China will introduce new accounting and auditing standards that are similar in many ways to global ones in listed firms as of January 1 next year, officials with securities regulatory commission said on Friday.

The introduction of the standards, as Wang Jun, vice-minister of finance said recently, represents an important step China has made in global convergence of accounting standards.

The ministry made public the standards in February this year.

Guo Xudong, chief of Accounting Section of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, said the commission will move to investigate the impact the new standards will have on the country's capital market.

The commission will also revise some regulations to make information disclosure by listed firms consistent with the new standards, said Guo.

The implementation of the standards will improve the quality of the information disclosed by listed firms, which will improve the international credibility of the Chinese capital market.

In the past decade, a number of listed firms were punished by the commission for substandard accounting.

(Xinhua News Agency June 24, 2006)