审计师大幅增加对香港上市公司财务警告

Auditors have sharply increased their warnings overthe financial health of Hong Kong companies at time when investors fear the repercussions ofChina’s slowing economy.

审计师大幅增加了对香港公司财务健康状况的警告，目前投资者正担忧中国经济放缓的影响。

The data, complied from a Financial Times analysis of stock exchange filings, reveals thatauditors are increasingly citing fears about whether the companies in question are goingconcerns.

英国《金融时报》根据对证交所申报文件的分析整理的数据显示，越来越多的审计师对相关公司能否持续经营感到担忧。

A total of 149 companies have so far this year reported modified opinions for their financialaccounts — as many as for all of 2014. Of those, 27 listed on the main board of the Hong Kongexchange carried “disclaimers, where auditors sidestep giving a definitive opinion.

今年迄今，共有149家公司的审计师报告对公司财务报表的看法有变，与2014年全年一样多。其中，27家在香港主板市场上市的公司的审计师提出“免责声明，表明审计师不愿发表明确观点。

Disclaimers are the second-most serious grade of qualified audit opinion, and mean that theauditor is worried that there are issues facing the company that could be both material andpervasive to its finances. The only worse outcome is an adverse opinion, which indicatesoutright disagreement between auditor and company.

免责声明属于第二严重等级的有保留审计意见，表明审计师担心这些公司面临可能对其财务状况有实质性且全面影响的问题。最糟糕的结果是负面意见，这表明审计师的意见与公司完全相反。

Excluding companies listed on Hong Kong’s Growth Enterprise Market, which are consideredriskier than main board groups, auditors for 17 companies have so far this year cited fears overwhether their client was a going concern — up from eight last year.

除去在香港创业板(Growth Enterprise Market)上市的企业(它们被视为比香港主板上市公司风险更高)，今年迄今，有17家公司的审计师就其客户是否会持续经营提出担忧，高于去年的8家。

“There appears to be increasing concern on the part of auditors about the quality of financialreporting, said Jamie Allen, secretary-general of the Asian Corporate Governance Association,which publishes a biennial barometer of governance in the region.

亚洲公司治理协会(Asian Corporate Governance Association)秘书长艾哲明(Jamie Allen)表示：“审计师似乎越来越担心财务报告质量。该协会每两年公布一份有关亚洲治理状况的报告。

He added that Hong Kong reporting quality varied widely. “Some firms are close tointernational best practice and produce highly informative reports, mostly some blue-chips,while others continue to mislead or under-disclose.

他补充称，香港财报质量差异很大。“一些公司接近全球最佳实践，财报内容非常翔实，这些主要是蓝筹股，而其他公司则继续误导投资者或披露信息不足。