The Wenzhou branch of China's Red Cross Society lacks a full-time accountant and hires a temporary cashier to do some of its accounting, a report said yesterday, triggering wide concerns over the chaotic management of the charity's finances.

The accountant from the Wenzhou Health Bureau works part-time for the Wenzhou Red Cross while a temporary cashier, without an accounting certificate, handles day-to-day accounting, including keeping donation vouchers, local news portal 66wz.com reported.

The local auditing authority in east China's Zhejiang Province discovered "serious mismanagement" of the Wenzhou Red Cross last April and ordered it to improve its management.

However, the charity organization insisted it "was forced" to recruit a temporary worker due to understaffing.

"We are in bad need of financial personnel. Many people are reluctant to work for us because of the low salaries," officials from the Wenzhou Red Cross said.

Online reaction was swift. "Are you kidding? I will never trust you anymore," one netizen wrote.

Reacting to disorganized accounts that were recorded by hand rather than via computer, Cai Zhangqing, deputy director of the Wenzhou Red Cross, told 66wz.com that he has asked an accounting firm to clear up the muddled accounts.

The Wenzhou auditing authority also found donated goods worth more than 8 million yuan (US$1.27 million) disappeared from the Red Cross warehouse in 2010, the report said. Months later, the goods were found to have been transported to needy areas as the receipts were finally located, proving it was just an accounting error.

In 2010, a former employee surnamed Chen who was convicted of embezzling 1.26 million yuan was sentenced to 6 1/2 years behind bars, according to the report.

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