TIRANA, June 7 – Accounting experts signing false balance sheets will be fined from 5 to 10 million lek (50,000 to 100,000 dollars), according to some changes government approved for the legal auditing law. The changes to the law came after suspicion of false declarations made by businesses.
Under the new law expected to be approved by Parliament, all accounting experts and auditors will have to register at a council monitored by state structures.
Unregistered accounting experts and companies risk being fined up to 100,000 dollars and face prosecution. The decision on fines is taken by a board of public supervision, according to the government decision.
The changes are aimed at avoiding the camouflage the companies’ real financial situation, a situation which sparked the global financial crisis.
Experts say companies often use double balance sheets declaring lower revenues to avoid taxes and higher revenues when applying for loans.
New changes opposed
The professional organization of economists has strongly opposed the government decision which predicts fines up to 100 million lek for accountants signing false balance sheets. According to this organization, government is proposing the same changes to the auditing law which the Constitutional Court turned down last March.
Interest groups affected by this law say article 58 of this law which foresees criminal prosecution for accounting experts is unconstitutional, a claim which has been supported.
