Historical roots of human-centered auditing centrism in China (c. 21st century BCE–present): a path dependence analysis

Human-centered auditing has increasingly been recognized as a core objective of China’s audit system reform, yet its practical advancement remains constrained by historical inertia and institutional lock-in. Drawing on Path Dependence Theory, this study traces the long-run evolution of China’s auditing institutions from the pre-Qin period to the present and examines how human-centered values have been embedded, weakened, and reactivated across different historical stages. Based on twelve critical historical phases, the study identifies key critical junctures, mechanisms of institutional lock-in, and patterns of path continuity in the development of Chinese auditing. A four-dimensional analytical framework—governance structure, fiscal mechanism, organizational system, and audit professionalism—is used to explain how supervisory institutions have historically incorporated human-centered logic. The findings show that although Chinese auditing has long been influenced by traditions such as taking the people as the foundation, prioritizing virtue over punishment, and governing through virtue, institutional evolution has often drifted away from these foundations because of political centralization, fiscal dominance, and ideological intervention. In particular, during periods of strong ideological control, auditing became subject to instrumental lock-ins that hindered the development of a genuinely human-centered philosophy. Since the Reform and Opening-Up, and especially since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, performance auditing, livelihood auditing, and intelligent auditing have supported a gradual return to people-centered audit governance. This study clarifies the historical logic of this trajectory and offers implications for the modernization of China’s audit system and for comparative research on audit institutions.