CHINA'S accounting industry has moved a step closer to standardisation with the awarding of permission certificates to three joint-venture accounting firms for auditing shareholding-structured enterprises.
China-based joint ventures receiving the certificates are Ernst and Young, Arthur Andersen and KPMG Peat Marwick.
Such permissions are given to all qualified accounting firms in China and not limited to joint ventures.
However, it was not previously made clear to the three joint ventures whether they were allowed to undertake the task, while some assumed they could.
Ernst and Young senior manager Chan Yuen-tao said the move indicated an effort by the Chinese government to systematise the profession, which many practitioners have found chaotic.
''The industry was not much looked after by the state. But when a lack of standardisation [in quality] was observed, the country would try to put it right,'' Mr Chan said.