Rating for State Entities to Boost Transparency

An integrated database will be formed to publicly release information on government-run companies, banks and insurance firms, which will help assess and rate their performance, announced the director general for state-owned companies at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finance.

"Regular reports will be published to evaluate the performance of government-run companies, banks and insurance entities, and they will be ranked based on two categories of information," Abolfazl Tayyebi was also quoted as saying by IBENA.

The first category of information will concern figures in financial statements, namely balance sheets and income statements that include assets, debts, shareholders' equity, revenue, costs and profit margins.

The second category will entail financial ratios, which will present a correct understanding of the financial status of government-owned companies.

Tayyebi added that financial ratios considered for evaluating state companies include return on asset, return on sale, return on equity, debt ratio, equity ratio and debt-to-equity ratio.

"These ratios, coupled with diagram info, will detail a comparison of financial information of state companies for the period under review," he said.

The official noted that the rating of companies might change from one year to the next, but "usually the top ten have a stable stance. For example, Bank Melli usually holds the top ranking in terms of assets."

According to Tayyebi, the information on state firms published in the form of reports will also be registered under the portal of government-owned companies, banks and insurance entities in the Economy Ministry and "everyone, including the public, will be able to access them".

Without providing a timeline, the official said when the integrated database for holding these data is established, the reports will be published in the shortest amount of time possible and will provide more indicators to compare and rank state-owned entities.

"What is certain is that this information will clearly show the financial ratios of government-owned companies across several fiscal years," he said.

"For instance, everyone will be able to recognize the top 10 companies in terms of assets or debts, and what portion of the total assets and debts is in these companies."

Transparency for All

Noting that state-owned companies wish to have access to reports based on such a database, Tayyebi said all the information will be extracted from the approved financial statements of the companies.

The official noted that since he is present at the shareholders' meetings, his office has access to audit and inspection reports of companies in addition to their financial statements.

"What matters to us is that this information will be accessible to everyone and with the knowledge that the public is able to view this data, state-owned companies will also increase their efforts to have greater transparency and improve their financial indices," he said.

However, "companies like subsidiaries of the Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics whose information is confidential to a certain degree" will not be treated like companies that have a routine structure, he added.

Tayyebi concluded by saying that his department has contacted these companies, they have determined the level of information that is allowed to be published "and we will publish them at that level".