Numbers add up for mergers

February 22, 2011 | 15:35

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Some auditing companies are merging to meet legal regulations and the trend is likely to continue.

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Two auditing companies, one in Hanoi and another in Ho Chi Minh City, had merged and became legally eligible to audit local major groups or foreign-backed companies.

However, the two bodies actually remained independent after the merging with separate operating regimes.

Those two companies’ case is just one among a number of auditing bodies merging to meet legally requirements scales for certain operating fields.

Some even had to join to have the required seven auditors, the mandatory number to audit listed companies, according to Bui Van Mai, general secretary for Vietnam Association of Certified Public Accountants.

The trend highlighted the dearth of skilled workers in Vietnam’s auditing market, where the training cannot meet the demand. Given this context, there have been largely moves of qualified auditors between audit companies, which makes some even harder to get employees enough for their operation.

Meanwhile, Vietnam’s Independent Auditing Law is tightening requirements for auditing units, in which the number of auditors obligated to establish a new audit company is expected to set at five, increasing from three currently. The new law, expectedly approved within 2011 and will come into effect since January 1, 2012, is believed by the sector’s experts to boost the current merger trend.

vir.com.vn

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