Audit norms are being beefed up across the Asian region with regulators in major economies imposing greater controls to ensure investor confidence in their listed companies, as per Grant Thornton’s (GT) Asia top brass.
In Korea, rules that took effect in 2019 allowed regulators to directly designate auditors of companies in select circumstances such as when a listed company is continually making losses or witnesses frequent senior executive departures. In China and Japan, regulators are taking steps to ensure auditors and companies work to increase disclosures as per GT’s top Asian executives who spoke exclusively to ET during a recent visit to India.
“Rather than allowing companies to select their own auditors, the Securities and Futures Commission under the Financial Services Commission designates them. This prevents potential collusion between companies and auditors, ensuring greater objectivity and fairness in the audit process,” said Youngback Kim, chief executive officer, GT Korea.
Kim said further tightening had taken place since these rules were implemented a few years ago.
“Now companies have to sign off on the engagement letter with the auditor by middle of February for the audit of the next financial year. The engagement letter has to be issued before the auditor issues their report. This is also in line with ensuring auditor independence,” said Kim.
“Higher audit quality, in turn, enhances the reliability of companies’ financial statements, fostering greater investor confidence,” he said.
In China, regulators are also enforcing regulations more strictly through regular inspections.
“With increased on-site inspections and strengthened accountability measures, accounting firms must prioritize independence, objectivity, and impartiality more than ever,” said Li Huiqi, chief executive officer, Grant Thornton, China.
Huiqi said China was aligning with international frameworks such as the public companies accounting oversight board (PCAOB) that oversees audits of US listed companies as more Chinese companies opt for listing in more than one jurisdiction. Grant Thornton audits 5.5% of all A- share listed Chinese companies and ranks amongst the top 5 auditors there.
Japanese companies are being urged to disclose more information and auditors are being asked to enforce this.
“Consideration should be given to non-financial information not covered by the audit to ensure there are no discrepancies with the auditor’s understanding. The audit report should also address these issues,” said Shigeyoshi Yamada, chief executive officer, Grant Thornton, Japan. The entity he commands audits 10% of all listed Japanese companies.
India too has tightened standards with the enforcement of auditor rotation since 2018. Now companies cannot use the same auditor for more than two consecutive periods of five years each. However, GT India’s chief executive officer Vishesh Chandiok wondered if India could take a leaf out of the Korea playbook.
“Could direct designation be applied in a way in India wherein the regulator does not mandate an auditor change directly like in Korea but designates a joint auditor in select circumstances?” asked Chandiok.
“Ultimately Korean companies are more attractive to capital because their numbers are more reliable,” he said.
