More than 30 Kospi 200 firms still have no whistleblowing policy for transparent management of their accounting control system, according to the latest report released by Samjong KPMG on Monday.

The accountancy firm’s report shows that 34 of the top 200 Kospi firms, have no whistleblowing policy within their account rule books, while three others did not publicly disclose their policies through the regulatory filing.

The Kospi 200 is the index tracking a basket of 200 blue chip firms listed on Korea’s main bourse, equivalent of the S&P 500.

Under the new external audit act, amended in November, listed firms and those responsible for companies’ internal control systems are obliged to include information on how they operating a whistleblowing system that allows employees’ voices to be heard by management.

If such efforts are found to be insufficient, they could face a fine of up to 30 million won ($25,920).

“Internal audits and audit committees should play a critical role in companies’ internal controls. Their roles and authorities should be stipulated, in order to actively control internal reporting systems and easily access internal report information when investigating fraud,” said Kim You-kyoung, the leader of Audit Committee Institute at Samjong KPMG.

By Jie Ye-eun (yeeun@heraldcorp.com)