China unveils audit results for state-owned enterprises

The audit results for 10 state-owned enterprises (SOEs) administered by central government were released on Friday, with the financial management of some companies not properly regulated, China's top auditing body has said.

The National Audit Office (NAO) began auditing the financial accounting of 10 central SOEs last year, including the country's largest telecom operator China Mobile, power producer Huaneng Group, China Minmetals Corporation and China National Aviation Holding Company.

The audits found that the financial management of some companies was not properly regulated, with problems including inaccurate accounting and incomplete financial statement compilation, said Wei Qiang, head of the NAO's enterprise audit department.

Other problems found included poor management of investment decisions, inadequate emphasis on internal management and practices that violated related laws and regulations, Wei said.

He said the companies have moved to address the problems.

By the end of March, those companies had stipulated or improved 785 regulations, penalized 70 people found responsible for the problems and made a supplementary tax payment of 537 million yuan (86.59 million U.S. dollars).

The office also released audit results for three state-owned banks - Export-Import Bank of China, China Agricultural Bank and China Construction Bank.

The NAO audits the financial accounting of SOEs every year in an effort to discover existing problems and potential risks to maintain and increase the value of state assets.