Gyeonggi-do to Stop 'Autonomous Office Audits' in Cities and Counties

Gyeonggi Provincial Government

Gyeonggi Province has decided not to request audit materials for autonomous affairs of cities and counties in order to guarantee their autonomy. Autonomous affairs are unique authorities of cities and counties, handled independently to promote residents' welfare. With this measure, the burden of audits on cities and counties is expected to be significantly reduced.

Gyeonggi Province announced that it has prepared an audit innovation plan aimed at zero audit materials for autonomous affairs, which will be applied starting from the comprehensive audit of Pocheon City beginning on the 17th.

According to the innovation plan, Gyeonggi Province will focus audits on national or provincial budget expenditures or delegated affairs stipulated by laws and regulations during comprehensive audits of cities and counties. Requests for audit materials related to autonomous affairs of cities and counties will be eliminated, but audits on autonomous affairs will be conducted only if illegality is suspected based on reports or media coverage.

The preliminary investigation period will also be extended to prevent infringement on the autonomy of audited institutions.

Gyeonggi Province will increase the preliminary investigation period from the previous one week to about five weeks, thoroughly checking compliance with legality audit procedures before starting the main audit.

If no specific illegality is identified during the preliminary investigation period, the subject will be excluded from the audit.

A verification system involving external experts such as provincial auditors will be introduced to continuously monitor potential infringements on autonomy not only during the preliminary investigation and main audit periods but also during post-audit procedures such as the audit result review committee and re-examination committee periods.

The innovation plan also includes measures to protect the rights and interests of officials in audited institutions.

Satisfaction surveys will be conducted during the audit period to assess auditors' kindness and efforts to listen to opinions, aiming to prevent human rights violations during the audit process.

If an individual voluntarily reports their own fault before or during the audit, mitigation or leniency will be applied as much as possible. Even after the audit period, if corrective actions are taken regarding illegal matters, this will be actively reflected in disciplinary decisions.

Proactive administration that implements public interest, such as recovery of the livelihood economy through active work performance, will be boldly exempted from penalties.

Gyeonggi Province recognizes that the new audit innovation plan has limitations in uncovering misconduct, so it will receive reports on various inconveniences experienced by residents, illegal or unfair acts by public officials, corruption by public officials, fraudulent public finance claims, and illegal operations through various reporting channels.

Choi Eun-soon, the provincial auditor, stated, "For the successful establishment of the audit system innovation plan following the 'Audit 4.0 Promotion Plan,' reports from residents and internal public officials are crucial, so we ask for many reports." She added, "We will expand thematic audits in areas directly related to residents' safety and corruption-prone fields to ensure audit activities provide practical help to residents' lives."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.