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Businesses late in submitting finance reports, again
July 25 has been announced as the deadline for listed companies to submit their finance reports. However, it is clear that many companies will not submit reports prior to the date.
On the official websites of the HCM City Stock Exchange (HOSE) and Hanoi Securities Trading Centre (HNX), many listed companies have declared their business results for the first six months of the year, while many other companies have not released reports for the second quarter
Being late because of waiting… a common theme
The story goes back to Decision No 246 by the State Securities Commission enacted in early 2009, which asked listed companies to have auditing firms check their finance reports quarterly. However, the decision was not applauded by companies, which said that it was very difficult to have finance reports verified quarterly and that the verification should be carried out every half year.
Their proposal was agreed to and then added into the draft document stipulating the information exposure mechanism on the stock market. However, this document still has not been promulgated.
Nguyen Thanh Tung, Deputy General Director of Auditing and Accounting Financial Consultancy Service Company (AASC), said that though the half-year information exposure mechanism has not been promulgated, a lot of listed companies have been following the scheme.
In fact, businesses have finance reports for the second quarter already, but they will only release the reports if they have a verification report provided by auditing firms.
Director of a listed company said that there always exist gaps between the figures of businesses’ finance reports and verified reports. “If businesses’ figures are higher than the figures in verified reports, businesses will be thought by investors to have deliberately done that to push stock prices up. Vice versa, investors will think that businesses want to keep prices low to make purchases if they report low figures,” he said. “It is better to release finance reports after the reports have been verified,” he said.
Nguyen Linh Chi, Chief Accountant of Hoang Gia International Joint Stock Company, said that the company will release its finance report of the second quarter on July 25, while the verified reports will be released later.
Tran Dinh Cuong, General Director of Ernst & Young Vietnam, said that listed companies have the responsibility of releasing finance reports on July 25. Meanwhile, they can contact auditing firms before the release in order to minimise the gaps in the figures.
How long does half-year finance report verification take?
Though the above said document has not been promulgated yet, listed companies have been preparing to follow the half-year report verification scheme. This means that businesses have to release verified reports 45 days after they release finance reports. Therefore, it is highly possible that finance reports will not be released until August 15, 2009.
Debate continues over the time limit of 45 days. General Director of Hanoi Auditing and Accounting Company Nguyen Ngoc Tinh said that it takes 2-5 days only to verify the reports of small companies.
Meanwhile, Cuong believes that 45 days is not enough for big companies, suggesting that the time limit be extended by five days for big corporations and economic groups.
VietNamNet, DTCK
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