“The quality of financial statements and audit reports is growing, but we still have some work to do together,” Yurii Shapoval, the Commissioner of the NSSMC

In recent years, the quality of financial statements and audits has been improving, but the Regulator and the audit organization still have some work to do together. This opinion was expressed by Yurii Shapoval, the Commissioner of the NSSMC (National Securities and Stock Market Commission) at the international conference on the Public Supervision of Audit Activity in Ukraine: Experience and Prospects.

At the session on the Role of Audit in Improving the Transparency of Companies’ Activities, a member of the Regulator spoke about the collaborative mechanisms of the audit oversight system and oversight systems of the NSSMC.

“Recently, despite the general improvements, we have seen some irregularities in the financial statements and audit findings to it. Yes, I mean the non-disclosure on the fair value of financial instruments, the inadequate disclosure or a general lack of disclosure on essential financial statements. It is also, unfortunately, incomplete disclosure or lack thereof with respect to the related parties and transactions between them,” said Mr. Shapoval about the issues in this area.

The Commissioner added that the audit findings had been a kind of guarantor for the reporting quality. The audit report is mandatory for annual and annual consolidated statements and is not mandatory for quarterly statements. However, if a market participant does not report for the quarter, he must disclose such information. By the way, if the company is among those in the public interest, the auditor must be selected from the fourth Register in accordance with Article 21 of the Law of Ukraine on the Audit of Financial Statements and Audit Activity”.

“I hope that through the consolidated efforts of Regulators and by the improving the qualifications of auditors, the volume of low-quality statements and findings will be minimized. As a result, the market will be able to receive the transparent financial statements,” summed up the Commissioner.