Hong Kong Accountants To Get New Corporate Governance Rules

by Mary Swire, for LawAndTax-News.com, Hong Kong

27 October 2003

Speaking last week, chairman of the Hong Kong Society of Accountants' corporate governance committee, Edward Chow Kwong-fai revealed that the HKSA will be releasing new guidelines in early 2004 designed to help prevent and report fraudulent activities undertaken by companies in the jurisdiction.

Announcing that the guidelines will be contained within a new ethics code for the accounting profession, Mr Chow told the regional media that:

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." He went on to add that: "The accountants should help companies to set up audit committees and control systems to prevent fraud. Companies should also hire staff to do internal supervision to check on malpractice."

According to figures reported by the South China Morning Post on Friday, cases of fraud increased 75% in the first quarter of this year, on a year-by-year basis. Of these, 28 were cases of serious fraud, involving $275 million, which included false accounting, counterfeit documents, and illegal investment schemes.

In order to put its message across, the HKSA held an anti-fraud symposium at the weekend, featuring talks by industry experts and police officials on the increasing use of computers and the internet to commit fraud within the business sector.

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