The Ministry of Finance and two other ministries have published a new version of the conference expenses regulation for central government and Party agencies. Compared with past versions, the regulation sets more detailed standards and strengthened auditing for spending on conferences.

Treating officials luxuriously in the name of holding a conference has long been viewed as misuse of taxpayers' money. Worse, it is often a cloak for corruption.

Since 2011, the central leadership has taken several measures to curb it, including introducing an official credit card system, publishing the accounts of various levels of government agencies, as well as integrating their funds into a unified account.

These measures have proved effective in fighting "conference corruption" and cutting the administrative cost of government agencies as a whole.

The latest regulation will establish a comprehensive conference anti-corruption system, so as to prevent officials from grabbing illicit profits in the name of holding or attending conferences.