How transparent are our financial institutions

Study reveals a yawning gap in profit and loss ratio in the non-audited and audited reports:
Going by the popular perception, financial institutions dominate the domestic secondary market because they are considered more transparent than any other.That’s precisely why investors swear by them. However, not before checking the non-audited reports of the institutions, as they are published ahead of the annual general meetings.But that’s where the cookie crumbles. There is a huge difference between non-audited reports as opposed to theaudited ones, which are usually published after almostsix months.For instance, there is a significant 33.49 per cent gap in the non-audited and audited accounts of a bank, as evident in the fourth quarterly report of fiscal year 2007-08. The anomaly lies in the net profit.“As per the non-audited report, the bank in question posted a profit of Rs 1,27.824 million. But, the audited document reveals that it has raked only Rs 85.016 million in profit during the year. The difference is a staggering 33.49 per cent,” stated a recent report, compiled by Securities Research Centre and Services (SRCS).Radhesh Pant, president, Nepal Bankers’ Association (NBA), attributed the deviation to the fundamentals of loan-loss provision.“At times, a bank may think that loan is either good or entails a medium risk. But, Nepal Rashtra Bank, the regulatory authority, may think otherwise. That leads to the gaping holes in the profit sheet,” reasoned Pant.Of the 25 commercial banks, the SRCS has compared the non-audited and audited reports of 19 commercial banks.According to the NRB’s directives, all financial institutions — commercial banks, development banks, finance companies and others — are obliged to publish their non-audited balance sheet immediately after the end of the fiscal. The move aims to maintain transparency in the financial sector, which, in turn, boosts investors’ confidence.Buoyed by the data, an investor decides to buy or sale shares of the institution since the audited report takes a far longer time to be made public.Commercial banks — the secondary market propeller — follow NRB’s directives,albeit, notionally. Usually,the cat is out of the bag bythe end of fourth quarter and audited report.Consider this: A report suggests that one of the commercial banks, which is preparing to float Initial Public Offer (IPO), has posted loss in its non-audited report. But, the audited one, the quantum of loss has multiplied manifold.“The bank has shown a loss of Rs 135.72 million in itsnon-audited report. But in the audited one, the loss has climbed up to a whoppingRs 272.08 million. The variation stood at 100.47 per cent,” added the report.All, however, are not guilty of cooking the book.Reputed ones like Standard Chartered Bank Nepal, Everest Bank and Citizens Bank International have a nominal difference in their non-audited and audited reports. In fact, records reveal that their net profit has increased and gone up in the audited report.Standard Chartered Bank Nepal’s net profit rose by Rs 45.52 million. Similarly, Everest Bank’s net profit increased by Rs 10.95 million.
Kuber Chalise (THT)