[THE INVESTOR] The financial regulator said on Oct. 12 it will conduct more inspections into accounting practices at big companies as part of its efforts to toughen rules on corporate accounting standards.

In a report for a parliamentary audit, the Financial Supervisory Service said big firms with assets worth more than 1 trillion won (US$880 million) accounted for 7 percent of the watchdog’s annual inspections into accounting practices last year. The ratio rose to 20 percent this year, the FSS said.

In the first eight months of this year, the FSS conducted a total of 176 inspections into accounting practices.

Of them, the FSS found that 28 cases violated accounting rules, and relevant firms will face punishment.

The FSS has also stepped up its monitoring of accounting practices at the nation’s top 50 companies. 

Some retail investors have been suffering from their investment into stocks related to merger and acquisition activities by firms with little capital.

Meanwhile, FSS Gov. Yoon Suk-heon said he “personally feels a need to promptly push to regulate cryptocurrency trading.”

“(The government has taken) a cautious stance, as the digital currency bears many uncertainties and no unified global rules exist,” Yoon said. “(The government) should make efforts toward creating regulations.”

By Song Seung-hyun and newswires (ssh@heraldcorp.com)