【正文】 se a CGO. This is reflected in the remarks made by one interviewee, a deputy directorgeneral at a provincial government audit office: The difficulty that the audit office faces in performing budget auditing is truly enormous, because fiscal and 6 financial powers rest in the hands of the CGO. Important fiscal and financial issues and the annual fiscal and financial budget must be decided by the CGO. Once the budget is set, any budget adjustment must also be approved by the government and its CGO. Under such conditions, auditing fiscal and financial budgets would be equivalent to the audit of the government and it39。s congress and the public. . Restricted disclosure of audit results 4 The interviewees generally felt that the disclosure of audit results might be restricted. A deputy CGO (a deputy mayor) of a municipal government mented in the interview: The audit report follows governmental arrangements, but this does not necessarily indicate that the government will prevent the disclosure of audit issues. Whoever acts as the CGO faces external pressure and thus s/he will disclose something, explain it to the people39。s Republic of China (PRC, 1982), the National Audit Office (NAO) was set up in 1983 as a department of the State Council. In addition, regional audit offices were also set up as departments of provincial, municipal and county governments. A regional government audit office is under the leadership of both the government audit office at a higher level and its supervising regional government. For example, the audit office of a provincial government is subject to the joint leadership of the NAO and the provincial government. Under the dual leadership system, for a provincial government audit office, the NAO provides auditing and regulatory guidance and monitoring while the provincial government provides resources and exercises personnel control. In addition, the NAO operates a work of branch offices in central government ministries and very large municipalities to audit various government departments, agencies, state owned enterprises under the control of the central government, and their associated institutions. These branch audit offices located in ministries and very large municipalities are under the direct leadership of the NAO. Although this government audit system has made significant contributions toward China39。s lack of independence has always been a problem ever since its establishment, this problem is creating increasing tensions in the current political setting because of the accountability needs of the legislature and taxpayers. The accountability relationship between the government and the legislature is promised by the fact that the auditor is not independent of the government. Notwithstanding these problems, the NAO has stepped up the level of public disclosure of audit findings in recent years. In 2021, the NAO for the first time disclosed to the public that serious financial problems existed in four ministries of the central government. This disclosure and the problems exposed attracted much media attention and the phrase “Audit Storm” was used to refer to the disclosure and the issues raised. This “Audit Storm” continued in 2021 and 2021 when the NAO in its annual report disclosed the serious illegal acts in other ministries of the central government. However, although this storm has been useful in drawing attention to some of the problems that had occurred, the level of audit independence means that only a small percentage of the total were exposed. Also, even where problems are exposed, this does not ensure that the same problems will not recur. Thus, the “Audit Storm” has heightened the awareness of the need for government auditing reform. 2. Perceived problems of the current government auditing system Most interviewees believed that the current problems of government auditing have their origins in its relation to the government, ., the NAO is in effect an internal auditing department under the government39。s congress, this problem of a lack of independence and transparency has aroused increased concerns. Since the Constitution (PRC, 1982) and the Audit Law (PRC, 1994a) lack c