As corporations are failing to submit their audit reports within the deadline during the March regular shareholders meeting season, concerns are growing among investors about corporate finances. In particular, with nearly half of the corporations that filed last year's audit reports late receiving an audit opinion of "disclaimer of opinion," which constitutes grounds for delisting, the market is turning more cautious.
According to the Korea Exchange (KRX) on the 26th, a total of 48 listed companies disclosed a "delay in submitting audit reports" this year (Jan. 1–Mar. 24). By market, seven companies, including Dongsung Bio Pharm and GeneOne Life Science, disclosed in the main bourse, 33 on KOSDAQ, and eight on KONEX.
The pace has also quickened compared with last year. Last year (Jan. 1–Dec. 31, 2025), a total of 55 listed companies disclosed delays in submitting audit reports, and this year, in about three months, the figure has nearly been reached.
Under the current Commercial Act, listed companies must disclose the audit report received from an external auditor one week before the regular shareholders meeting. For example, a corporation holding a shareholders meeting on the 31st of this month must upload the audit report by the 23rd, one week prior.
Shareholders' anxiety is rising as audit reports are delayed. Typically, when an audit report is delayed, it may indicate issues found during the external audit process or the possibility that a non-unqualified opinion could be issued.
Lee June-seo, a professor in the Department of Business Administration at Dongguk University, said, "When the submission of an audit report is delayed, the likelihood of receiving a qualified opinion or not being judged as unqualified is high," and added, "Such a disclosure is inevitably very negative from the investor's perspective."
The problem is that a delay in the audit report can also lead to delisting. Of the 55 corporations that submitted last year's audit reports late, 25 received audit opinions classified as non-unqualified: "qualified" (three) and "disclaimer of opinion" (22).
Non-unqualified opinions are divided into qualified, adverse, and disclaimer of opinion, and these constitute grounds for delisting. Corporations for which grounds for delisting arise undergo a review to determine whether to delist. In fact, of the 25 for which grounds for delisting arose, 14 were decided to be delisted after review.
Among them, three—Setopia, SL Therapeutics, and Advanced Digital Chips—have had delisting confirmed and have begun closing transactions, while the remaining corporations filed for injunctions against delisting but have had trading halted. Among the corporations that filed for injunctions, RFsemi Technologies, IM, and Eone Diagnomics Genome Center also failed to meet this year's audit report submission deadline.