Editorials

Tight audit

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-06-25 07:50

By naming names, the National Audit Office has come down hard on individuals and government agencies misappropriating funds and purloining State assets.

However, to inspire fear, the audit watchdog needs to not only expose loopholes in the system but also try to plug them.

The authority on Wednesday issued the country's longest annual audit report with three detailed appendixes, including audit findings of 21 government-backed projects, budget enforcement details of 56 central departments, and the analyses and conclusions of 36 major cases handed over by the audit office since 2008.

Related readings:  Longest-ever audit report unveiled

Such strengthened supervision over the use of public funds clearly highlights the nation's determination to root out corruption.

In 2009, audit offices across the country published more than 2,200 audits, 22 percent more than in 2008, and tracked 1,981 projects, including highways, high-speed railways and power plants, where the government was the key investor.

Instead of reporting on just the general budget enforcement compliance by all the central government departments, this year's report has gone to great lengths to expose widespread misuse of public funds by these departments.

This report, it is believed, will help shame many wrongdoers. More important, it is likely to put extravagant and wasteful spending under the public glare.

This year's detailed report indicates that the audit office has identified both official malpractices and the institutional loopholes responsible for such malfeasance.

Punishing these wrongdoers is of course essential, but plugging institutional loopholes on time is even more important.

The audit watchdog should make good use of its first-hand knowledge to help improve the institutional framework and make government departments more accountable to the public.

(China Daily 06/25/2010 page8)