the implementation and finalization of the state budget, have been strictly implemented. Although many important results have been achieved, in general, the observance of recurrent expenditure estimates of the state budget over the past time still has certain limitations, especially at agencies and units using the budget. In localities such as: There is still the situation of using excess revenue, provision, advance spending, lending to the wrong object, wrong regime, spending in excess of the estimate, exceeding the norm, especially the amount large state budget transfers, which continue to increase and take place for many years, are still slow to be overcome, which is a waste of the state budget...

The process of complying with the capital construction investment expenditure estimate from the state budget, besides the undeniable positive side, is contributing to the creation of important physical foundations of the national economy, sparking the stimulating economic sectors to invest in the construction of socio-economic infrastructure, the process of complying with capital construction investment expenditure estimates from the state budget still reveals many limitations, great loss and waste. In localities, there is often a situation of low revenue and high expenditure

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because the construction, allocation and execution of budget estimates at the central and local levels have many shortcomings as well as the weaknesses of the method of budget management. current book. We still maintain the traditional management method, or budget management according to the input items, which has already revealed many weaknesses.

Hanoi City is one of the localities that has implemented budget management based on the output results. Hanoi People’s Committee has actively directed its attached agencies and units to implement the mechanism of financial autonomy and self-responsibility. Typically, Hanoi Department of Health has proactively assigned financial autonomy in 2018 (phase 1) to 60 affiliated public administrative units. Accordingly, in addition to 5 hospitals that have implemented full autonomy in 2017 (including Hanoi Heart Hospital, Hoe Nhai Hospital, Saint Paul General Hospital, Hanoi Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital, Hanoi Cancer Hospital, ), in 2018, the Department of Health assigned 13 more hospitals to develop a plan for autonomy in recurrent expenditure [13]. Currently, 100% of administrative agencies under Hanoi city have implemented the mechanism of contracting administrative management funds according to the Government’s regulations. State budget expenditure on construction of a number of important works and projects with large investment scale in the fields of environment, traffic and irrigation managed by Hanoi city has basically been managed according to the results of the project. output, except for some norms still regulated by state agencies. However, the responsibility of implementing the commitments of state agencies in the budget finalization according to the output results has not really met the requirements. There are still many outstanding loans for capital construction in districts and towns.

One of the reasons for this situation is that State budget revenues do not meet the needs of State budget expenditures. Another reason is that Hanoi government still approves scattered investment projects and has not yet implemented hard budget discipline.

In the management of state budget expenditure, Ho Chi Minh City has actively assigned autonomy in terms of staffing and funding for administrative management to administrative agencies and public administrative units. The City Government encourages administrative agencies to actively rearrange their apparatus, save expenses, and allow the use of savings to increase incomes for officials and civil servants. In the management of state budget expenditures for capital construction investment, Ho Chi Minh City has actively managed state budget expenditures according to the progress of completing work items, prioritizing the allocation of capital for projects. key, urgent projects that are likely to be completed and put into use soon. During the operation, the City’s functional agencies regularly review and monitor the progress of project implementation, the results of payment disbursement to advise the City People’s Committee to adjust capital reduction. of slow-moving projects, supplementing those with good progress.[5]

(iii) Regarding the data on finalization of state budget expenditures, according to the regulations, the final settlement period is extended (18 months after the end of the budget year).

The long budget settlement period has the advantage that it helps agencies and units have time to review the final settlement and audit, but it has the disadvantage that it reduces the role and effect of the budget settlement. state books. Source transfer also accounts for a large proportion and tends to increase in absolute number. Currently, the State Budget Law stipulates the responsibilities of superior financial agencies to appraise lower-level budget settlement reports, but such regulation