Sec obtains ‘unqualified’ audit rating from COA anew

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has received good housekeeping mark from the Commission on Audit (COA) for the second consecutive year.

In an independent auditor’s report dated July 30, State Auditor Concepcion C. Reyes rendered an unqualified opinion on the fairness of presentation of the Commission’s 2019 financial statements.

“In our opinion, the accompanying financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Securities and Exchange Commission as at December 31, 2019, and its financial performance, changes in net assets/equity, cash flows, comparison of budget and actual amounts for the year then ended, and notes to the financial statements, in accordance with the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSASs),” the report read.

Under the IPSASs, auditors issue an unqualified or unmodified opinion when they conclude that financial statements, as a whole, are free from material misstatements, which could arise from either fraud or error.

The SEC also received an unqualified opinion on the fairness of presentation of its financial statements for 2018. COA has given the Commission good housekeeping marks for two straight years now, breaking the rows of audit findings it had made over the past decade.

“The unqualified opinion rendered by COA affirms our commitment to honest, sound and prudent use of public resources to improve our operations for the benefit of the people we serve,” SEC Chairperson Emilio B. Aquino said.

“The audit rating also strengthens our position to lead by example, as it speaks of our adherence to the highest standards of transparency, accountability and good governance that we likewise require of corporations, capital market participants and other entities under our supervision in the best interest of their investors, clients and other stakeholders.”

The SEC has received several recognitions for its initiatives to improve the ease of doing business in the country by eliminating red tape and other opportunities for graft and corruption, among others.

On August 26, the Commission formally received the ISO 9001:2015 Certification for its quality management system covering all core services across its main and extension offices.

The ISO 9001:2015 Certification covers procedures related to the provision of regulatory services over the corporate sector, the capital market participants, and the securities and investment instruments market in the Philippines, and protection of the investing public.

It also covers procedures related to the provision of registration of partnerships and corporations doing business in the Philippines in the SEC Extension Offices in Baguio, Tarlac, Legazpi, Cebu, Bacolod, Iloilo, Davao, Cagayan de Oro and Zamboanga.

The SEC first obtained ISO 9001:2015 Certification in 2018. From the initial 59 documented procedures, the Commission successfully expanded the scope of its ISO-certified quality management system to cover 122 documented procedures.

Surveys conducted by the Makati Business Club have likewise recognized the Commission as one of the 10 best performing national government agencies.

Meanwhile, the SEC has consistently ranked among the sincerest institutions in fighting corruption, per surveys conducted by the Social Weather Stations with support from the Integrity for Investments Initiative, funding from the United States Agency for International Development, and in partnership with the National Competitiveness Council and The Asia Foundation.

In 2019, the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission also recognized the Commission for the implementation of the Company Registration System (CRS), which minimized human intervention in the processing of applications and thereby reduces the opportunity for corruption.

The CRS allows for the automated and online pre-processing of applications for the registration of corporations and partnerships, licensing of foreign corporations, and amendments of the articles of incorporation, among others.