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Many companies were investigated on the same day, and the storm of strict supervision once again swept through listed companies.

Last Friday night (August 9),Zhongqingbao4 companies announced that they were filed for suspected information disclosure violations. Affected by this news, the share prices of the above 4 stocks plummeted on Monday (August 12).Ren ZixingIt closed down 19.9%, Zhongqingbao fell more than 16%,Tongde Chemical、Shenyang ChemicalDown more than 9%.

Wind data shows thatSo far this month, seven A-share companies have been investigated. As of August 9, 63 A-share companies have been investigated this year, an increase of more than 50% over the same period last year.

"Judging from recent developments, information disclosure violations and internal control and corporate governance issues are common problems faced by companies under investigation," Tian Lihui, dean of the Nankai University Institute of Financial Development, told Caixin.

Four companies were filed in a single day

Among the four companies investigated on August 9, some of the subjects of the investigation involved the company and its actual controller. Zhongqingbao said that due to suspected illegal and irregular information disclosure, the China Securities Regulatory Commission decided to file a case against the company and its actual controller Zhang Yunxia. At present, all production and business activities of the company are proceeding normally.

Just over half a month ago, Zhongqing Baogang was subject to regulatory measures by the Shenzhen Securities Regulatory Bureau. The company disclosed on July 26 that its actual controller Zhang Yunxia had been subject to compulsory measures in accordance with the law for suspected crimes, but the company did not disclose the relevant matters in a timely manner after learning of it, so it was ordered to correct by the Shenzhen Securities Regulatory Bureau.

Some companies were filed by the CSRC due to financial problems of their subsidiaries. Ren Zixing said that the company was filed this time because it found that its wholly-owned subsidiary Beijing Yahong Century Technology Development Co., Ltd. had overstated assets, overstated revenues, and overstated profits in the relevant years. The company also said that it has actively carried out rectification, corrected accounting errors and made retroactive adjustments to the relevant annual financial statements, and hired an accounting firm to issue a relevant audit report.

Other companies received fines from local securities regulatory bureaus while being filed by the CSRC. Tongde Chemical said that it received a notice of filing a case with the CSRC for suspected violations of information disclosure laws and regulations. On the same day, the company disclosed that it was ordered to make corrections and issued a warning letter by the Shanxi Securities Regulatory Bureau for violations of information disclosure and insider information management, and four relevant persons in charge were also subject to regulatory measures.

The announcement shows that Tongde Chemical was involved in two information disclosure violations: First, in August last year, the company and Guangdong Hongda Holding Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Guangdong Hongda”) and signed a framework agreement for equity transfer. The agreement was terminated the following month. The company did not convene a board of directors for prior review and did not disclose the progress of the matter in a timely manner. Second, in January 2021, the company signed a framework agreement with Shenzhen Butterfly Valley Capital Management Co., Ltd., agreeing to initiate the establishment of Tongde (Changzhi) New Energy Materials Industry Investment Enterprise, but the company did not convene a board of directors to review and disclose the matter until early February of the same year.

The insider information management violation involving Tongde Chemical refers to the fact that the company did not register insider information on the matter when it signed a framework agreement on equity transfer with Guangdong Hongda.

In addition to the above four companies, there are alsoFudan Fuhua、Sunsea Intelligent, Jinfu Technology and three other companies were put on file.The reasons are all suspected of illegal and irregular information disclosure。

Tian Lihui analyzed that the listed companies under investigation generally have problems such as untimely, inaccurate, incomplete information disclosure or misleading statements.

"The deep-seated problems of poor information disclosure quality are often deficiencies and defects in internal control and corporate governance." He also mentioned that some companies have overstated assets, overstated revenues, and overstated profits in their financial reports, which is one of the important reasons for the investigation.

New regulatory landscape for listed companies

Looking at the overall situation this year, according to Wind data, as of the announcement date, as of August 9, 63 A-share companies have been filed this year, and more than 30% (23) are ST companies. The number of companies filed in the same period last year was 40, an increase of about 57% year-on-year this year.

Some of the above-mentioned companies have been delisted, including *ST Meisheng, ST Yili,ST Aikangwait.

On August 12, ST Aikang, the former "star stock of photovoltaic industry", was delisted. Prior to this, the company was caught up in the controversy of investigation and delisting at par value.

ST Aikon disclosed in mid-June that the company and its actual controller Zou Chenghui were suspected of illegal and irregular information disclosure and were investigated by the China Securities Regulatory Commission. At the beginning of the month, the company's chairman publicly stated that the company had no ST risk. ST Aikon received a warning letter for information disclosure violations.

But ST Aikang eventually went to par value delisting. Because the stock closing price was below 1 yuan for 20 consecutive trading days, it hit the delisting red line. On June 21, the company received a prior notice of delisting issued by the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.

In addition to being punished for information disclosure violations, listed companies haveThe cases of being punished for performance disclosure violations are also prominent.。

According to incomplete statistics from the announcement, there have beenLongyuan Technology、Anda TechnologyMany companies, including , were punished by regulators for violating regulations in their performance forecast (flash report) announcements.

Longyuan Technology disclosed on the evening of August 9 that it received a warning letter from the Shandong Securities Regulatory Bureau for failing to disclose the 2023 annual report performance forecast as required. Anda Technology and the company's chairman and financial director were also issued a warning letter by the Guizhou Securities Regulatory Bureau, saying that there were financial data errors in multiple financial reports.

According to the investigation by the Guizhou Regulatory Bureau, Anda Technology adjusted the revenue recognition method of lithium iron phosphate sales business corresponding to lithium carbonate supplied to customers from the net method to the gross method, resulting in significant deviations in the operating income and operating cost data disclosed by the company in the first quarter report, semi-annual report, third quarter report and annual performance report of 2023. Specifically, this adjustment caused Anda Technology to recognize more operating income and operating costs in the above-mentioned reports, ranging from 1.025 billion yuan to 1.923 billion yuan.

Since the beginning of this year, the capital market has continued to send signals of strict supervision. At the end of April, the new "Nine National Regulations" were issued, which clearly stated that listed companies should be strictly supervised on a continuous basis, and proposed to strengthen information disclosure and corporate governance supervision, build a comprehensive punishment and prevention system for capital market counterfeiting, and strictly rectify illegal and irregular behaviors in key areas such as financial fraud and capital occupation.

Tian Lihui believes that under the new "Nine National Regulations", the regulatory situation of listed companies shows three major characteristics: increased efforts, improved system and clear policy orientation, gradually realizing strong supervision, comprehensive supervision and guided supervision.

He further stated that the new regulatory framework for listed companies is reflected in three points: first, the regulatory authorities maintain a high-pressure stance on violations by listed companies, and increase the intensity of investigations and punishments for violations of information disclosure, financial fraud and other behaviors; second, a three-dimensional accountability system of administrative law enforcement, civil accountability and criminal crackdown is established to increase the cost of violations; third, through policy guidance, listed companies are encouraged to strengthen information disclosure, improve corporate governance and enhance investor protection awareness.

"Compared with the past, supervision is more focused on prevention and timely detection of problems, rather than just post-event punishment." Tian Lihui also suggested that regulatory policies could be further refined, with more specific guidance and requirements for different situations. Investors should pay close attention to changes in regulatory policies, as well as the response and implementation of these policies by listed companies.