Govt likely to inspect accounts of 70-80 pvt firms

Within days of ordering inspection of accounts of six state-run companies, the government has initiated the exercise to identify about 70 to 80 private companies whose accounts would be checked by the Registrar of Companies (RoC) to prevent recurrence of Satyam-like frauds. The Corporate Affairs Ministry, according to official sources, will be ordering inspection of the account books of private companies to ensure that they are complying with the provisions of the Companies Act.A number of new telecom companies, who have been awarded licences only last year to start mobile services, may figure in the list of entities whose accounts would be inspected by the RoC, sources added.The MCA is currently looking into the ownership pattern of some of the telecom companies.The companies that got telecom licences last year include Swan Telecom, Loop Telecom and Unitech among others.Earlier in the week, the government ordered inspection of account books of six public-sector companies under Section 209A of the Companies Act following complaints that they were not filing mandatory documents with the RoC or the auditor made adverse comments in their reports.