China's chief auditor has vowed to keep publicizing audit results from government departments, particularly those of the central government, to continue regulating and enhancing government spending transparency.

"Fiscal revenue comes mainly from taxpayers. There should be an explanation to the taxpayers of how the money is spent," said Li Jinhua, Auditor General of the National Audit Office (NAO), at a meeting of fiscal chiefs of central government departments.
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"The only way to explain this is to publish audit results, except information involving state secrets," said Li, a national icon since starting a crusade against irregularities in government spending, an acute public concern.

The NAO has identified 14.6 billion yuan (US$1.85 billion) of funds misused by central government departments over the last two years.

The irregularities included: the National Development and Reform Commission using public money to build houses for its staff; the Ministry of Education investing in unlicensed projects; and the Ministry of Civil Affairs failing to include 18.09 million yuan of proceeds from a land sale on its books.

Li said many countries made national budget details available in bookstores. These precisely indicated how much money was allocated to every department and to what end.

He said the office would again name central government departments with fiscal transgressions in a report to a national legislature session next year. This good news came amidst speculation that the office would stop "naming and shaming" for fear of offending too many people.

The office had focused on irregularities in central government department budgets because of their exemplary role, said Li.

"If they fail to act according to law, how can they demand local authorities abide by the law?" said Li.

The practice of announcing the irregularities, known as an "audit storm", has proved effective in getting image-conscious government departments to mend their ways.

?However, Li said government departments would be granted over a month to conduct self-examinations before this year's audit.

"If they find and correct problems themselves, we will not mention them in our audit reports," said Li.

The ultimate purpose of the audit was to "solve problems", he said, adding the auditors hoped to identify fewer problems due to the audit's cost. Better internal management and legal propriety would save auditors a lot of trouble.

Li said the "audit storms" of recent years had born results and that the overall budget management of central government departments had seen marked annual improvements.

"It's possible that after a few more years, central government departments will be disentangled from major irregularities in general," he said.
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(Xinhua News Agency November 15, 2006)