Under the situation of strict supervision, the role of “gatekeeper” of intermediaries has been further emphasized. If they fail to perform their duties, the risk of accountability faced by intermediaries will continue to increase, and the industry is walking out of the “comfort circle” of practice.
According to the reporter’s incomplete statistics, as of February 20, the audit institutions of 10 companies had been publicly punished by the regulatory authorities this year. The reason is that most of them failed to be diligent and responsible for the financial misrepresentation of Listed Companies in the previous practice.
In this regard, Kuang Yuqing, founder of lens company, said in an interview with the reporter of Securities Daily that the failure of intermediaries to do a good job in due diligence is one of the important incentives for financial fraud of many listed companies. Lawyer Yang Zhaoquan, director of Beijing Weinuo law firm, also believes that accountants should issue appropriate assurance opinions to ensure audit independence.
old accounts were turned over many years ago
the probability of intermediaries being punished increases
On February 14 this year, Shenzhen Stock Exchange punished sun Yong and Dai Guanghong, certified public accountants who signed the audit report of financial statements in Ningbo Sunlight Electrical Appliance Co.Ltd(002473) 2015. According to the decision on administrative punishment made by the CSRC to Ningbo Sunlight Electrical Appliance Co.Ltd(002473) , Ningbo Sunlight Electrical Appliance Co.Ltd(002473) falsely increased income by 20 million yuan and net profit by 15 million yuan in 2015, resulting in false records in its 2015 annual report. Sun Yong and Dai Guanghong failed to be fully diligent and responsible in the process of practicing, and there were false records in the audit report of Ningbo Sunlight Electrical Appliance Co.Ltd(002473) 2015 annual financial report signed. After deliberation and approval by the Disciplinary Committee of the exchange, sun Yong and Dai Guanghong were given the punishment of circulating a notice of criticism.
Coincidentally, looking up the relevant information of the 10 intermediaries punished this year, we can see that most of them are related to the previous financial problems of listed companies. When verifying the authenticity of some project sources of listed companies, these auditors failed to accurately prompt the authenticity of project payment collection, the effectiveness of sales revenue and the problems existing in the implementation procedures in the public information, which made the relevant listed companies falsely increase their operating revenue and current operating profit by means of fictitious sales.
When communicating with the reporter of Securities Daily, many insiders mentioned that due to the fact that the regulatory authorities rarely punished intermediaries before, the relevant personnel had a “comfort circle” for practicing, turned a blind eye to many problems that should have been noticed, connived at the false statements of listed companies, and the professional “gatekeeper” did not play its due role. However, with the increasing implementation and supervision of the new securities law, this phenomenon is changing.
intermediaries do not “watch”
encourage the fraud of listed companies
Since the beginning of the year, many listed companies have issued announcements to change the audit institutions or signing accountants. Among them, some audit institutions and accountants have voluntarily resigned, which is still a “new thing” in the capital market.
\u3000\u3000 “Since the second half of 2021, many intermediaries have been ‘left out’, which is very rare in previous years. The reason for this phenomenon is that the risk of audit institutions has increased significantly under the pressure of supervision. Previously, some intermediaries were lucky because of the low cost of breaking the law. However, with the continuous strengthening of supervision, the accountability of intermediaries has also increased It is increasing. This is “the punishment should be excessive and appropriate”. In many cases of financial fraud of listed companies, the failure of intermediaries to do a good job in due diligence is also one of the important incentives. ” Kuang Yuqing told the reporter of Securities Daily.
Yang Zhaoquan also told reporters that listed companies must strengthen external audit and internal audit at the same time. Give full play to the supervisory role of the enterprise’s internal audit. The internal audit institution must timely report the internal control defects and their rectification to the audit committee and the board of directors; As an intermediary, accounting firms should be diligent and conscientious, give full play to the role of “gatekeeper”, issue appropriate assurance opinions and ensure audit independence.
