98% of the joint stock companies of Azerbaijan hide annual reports

In 2012, the State Committee for Securities received annual reports from 486 corporations. This is about a third of the subjects that have to disclose annual reports in Azerbaijan.

According to the SSC, compared with 2011, the number of submitted annual reports of joint stock companies increased 5%. For deviation from the requirements of the law administrative sanctions were applied to several JSCs.

Under the Civil Code, joint stock companies (other than those that are 100% owned by the state) are required to publish annual reports in the press. These reports reflect data on changes in the legal form created or liquidated subsidiaries, number of shareholders, equity participation of persons with more than 10% of the shares of Shareholders making etc.

Annual reports are accompanied by the balance sheet drawn up by the National Accounting Standards Board and the auditor's report to him. After verification of these reports in the SSC for errors Company shall publish them within 15 days.

In 2012, according to the monitoring by the analytical stock portal www.sehm.az, annual reports were published up by 20 JSCs, while the majority of these reports did not meet the legal requirements.

Approximately 98% of the JSCs (excluding banks and insurance companies, whose reporting is regulated by special legislation) concealing annual reports and balance sheets are not only investors but also shareholders. Only two JSCs, Xazar-Lada and Holcim (Azerbaijan) publish on the Internet pages the annual corporate financial performance.

Against the background of this blatant connivance, the government of Azerbaijan toughens reporting by NGOs that, on the contrary, are 98% transparent. The recent amendments to tighten the reporting rules were adopted by Parliament and are to be approved by the President. - 08B-