In the past, I have written a piece about China being the land of the missing accountants.

The country is sorely lacking beancounters following the Cultural Revolution when professionals were denounced, killed or sent off into exile. Combine that with the legacy of a Soviet-style book-keeping system designed for a highly-centralized and rigidly controlled economy, rather than a free and transparent market, and there's bound to be problems.

There is a massive skills shortage in China. The country had 5639 accounting companies at the end of April, with 69,800 certified accountants. But only 100-odd accounting firms had an annual income exceeding 20 million yuan (US$2.5 million), reports xinhua.net.

Developing its own big accounting firms is critical for China if it is to make the transition from the world's manufacturing plant into a truly capitalist economy with good bank, equity, bond and venture capital markets.


Now China aims to develop at least 10 accountancy firms, reports the Financial Times.

The aim is to develop 10 big firms capable of comprehensive, international standards of service within the next decade in order to reduce China's reliance on foreign groups, notably the Big Four which have identified China as the big growth market.

The FT reports that policymakers are worried about the weakness of China's accounting infrastructure. The doubts about the veracity of corporate accounts there could hinder the inflow of capital.

Certainly, this is important with the country's booming economy and appetite for capital. All that runs smack into those concerns about corporate governance and corruption.

But the big question is whether these new domestic firms will have the global cache and clout to compete with the Big Four.