Deloitte, one of the world's four major accounting firms (four major, referred to as the four major, The Big Four), has serious audit defects as a Chinese Huarong audit institution.Wan Xinyuan) huge ticket.
Huarong Company, one of the four major state -owned financial asset management companies in China, was accused of issues such as internal control and risk control failure, and serious distortion of accounting information. However, it was only fined 100,000 yuan.
The huge difference between the perpetrator of 100,000 and the accomplices but 200 million has attracted the attention of netizens. The background of superimposed China and the United States' decoupling to exacerbate can not help but want to ask, is the four good days in China going to end?
Deloitte's sky -high price
The administrative penalty decision issued by the Ministry of Finance on March 17. In addition to confiscating the illegal income from the Deloitte Beijing Branch and the total fine of 212 million yuan, it also suspended the business of the Deloitte Beijing Branch for three months; and the Deloitte Affairs Office was given.
The relevant person in charge of the relevant audit report of Deloitte also adopted administrative penalties. Among them, two responsible persons, such as the registered accountant Jing Moumou, were revoked to the Certified Public Accountant Certificate.Warning and other punishments.
Compared with Deloitte, the Ministry of Finance's punishment for Huarong can be described as light and drizzle.The Ministry of Finance gave a fine of 100,000 yuan in a fine of 100,000 yuan in the seven subsidiaries such as China Huarong and Huarong Zhiyuan, Huarong Tianze;
Compared with Deloitte's sky -high ticket, the Ministry of Finance of China had only a fine of RMB 100,000 to China Huarong, Huarong Zhiyuan, Huarong Tianze, and other seven subsidiaries.(Internet)
Deloitte reaction
Deloitte Huayong Accountants' punishment announced that it responded that night that he respected and accepted the penalty decision of the Ministry of Finance, and regretted that the Ministry of Finance's considers his audit work failed to meet the requirements of the audit standards.
However, Deloitte emphasized that the inspection of the Ministry of Finance proved that Deloitte, Beijing Branch and their registered accountants had no dishonesty during the audit process.
Deloitte also said that the company did not receive any information that he was preparing to regain relevant financial statements from Huarong, and the relevant audit report did not need to be corrected.
Huarong's problem dates back to 2014 to 2019.At that time, Lai Xiaomin, the former chairman of the death penalty for receiving bribery and corruption.
Lai Xiaomin, former chairman of China Huarong Company, was sentenced to death by the Chinese court in January 2021.Lai Xiaomin broke the highest record of corrupt officials since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949 for RMB 1.788 billion.(Internet)
When Huarong's August 2021 Report disclosed the cause of huge losses, he pointed out that Lai Xiaomin's radical operation and disorderly expansion during his tenure.At the same time, the market impact caused by the crown disease epidemic is also mentioned, some customers have declined with their performance capacity, and some asset quality accelerates inferiority.
The year -end report also pointed out that the group's operating performance in 2020 is expected to suffer losses, and its net loss attributable to the company's shareholders is expected to be 102.903 billion yuan.
Huarong was listed in the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in the 10th of 2015. As its audit agency participated in the Huarong IPO audit as its audit institution? Until 2019, the most concentrated time period across Huarong had the most concentrated problem.The huge losses in the drum must be responsible.
However, for the contrast between Deloitte and Huarong's fines, some netizens pointed out that the inverted accounting and audit responsibilities were not so shocking. Some netizens asked: Why did the initial figurine fined 100,000 and the help of tens of millions?
Some netizens believe that this is a countermeasure for China and the United States under the fever of China and the United States, and applauded for this: The United States punish Huawei and ZTE does not need a reason. What happened to China punishment of Deloitte?
Will Chinese state -owned enterprises disable the four major?
The four major are the world's four well -known accounting firms in the world. They are PwC (PWC), DTT (DTT), KPMG (KPMG), and Ernst & Young (EY).
Among them, Deloitte's headquarters is located in New York, USA, and the remaining three headquarters are located in London and Amsterdam.
The four major major, including Deloitte and PricewaterhouseCoopers, have entered China through the establishment of a consultant in the 1980s.(Reuters)
Since the 1980s, the Four Congress has entered China through the establishment of a consultant office. In 1992, it entered the Chinese capital market in the form of Sino -foreign cooperative accounting firms. In 2012, it was converted to special common partnership system.
In a report in 2022, Caixin pointed out that from the past case, the four major major in the company's audit can basically adhere to the principles and bottom lines of professionalism and independence, which has made considerable contributions to the reform of Rong and state -owned enterprises in China.The four major foreign trials have also played an effective endorsement for Chinese companies to go public to go public, obtain international investors' recognition, and introduce foreign investment.
However, with the four major institutions? Some large institutions and private enterprises have frequently exploded, and the four major are also questioned.Coupled with the increasingly obvious trend of Sino -US opposition, China has more alerts to the four major.
Bloomberg quoted a number of people familiar with the matter on February 23 that the Chinese Ministry of Finance and other government agencies provided window guidance to some state -owned enterprises in January, urging them to not renew the visa after the expiration of the four contracts.
It is reported that offshore subsidiaries can still use US audit institutions, but the parent company is required to hire an accountant in mainland China or Hong Kong after the contract expires.
The report pointed out that China is seeking to stop the influence of multinational audit institutions related to the United States, ensure China's data security, and promote the development of the local accounting industry.
Although Chinese officials did not respond to the news positively, Erica Williams, Chairman of the Accounting Supervision Commission of the United States Public Corporation (PCAOB), warned in the latest statement that if the Chinese official obstructs PCAOB completely, the committee will take action immediately.
Why does the four major news in China be alarmed PCAOB to speak first?
China and the United States reached an agreement on August 26, 2022. The China Securities Regulatory Commission arranged for Chinese companies and their accounting firms listed in the United States to transfer their audit drafts and other data from the mainland to Hong Kong to be inspected by the United States.
PCAOB, an agency in charge of audit in the United States, requires that listed companies in the United States must conduct regular audits by recognized audit institutions. For Chinese stock companies, the recognized audit institutions are mainly the four major branches in China.
According to data from the financial data platform Choice, as of March 2 this year, there were 386 Chinese stocks listed in the United States, of which the number of four major services accounted for more than 30 %.
There are 386 Chinese stocks listed in the United States, of which four major services account for more than 30 %.(Reuters)
It is worthy of interest that Bloomberg reported that the news of the four major major in China the next day (February 24), the Chinese media reported that the four international accounting firms won a number of Chinese state -owned enterprises projects, and the four major majority in China in China in 2021 in ChinaThe income recorded 20.6 billion yuan.
The report quoted the China Registered Certified Public Accountants Association's announcement on the release of the 2021 Accounting Firm's comprehensive evaluation of the 100 ranking information, saying that the PricewaterhouseCoopers, Middle Sky of PricewaterhouseCoopers, Anyong Huaming Accounting Firm, Kocoa Certified Public Accountants, and Deloitte Huayong AccountantsIn the top four of the division of affairs, business revenue in 2021 was about 6.8 billion yuan, 5.5 billion yuan, 4.1 billion yuan, and 4.2 billion yuan, respectively.
The information also shows that the number of central enterprises disclosed by the above four accounting firms has 7, 11, 3 and 3, respectively., 661 million yuan, 135 million yuan, and 0.9 billion yuan, the total income was close to 1 billion yuan.
Where are the four major?
It is not difficult to find out the history of the four major evolution in China. The four major in China have basically completed localization.
As early as 1992, when the four major were allowed to enter China in the form of a joint venture, they promised to achieve localization in China in China in 20 years in accordance with international practice.
As the 20 -year cooperation period approaches the expiration, on May 10, 2012, the localization of the local and foreign cooperative accounting firms jointly released by the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, the Ministry of Commerce, the Foreign Exchange Bureau, and the Securities Regulatory Commission was officially implemented.The four major start -ups of localization.
In March 2013, the four major general partnerships of the same large and medium -sized office, which are the same as other large and medium -sized offices in China, means that its transfer is also completed.
Caixin pointed out in a report in 2022 that the four? The four? The international brand?? The management charter, but the partnership of each member is owned by its country and localized operations.
In other words, if China has banned the four major in one sword, it will cause a lot of damage to itself.
On the other hand, although China has also grown in a group of native accounting firms in recent years, it still has a certain distance from the four major aspects of audit scale, ability and brand influence.
Ruihua, who was once known as the largest local office, was investigated by the China Securities Regulatory Commission and its dispatched agencies for suspected violations of laws and regulations in 2019. The IPO and re -financing of nearly 50 companies involved behind it were suspended.
In addition, there are also analysis that if there are no four major major audit institutions, it will make it more difficult for state -owned enterprises to attract international investors; and financial transaction costs will increase greatly and increase the burden on Chinese enterprises.
It seems that the four major in the Chinese market still have a place, but in the relatively intense environment of China and the United States, companies like the four major DNAs in Europe and the United States involved sensitive data services will probably become more and more difficult in China.