Choose the 'gatekeeper' to curb financial fraud
2023-05-08
Standardize the order of financial auditing and introduce new heavyweight regulations. Recently, the Ministry of Finance, the State owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council, and the China Securities Regulatory Commission jointly issued the "Management Measures for the Selection of Accounting Firms by State owned Enterprises and Listed Companies", regulating the selection of accounting firms by State owned enterprises and listed companies, promoting fair competition in the certified public accountant industry, and promoting the improvement of audit quality. Improving the quality of accounting information and curbing financial fraud is crucial for the healthy operation of the market economy. Under regulatory pressure, financial fraud still occurs from time to time. Taking listed companies as an example, the investigation and handling of cases by the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) shows that some companies whitewash their performance to avoid consecutive losses and delisting, some fabricate profits to fulfill their commitment to mergers and acquisitions, and some attempt to "break through barriers with illness" during the issuance review process, with complex and hidden violations. A series of various financial fraud behaviors have disrupted market order and harmed the interests of investors. The existence of financial fraud and chaos is not only due to the violation of laws and regulations by the enterprise itself, but also due to the inadequate performance of the "gatekeeper" responsibilities of accounting firms. Some intermediary agencies have failed to fulfill their duties diligently, even colluded in fraud, and lost their independence. For this reason, while keeping a close eye on enterprises, the regulatory authorities continue to crack down on auditing violations. Recently, they issued a huge penalty of over 200 million yuan to a certain accounting firm, once again sending a clear signal of "strict supervision and law enforcement". The rectification of financial fraud is a systematic project, and it is necessary to conduct full process supervision before, during, and after the incident. Standardizing the order of financial auditing, while strengthening the daily management of the accounting industry and imposing heavy penalties for illegal and irregular behaviors, is crucial to optimizing the practice environment and capabilities. One important issue is how to promote enterprises to hire accounting firms with strong professional abilities and high professional quality through standardized processes and scientific evaluations. The selection of accounting firms is directly related to the quality of auditing. Accounting firms with non-standard internal governance and superficial quality control cannot become qualified 'gatekeepers'. To this end, it is necessary to establish a quality oriented accounting firm selection mechanism, and promote enterprises to select accounting firms that are honest, diligent, and responsible. Quality oriented, we need to strengthen process standardization. Some enterprises choose accounting firms with a more casual process, which naturally makes it difficult to effectively ensure the audit quality of accounting firms. The management measures issued by the three departments stipulate matters such as the selection decision-making body, selection methods, key links of public selection, evaluation elements, quality management level, score weights of audit fees, specific scoring standards, maximum prices, and floating audit fees. Only by strictly following the procedures for recruitment can human factors be eliminated to the greatest extent possible. Guided by quality, we need to govern vicious competition. Some enterprises use the bidding mechanism to increase the weight of price factors and lower the winning bid price, while some accounting firms lower their quotations for contracting business. Sometimes, the quotations are even significantly lower than audit costs, leading to insufficient investment in audit resources, directly affecting audit quality, and triggering vicious competition at low prices in the industry. The key to managing this chaos lies in highlighting the quality orientation in selecting accounting firms, and not relying solely on low prices. According to the requirements of the three departments, the evaluation elements should at least include audit fee quotation, qualification conditions of the accounting firm, and execution
Edit：Hou Wenzhe Responsible editor：WeiZe
Source：economic dairy
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