Tatas most trustworthy in financial reporting: Investor poll

The Tata Group has emerged as the the most trustworthy Indian company on financial reporting in a poll conducted among domestic investors.

Infosys, HDFC Group, L&T and Aditya Birla in that order follow the Ratan Tata-led Tata Group, according to the poll conducted by equity research firm Equitymaster in the wake of accounting fraud at Satyam Computer.

The poll was carried out to gauge whether there was considerable doubt in the financial statements of Indian companies after the scam at Satyam came to light in January this year.

Mukesh and Anil Ambani's two groups have been placed at ninth and 10th positions in the ranking of the top 10 trustworthy corporate houses.

The general consensus about Mukesh and Anil Ambani groups is that the financial disclosure made by these companies leave a lot to be desired as they are at the lowest end of the rankings, the report accompanying the poll results stated.

Further, telecom major Bharti Airtel, Sundaram/ TVS Group and ICICI Bank have been ranked at sixth, seventh and eighth positions by investors.

The fraud in country's leading IT firm Satyam has shaken the confidence of the investors that auditors may not be doing their jobs properly among other corporate governance issues.

However, the poll found that many companies may have resorted to window dressing their accounts, but on a smaller scale, others were of the opinion that the financial statements presented were of quality and are not necessarily tainted because of Satyam fiasco.

Besides, the Tata Group had also emerged at the top in a previous survey by Equitymaster to gauge the most admired corporate house.