透明对慈善机构的公信力至关重要

The China Charity Aid Foundation for Children is embroiled in money laundering suspicions stemming from its problematic accounting records.

The charity released its 2011 financial statements a month ago, from which as much as 4.75 billion yuan – or about $760.48 million – was missing without detailed records.

Online whistleblowers have raised questions wondering if the charity was involved in money laundering, which drew huge public attention.

A commentary by the Beijing News notes that the children's charity has admitted to having a decimal point in the wrong place, and a sum of 475 million yuan was wrongly presented as 4.75 billion yuan in its financial statements.

But the article says the explanation is not enough and cannot satisfy the public.

It asks why and how the charity's financial staff made the mistake and its management failed to detect it.

Moreover, questions are also arising about the source of the 475 million yuan, since donations to the foundation in 2011 were about 80 million yuan.

The foundation has said the 475 million yuan was an accumulated number and they had made some short-term investments to support management costs.

The Beijing News commentary says it's imperative for the children's charity to improve transparency of its operations and to respond to public doubts in a timely and convincing way.