Firms submitting financial statements late to be fined
Firms submitting financial statements late to be fined
JAKARTA (JP): The Capital Market Supervisory Agency (Bapepam)
will penalize all publicly listed companies which failed to meet
the April 30 deadline for submitting their 1997 financial
statements.
Bapepam chairman I Putu Gede Ary Suta said yesterday he had no
choice but to introduce disciplinary measures because the agency
had given companies four months to prepare their balance sheets.
"All publicly listed companies should comply with the existing
regulations," he told reporters.
Putu said that should any publicly listed company fail to meet
the deadline, it would be obliged to explain the delay.
"If companies cannot meet the deadline, they should give the
reasons for the delay," he said, pointing out that no company had
lodged an official report stating reasons for delays.
According to capital market regulations, publicly companies
are required to submit their half yearly and annual reports to
Bapepam and the stock exchanges where they are listed four months
after the end of the financial period at the latest.
The deadline for the annual reports which ended in December is
April 30.
Companies late in submitting their reports without acceptable
excuses will be fined Rp 1 million (US$125) for each day they are
late.
The Jakarta Stock Exchange reported Friday that 72 companies,
or about 25 percent of the total companies listed on the
exchange, had not submitted their 1997 annual financial
statements.
The companies late with their reports include Bakrie and
Brothers, Bank Danamon, Bank PDFCI, Bank Surya, Bank Tiara Asia,
Bank Umum Nasional, Modern Bank, Bank Dagang Nasional Indonesia
(BDNI), Barito Pacific Timber, toll-road operator PT Citra Marga
Nusaphala Persada and Bukaka Teknik Utama.
The managements of Bank Danamon, Bank PDFCI, Bank Tiara Asia,
Bank Umum Nasional, BDNI and Modern Bank have been placed under
the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) since early last
month as part of the government's efforts the improve the
country's ailing banking system.
A JSX director, Felia Salim, said yesterday that the other 215
publicly listed firms had submitted their annual reports before
the deadline.
Analysts say the monetary crisis has severely affected the
financial performance of most companies in Indonesia, forcing
them to suffer losses due to huge foreign exchange losses.
Putu said that though the companies had incurred losses, they
should not ignore existing regulations.
"If they lose, that is the risk of doing business. But our
(Bapepam) main concern is to enforce every company to stick to
existing regulations. That's all,' he said. (aly)