China has told state-owned companies and those listed on the mainland to step up their security checks when appointing auditors, as authorities try to tighten controls on sensitive corporate information.
State-owned enterprises (SOEs) and listed companies should be more thorough in reviewing the ability of auditors “to safeguard information security” and “strengthen controls of sensitive information”, regulators said on Thursday.
The directive from the Ministry of Finance; the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, the top supervisor for China’s state-owned groups; and the China Securities Regulatory Commission, the nation’s securities watchdog, also ordered companies to insert clauses that set out the responsibility that auditors have when handling sensitive information.