一名來自中國東莞的公務員埃莉?蘇在紐約州拿騷縣實習時發現，拿騷縣財政預算報告中存在重大紕漏，竟將一項數據“縮水”2.826億美元。隨后，縣政府立即修改了這一錯誤，并對埃莉進行了表揚，當地政府官員更是稱贊“她有一雙關注細節的眼睛”。

New York, US.[File Photo]

A Chinese official, posted to an internship with a local government in New York to learn about government management, discovered a $282.6 million error in the newly submitted 2008 local budget.

Su Huixun, 27, a finance official from Dongguan, South China's Guangdong Province, had been working for the Office of Legislative Budget Review in Nassau County, Long Island, for only two weeks when she noticed a debt service document entry in the 2008 budget read $31.4 million instead of $314 million.

"You've got to have an eye for detail when dealing with fiscal matters, and Ellie (Su's English name) has that," said Nassau's budget review director Eric Naughton.

Su is working with the local government of Nassau for free, while the government of Dongguan continues to pay her salary and expenses.

"The officials we dispatched abroad all do a good job at home," said a source with the financial bureau of Dongguan.

Despite the mistake, Su said she was "surprised at how few errors I saw in such a big budget book," according to local media.

She said she took the internship "to learn more about the budget decision-making process in the United States".

"I hope to take back improved management methods to my city," she said.

Su received a master's degree from Saint Mary's College in California in 2003, and has worked for the government procurement division of the city of Dongguan, her hometown, for more than three years.

Her internship in Nassau was organized after her boss, Dell Hu, e-mailed Naughton after doing some research on the United States.

（China Daily/Agencies）

（英語點津 Celene 編輯）