On the afternoon of October 19th, Professor Cai Chun from Southwestern University of Finance and Economics was invited to give a lecture entitled “Reflections and Suggestions on ESG Auditing Actors and Auditing Standards Construction” for the teachers and students of the School of Management. The lecture is one of the series of Lectures by Famous Experts of the School. Professor Lu Junwei of the School, Director of the Finance Department of Shandong University, presided over the lecture.
Professor Cai Chun’s report focuses on the current trend of auditing and ESG auditing research in China and is centered on the construction of ESG auditing actors and ESG auditing standards. Professor Cai pointed out that since the concept of ESG was first proposed by the UN Global Compact in 2004, the release of ESG reports has increasingly become a consensus and requirement of the international community, and one of the biggest management trends affecting business operations; and that the Report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China has made the following statements: “accelerate the construction of a new development paradigm, and strive to promote high-quality development” and “promote green development for the harmony between human beings and nature”, which is similar to the proposed concept of ESG. ESG is a hotly debated academic topic among scholars today, such as ESG information disclosure, ESG investment, ESG performance, etc., and ESG research related to auditing is also of great importance and urgency. The report further discusses the determination of ESG audit actors and analyses the reasonableness and necessity of having auditing institutions as the subject of assurance. He advocates the construction of a trinity of ESG audit and assurance organizational systems, comprising of CPA auditing, state auditing, and internal auditing, and suggests that state auditing should be an important driving force for ESG audit and assurance. The report also discussed several key issues in the construction of ESG audit assurance standards.
Cai Chun, the Level-2 Professor, Doctor of Economics (Auditing), and Doctoral Supervisor of Southwestern University of Finance and Economics; Vice President of China Audit Society, Director of Center for China’s Governmental Auditing Research, National Advanced Accounting Worker, Famous Accountant of the Ministry of Finance (2018), Academic Member of China Institute of Internal Audit, Standing Director of Cost Research Society of China, Director of Accounting Society of China; Senior Visiting Scholar of the International Accounting Education and Research Center of University of Illinois (1996-1997); Good Supervisor of China CFO (2016); and known as “the first person to systematically study the theory structure of auditing in China’s auditing field” by academics. He is the chief expert of the World Bank Loan Funded Project, the Philosophy and Social Science Major Project of the Ministry of Education and Major Program of the National Social Science Fund of China, and an expert of the State Council Government Subsidy; a consultant of the Audit Office of the Central Military Commission, an expert of the Ministry of Equipment Development of the Central Military Commission on Finance and Price, a consultant of the Audit Office on National Auditing Standards, and a member of the National Auditing Professional Graduate Education Instruction Committee of the Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council.
