|
Publishing houses ill-equipped to take on corporate functions
Many publishers have refused to turn into independent limited companies because they would lack funds to expand their business while losing their educational role.
Under a plan ratified by the prime minister in 2007, state-owned publishing houses would switch to being one-member limited companies by 2010 in a scheme under which publishers can raise funds by themselves, manage their staff and expand their activities.
However, many publishers are already in financial trouble and are concerned that instead of being independent, they would become heavily reliant on partners acquired in the process of raising funds or expanding operations.
Nguyen Khac Oanh, Director of the Hanoi Publishing House, said four years after becoming a state-owned one-member limited company, only the name has changed.
“We cannot expand operations since we don’t have the capacity to do so,” he said, noting that the company is asking to revert to its former status.
Director Ha Tat Thang of the Labor-Society Publishing House noted that being a limited company means the publisher will be a mere commercial unit, losing its role as an education and information channel.
If all state-owned publishing houses were turned into companies, it would also affect appointments to their top positions.
Under current laws, those appointments have to be made by government agencies including the Ministry of Information and Communications and the Party Central Commission for Propaganda and Education.
According to the Directorate of Publishing under the ministry, the publishing industry as a whole has just VND25 trillion or thereabouts in circulation, which is highly insufficient to expanding operation.
The directorate on Wednesday proposed that implementation of the plan be stopped for several publishers who are in major financial trouble.
A survey of 55 state-owned publishing houses by the directorate early this year showed most have been hit by a drop in sales, poor equipment, and a shortage of capital and staff.
For example, the Music Publishing House had suffered a loss of VND762 million (US$42,900) year-on-year; the Science and Technology Publishing House, VND461 million; the Stage Publishing House, VND288 million; and the Religion Publishing House, VND119 million.
The profits being recorded were miniscule, like VND3 million at the Da Nang Publishing House or VND7-8 million at the Labor Publishing House.
Thang said in order for publishers to become corporations or one-member limited companies, the government should first pour more funds and attract more investment into the field.
The Directorate of Publishing has also asked the Finance Ministry to regard publishing houses as cultural organizations that are subject to a corporate tax of 10 percent instead of the current 25 percent.
It has also suggested that all publications be taxed 5 percent and exempt from value added tax.
Y Nguyen
thanhnien
|
