State Audit of Vietnam has named the names of many State-owned enterprises (SOEs) plagued with tax arrears, poor financial governance and wasteful use of State assets.

According to the 2014 report the agency plans to announce this week, it audited 249 enterprises under 38 State economic groups and corporations and detected a slew of financial problems. Many SOEs were found to manage debts poorly.

Viettel Global Investment Joint Stock Company faced overdue receivables of VND1.96 trillion, and the figure is VND507.21 billion at DATC and VND440.35 billion at VEAM.

Other SOEs are also reeling from the huge bad debt owed to them, with VND595 billion reported at Thai Nguyen Iron and Steel Joint Stock Company under Vietnam Steel Corporation, VND293 billion at VEAM, VND126 billion at DOFICO, VND109.7 billion at HANDICO and VND92 billion at VICEM.

The agency found some corporations were using capital and equipment ineffectively. For instance, many assets bought by VTC had been left unused, such as the digital television system, digital terrestrial television equipment for province- and district-level stations and equipment for the Internet television broadcast project.

A gasoline engines production line worth VND32.65 billion at Song Cong Diesel Company Limited under VEAM had not been put to good use for years.

The audit results pointed out many enterprises with capital contributed by the State were not running at a profit or were incurring losses like Waterway Construction and Dredging Company under Waterway Construction Corporation with negative equity of nearly VND218 billion.

Some enterprises had accumulated losses higher than their equity such as Vietnam Self-Adhesive Materials Joint Stock Company under Liksin Corporation with VND488.49 billion compared to VND252.66 billion, Saigon Aquatic Products Trading Joint Stock Company under Saigon Trading Group VND355.12 billion and VND88 billion, and HCMC General Import Export and Investment Joint Stock Company VND197.53 billion and VND30 billion.

The cement enterprises with hefty accumulated losses were VICEM Tam Diep with nearly VND916 billion, VICEM Haiphong nearly VND428 billion and VICEM But Son nearly VND263 billion.

Most corporations had invested in property projects but these projects were moving slowly or suspended while others had not made good use of land allocated to them as shown in the 2014 report of State Audit.