PwC Vietnam was one of two auditing firms whose service quality was rated "Good" in 2019 by the State Securities Commission. — Photo baodautu.vn

HÀ NỘI — Two auditing firms were graded “Good” by the State Securities Commission (SSC) regarding the quality of their services in 2019, while eight others were deemed “Acceptable”.

The top firms were PwC Vietnam and Deloitte Vietnam, subsidiaries of global giants PwC and Deloitte.

The eight others included Grant Thornton Vietnam Co Ltd, Vietnam Auditing and Valuation Co Ltd, An Việt Auditing Co Ltd and RSM Vietnam.

In 2018, only Ernst & Young Vietnam was rated “Good” by SSC among seven companies that were evaluated.

According to the SSC, most firms strictly followed rules on quality control, recruitment and training, and the archiving of financial reports.

But there were problems among the 10 firms that were evaluated in 2019, including prudent client evaluation and acceptance, lack of insightful risk-control assessment, insufficient inventory checks, and lack of auditing on companies’ investments in associate businesses and long-term projects.

In addition, the firms did not ask their clients to provide sufficient documents on their financial performance and failed to collect evidence from stakeholders to provide appropriate feedback on companies’ financial reports.

The SSC also suspended the licences of four individual auditors at Vietnam Auditing and Valuation Co Ltd, and Đất Việt Auditing and Consulting Co Ltd.

The two firms have a total of 39 individual auditors that are certified by the SSC.

The individuals made poor judgments on financial reports provided by MBG Group (HNX: MBG) and Kim Vĩ Inox Import-Export Production JSC (HNX: KVC).

Poor professional standards among local firms explained why foreign companies dominated the sector, the SSC reported.

The SSC also asked listed firms that had employed unqualified firms to audit them to review their financial reports to meet existing regulations.

According to the Ministry of Finance, PwC Vietnam, Deloitte Vietnam, Ernst & Young Vietnam and KPMG held 50.41 per cent of the market’s total revenue in 2018, worth VNĐ3.92 trillion (US$170 million), while their employees accounted for only 12.47 per cent of the workforce. — VNS