The newly issued investigation conclusion of the Ministry of Public Security's Investigation Police Agency clearly states that in order to be considered for an extension of the Dai Ninh project, tycoon Nguyen Cao Tri, general director of Saigon Dai Ninh Company, must prove his financial capacity, with a charter capital of 2,000 billion VND.

To legalize the documents, Mr. Tri signed a contract with DFK Vietnam Auditing Company Limited.

The investigation agency accused DFK auditors of signing and issuing an audit report on the situation of charter capital contributions of shareholders, determining the owner's capital contribution to be 2,000 billion VND despite insufficient evidence, and not working with the board of directors, general director board, and legal representative of Saigon Dai Ninh Company.

DFK received a 50 million VND audit contract from Mr. Nguyen Cao Tri

On its website, DFK Vietnam Auditing said it is one of the few auditing companies in Vietnam founded by auditors who have worked for many years for the world's leading auditing firms (Big4).

The firm also describes itself as an independent member of DFK International - an international network of audit and business advisory firms headquartered in the UK, comprising 219 member firms operating in 101 countries.

Currently, DFK Vietnam is headquartered in Tan Binh District, Ho Chi Minh City. The legal representative and general director is Mr. Nguyen Luong Nhan, and the chairman of the board of directors is Mr. Pham The Hung.

Regarding the business situation, according to the report, DFK Vietnam's revenue in 2023 reached nearly 44 billion VND. Notably, for many years, other revenue accounted for the majority of the company's total revenue structure.

As of 2023, public interest audit revenue was only VND90 million, the remaining VND43 billion was "other revenue". The report did not explain other revenue in detail.

In terms of expenses, DFK Vietnam spent more than 41.7 billion VND in 2023. The majority of the expense structure was salaries and bonuses, with more than 25.5 billion VND. As a result, DFK's after-tax profit in 2023 was more than 1.4 billion VND.

Compared to the previous year, the business results of this auditing company have decreased. According to the 2022 report, DFK Vietnam's revenue reached 49.2 billion VND, and after-tax profit was more than 2 billion VND.

DFK Vietnam's revenue is mostly from other revenue, revenue from public interest auditing is very low - Data: BCMB

According to the investigation agency, the 2020 audit with Saigon Dai Ninh Company by DFK Vietnam has an audit service contract value of 50 million VND.

However, there is not enough evidence to determine the role of the auditing company as an accomplice with Nguyen Cao Tri or as an independent criminal.

Therefore, the investigation agency recommends that the Ministry of Finance consider and administratively handle the legal entity DFK Auditing Company and individuals in performing the audit report on the charter capital of Saigon Dai Ninh Company contrary to the law and violating auditing standards.

Auditing companies appear repeatedly in major cases

Recently, many auditors have been fined, suspended, had their practice licenses revoked, and even prosecuted, as in the FLC and Tan Hoang Minh cases.

Like the case of Mr. Trinh Van Quyet, two auditing companies signed "fake" reports to help ROS shares go public. Similarly, the case of Tan Hoang Minh also "ordered" an audit, from which they "magically" edited the financial report to meet the conditions for issuing bonds.

In the Van Thinh Phat scandal, the four largest auditing firms in the world, commonly known as Big4, except for PwC, three units - KPMG, Deloitte, Ernst & Young - participated in auditing SCB for many years but did not detect any irregularities.

According to the report of the Ministry of Finance, by the end of February 2024, there were 221 enterprises providing auditing services and 2,343 practicing auditors nationwide.

In 2023, the Ministry of Finance imposed administrative penalties on 21 auditing firms and 3 practicing auditors, temporarily suspended 17 auditors due to poor quality audit records, auditors seriously violated standards...

Speaking with Tuoi Tre Online , an expert in the auditing field said that audit reports are a service that ensures financial information for those who use it.

Mistakes, carelessness or "handshake" and collusion in the auditing profession can all cause significant damage...