Unprecedented suspension of CPA Hanoi’s CEO

In a never-before-seen move, SSC suspended the auditor status of CPA Hanoi CEO Nguyen Ngoc Tinh

According to the State Securities Commission (SSC), they have just issued a decision on suspending the auditor status of auditors Nguyen Ngoc Tinh and Nguyen Thi Gam of Hanoi Auditing and Accounting Company Limited (CPA Hanoi).

The suspension lasts from November 7 to December 31, 2017.

Under current regulations, SSC is responsible to periodically check the operations of auditing companies and associated auditors to ensure their work quality.

During such a check, SSC would pick up several files related to the auditing businesses’ annual financial statements for scoring. It is not abnormal for auditors to have their auditor status suspended for a short while due to failing to meet certain requirements.

The case with CPA Hanoi has drawn greater public attention because one of the two auditors is the company’s top leader, a rare occurrence on the Vietnamese stock market.

In a talk with VIR, a source from SSC said that in the recent round of checking four record files at CPA Hanoi fell below the set standards, three of which were directly handled and signed by the company’s CEO.

“Earlier, we had suspended two other auditors at the company. At the time the company’s CEO was having health problems and could not meet us. Later, when we found that his records which we had taken for random checking did not meet several requirements, we have decided to suspend him,” the source revealed.

“Although the suspension only lasts until the end of 2017, auditors having their status suspended this year shall of course not be allowed to engage in auditing activities for businesses next year (2018),” the source added.

Not only these four individual auditors at CPA Hanoi, it seems that the whole company itself will be off the list of auditing firms authorised to audit for businesses next year.

Accordingly, the list of auditing firms and auditors accepted by SSC to carry out auditing for businesses (including public companies, securities companies and investment funds) in 2018 consists of 21 auditing firms, not including CPA Hanoi.

The list (first round) was announced by SSC on November 20, 2017. It remains unknown whether CPA Hanoi will be added to SSC’s list in the upcoming time. In case CPA Hanoi is not included in SSI’s list, will businesses having contracted CPA to audit their 2017 financial statements have to sign with other auditing firms as the signing of 2017 financial statements will be carried forward to 2018?

Last year, the financial statements of several listed firms were signed by auditors whose status had been suspended by SSC. These businesses had to later sign contracts with auditors of other firms to re-audit their financial statements.

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