(Yicai) March 22 -- China imposed a larger number of punishments on accounting firms and certified public accountants last year amid a crackdown on rule-breaking in the financial services sector.

The authorities imposed 197 administrative penalties on accounting firms and 509 on certified public accountants in 2023, representing increases of 13 percent and 22 percent from the year before, the finance ministry said yesterday.

The ministry plans to ramp up supervision, checks, disposals, and punishments, cracking down severely on irregularities in the sector and effectively standardizing the order of financial auditing, it said. Last year, the authorities checked nearly 2,200 accounting firms, a 17 percent increase, representing a fifth of the total.

The ministry disclosed 10 penalty cases. One of them involved a Beijing-based accounting firm that earned CNY955,100 (USD132,100) even though 144 audit reports issued in the first half of 2021 lacked any relevant documentation. The firm in question also committed serious violations such as refusing or delaying the provision of relevant information and making false statements.

As a result, the firm’s business license was revoked and it was fined CNY4.8 million (USD664,000), or five times its illegal income, which was also seized. 

Editor: Emmi Laine