Hong Kong exchange sees no significant breaches in financial reports

  • Hong Kong Image

06 Feb 2013

The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited has published a report summarising key observations and findings from its review of 120 periodic financial reports released by entities listed on the Exchange between May 2011 and September 2012. According to the HKEx, the review did not reveal any significant breaches of the Listing Rules or accounting standards that would render the financial statements misleading, would require their restatement or warrant disciplinary action.

A number of omitted disclosures were identified by the review, but in the view of the Exchange, they were not material to the financial statements as a whole and the Exchange obtained confirmation from issuers that the required information would be provided in future financial reports.

The review in the current period included focuses on the following themes:

  • goodwill and intangible asset accounting
  • telecommunications and internet companies
  • non-IFRS/HKAS financial information.

Findings and recommendations from the review include:

  • Issuers are generally still not forthcoming in their explanation of significant events and transactions in their annual and interim reports, such as required in interim reports by IAS/HKAS 34 Interim Financial Reporting
  • Issuers should familiarise themselves with IFRS 3/HKFRS 3 Business Combinations when carrying out acquisitions of businesses or assets to avoid inappropriate application of the standard
  • Issuers should improve and further enhance their disclosures relating to goodwill and intangible assets and management should ensure that the assumptions for growth rates applied in their discounted cash flows when determining the recoverable amount under IAS/HKAS 36 Impairment of Assets are achievable over the period under consideration
  • Issuers should follow good practices when providing non-IFRS/HKFRS financial information to ensure that such information is clearly distinguished from the financial information prepared in accordance with accounting standards.

The Exchange did not follow up on these findings but "encourages directors and other persons responsible for financial reporting to take note of the matters discussed in the report, in particular the requirements of the Listing Rules, accounting standards and other regulatory disclosure requirements."

Click for press release (link to HKEx website).

Related Topics

Correction list for hyphenation

These words serve as exceptions. Once entered, they are only hyphenated at the specified hyphenation points. Each word should be on a separate line.