Audit storm ( Chinese: 审计风暴) was a phrase that Chinese media coined to describe the auditing campaigns initiated by the National Audit Office of China. In 2003, Auditor General Li Jinhua presented the annual

audit An audit is an "independent examination of financial information of any entity, whether profit oriented or not, irrespective of its size or legal form when such an examination is conducted with a view to express an opinion thereon.” Auditing ...

report to the

Standing Committee of the National People's Congress The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China (NPCSC) is the permanent body of the National People's Congress (NPC) of the People's Republic of China (PRC), which is the highest organ of state po ...

. He openly disclosed the severe irregularities committed by many ministries and other government agencies. This report was posted to the official website of the NAO. It was the first time that the audit report was published to the public. This received significant public attention and was labelled as "audit storm". In June 2004, Li Jinhua again submitted bold auditing report to the NPC's Standing Committee and disclosed many major problems in government. Nearly 600 people were punished for being involved in irregularities. The term of "audit storm" was coined in 2003 for the NAO's audit report of that year. Later, Auditor General Li Jinhua retroactively named the 1999 audit report as the first audit storm. In July 2004, ''audit storm'' was elected as one of the top ten popular terms used in Chinese newspapers in spring and summer 2004.Top Ten Popular Terms
Sina.com, July 20, 2004.

References

{{china-stub Auditing 2003 in China 2004 in China Corruption in China