Research on Construction of Substantive Integrated Management System for Social Audit Institutions

We employ game theory to analyze the connotation, characteristics, and essence of substantive integrated management in social audit institutions, and posit that substantive integrated management entails the systematic integration of core elements to achieve rational structure and organic unity, while dynamically interacting with the external environment to realize internal-external synergy. From a practical standpoint, substantive integrated management represents a secondary game between accounting firms’ headquarters and branches following their initial strategic interactions. By analyzing the underlying contradictions in integrated management, we identify three critical challenges: transitioning from formality to substance, shifting from externally imposed constraints to internally driven needs, and replacing revenue- and market-oriented performance metrics with quality- and risk-based evaluation criteria. The crux of integrated management lies in operational integration, with the substantive foundation being the unification of business sources. The proposed solution involves developing a substantive integrated management system that harmonizes the five integrations according to their respective roles and interrelationships, while accounting for external market and regulatory environments. This system aims to unify quality and efficiency objectives. Our study outlines operational principles for substantive integrated management and provides recommendations for refining the evaluation index system to advance social audit institutions from nominal to substantive integration.