According to a recent investigation by relevant departments, the financial reports of 175 listed companies were issued with non-standard unqualified audit opinions by certified public accountants last year, and the financial reports of 56 companies were suspected of obviously violating the current accounting standards or accounting systems. Recently, the CSRC will punish the company and related responsible persons respectively according to the amount of violations and the attitude of the company to correct mistakes.
According to the rules, certified public accountants shall not substitute explanatory notes for reservations, nor shall they substitute reservations for negative opinions. If a certified public accountant issues a non-standard unqualified opinion on the financial report of a listed company, it shall, in accordance with the requirements of independent auditing standards, clearly explain the reasons and basis for issuing the opinion, and estimate the impact of the matters involved in the opinion on the financial report of the listed company. If it is impossible to estimate, the reasons shall be explained.
If the financial report of a listed company obviously violates the above provisions, resulting in a non-standard unqualified opinion issued by a certified public accountant, the certified public accountant shall point out and require the company to make necessary adjustments on related matters. If a listed company refuses to make adjustment, or the registered accountant thinks that it still obviously violates the accounting standards, systems and relevant information disclosure norms after adjustment, and issues non-standard unqualified opinions, this Exchange shall immediately suspend the trading of its shares after the disclosure of the listed company's periodic reports, and require the listed company to make corrections within a time limit. During the suspension period, the CSRC will investigate relevant matters and deal with them according to law. During the period of stock suspension, listed companies shall continue to fulfill their statutory information disclosure obligations.
According to the rules, if the matters involved in reservations or negative opinions have an impact on the profits of listed companies, and certified public accountants predict the impact of the matters on profits, listed companies shall deduct the impact of the above audit opinions when formulating profit distribution plans; If a certified public accountant issues an audit report that cannot express opinions, the listed company shall not distribute profits in that year.
Generally, it is divided into two categories: the first category of post-period events refers to those situations that already exist on the balance sheet date and provide supplementary evidence for relevant estimates in the preparation of financial statements. For such late events, auditors should ask the audited entity to adjust the accounting statements. If the audited entity refuses to adjust, it shall be treated as an unadjustable matter. The second kind of ex post event refers to those situations that do not exist on the balance sheet date but appear after the balance sheet date. Although these matters do not affect the amount of accounting statements, they may affect the correct understanding of accounting statements, so they should be submitted to the audited entity for disclosure. If the audited entity refuses to adjust the post-period matters of category I, the auditor may issue an audit report with reservations or negative opinions according to the importance of the unadjusted matters. For the second kind of post-period events, if the audited entity has disclosed them and they are not very important, then the auditor can issue a standard unqualified audit opinion report. If the matter is very important, even if the audited entity has disclosed it, the auditor should explain it in the audit report and publish the audit report and explanation without reservation. 5. Unadjusted matters Unadjusted matters refer to matters in which the accounting treatment method of the audited entity is inconsistent with the viewpoint of the certified public accountant, and they are unwilling to make adjustments, and the differences caused by this inconsistency can be accurately measured. Non-standard items are usually caused by customers' failure to comply with the accounting standards for business enterprises and related accounting systems. 6. Reports involving the work of other auditors Because listed companies generally have a large number of widely distributed subsidiaries, sun companies, affiliated companies, branches or affiliated companies, the presiding accounting firm with securities business qualifications often relies on other accounting firms to complete part of the audit work for the sake of cost and income. In this case, the presiding accounting firm generally has three choices: first, it does not mention in the audit and publishes a standard unqualified audit report. This applies to the following situations: first, the part audited by other auditors is not important in the whole financial statement; Second, other auditors have a good reputation. For example, the firm is also a securities company, or its audit work is completed under the close supervision of the host. Third, the moderator has thoroughly reviewed the work of other auditors. Second, disclose in the report and issue an unqualified audit report with clear paragraphs. This kind of report is usually called * * * consensus report or * * * consensus report. This type of report is more appropriate when the work of other auditors cannot be reviewed, or when the part audited by other firms is more important in the whole statement. Third, reservation. If the chief auditor is unwilling to be responsible for the work of other accounting firms, he can reserve or refuse to express his opinions according to the importance of the problem (another feasible way is for the chief auditor to expand the audit scope and audit the contents originally audited by other accounting firms). If other firms have reservations about the part they review, the moderator can also decide whether to have reservations in the general report. 7. Insufficient disclosure: incomplete financial statements or notes. A complete set of financial statements must include three main statements: balance sheet, income statement and statement of changes in financial position, as well as other schedules and notes. If financial statements and notes are not fully disclosed in accordance with the requirements of accounting standards and related accounting systems, then these statements are also called "unfair expression". In this case, the auditor should issue an audit report with reservations or objections. If a company's financial statements only express its financial position and operating results, and omit the corresponding statement of changes in financial position (or cash flow statement), then auditors usually express reservations because of this omitted statement. 8. If a certified public accountant expresses reservations about the opening balance of the previous year, he shall maintain due professional caution and fully consider the impact of the opening balance on the audited financial statements. For example, the opening balance may have a significant impact on the current accounting statements, but sufficient and appropriate audit evidence cannot be obtained; Or when the certified public accountant finds that the opening balance has misstatement or omission that seriously affects the current accounting statements, and requests the audited entity to adjust or disclose it, but the audited entity refuses to adjust it, the certified public accountant shall issue an audit report with reservations or negative opinions on the current accounting statements. 9. Explanation of major matters or uncertainties Sometimes, auditors may want to emphasize a matter that has been properly explained and fully disclosed in an unqualified audit report, so as to attract the attention of users of statement information while expressing unqualified opinions.