Abstract: Reasonable use of public power and effective allocation of public resources are the basic contents of government accountability, while in the field of national governance it is reflected in two aspects: one is the prevention of corruption; the other is the improvement of the effectiveness and implementation of government macropolicies. By making use of the panel data of 30 provinces (municipalities and autonomous regions) from 2003 to 2014, this paper empirically tests the effectiveness of the corruption prevention and treatment and the decision support of state audit. The findings show that at the present stage the state audit can really prevent the abuse of public power and promote the effective allocation of resources, so as to serve the national governance, but it is its constructive function that helps rather than its deterrent function. Further study reveals that the implementation of the “immune system” theory in audit institutions can play a significant role in promoting the status and functions of audit recommendations. The state audit should pay more attention to the improvement of the quantity and quality of the audit proposals, so as to further serve the national governance.

Key words: state audit; national governance; anti-corruption; decision-support; constructive function