http://www.thestar.com.my/Business/Business-News/2015/05/15/SC-imposes-sanctions-on-YFG/?style=biz
SC imposes sanctions on YFG
Friday, 15 May 2015
PETALING JAYA: YFG Bhd has been slapped with sanctions by the Securities Commission (SC) for knowingly authorising the furnishing of false statements on Nov 5, 2014 in its amended audited financial statements to Bursa Malaysia. Continue reading
Toshiba puts downward profit revision at over ¥50 billion
KYODO, BLOOMBERG
MAY 14, 2015
Toshiba Corp. has announced it might have to revise operating profit downward by just over ¥50 billion ($412 million) for the three years through March 2014 because of an in-house investigation into improper accounting at its infrastructure-related businesses. Continue reading
http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-05-14/corporate-japan-answers-to-nobody
Corporate Japan Answers to Nobody
MAY 14, 2015 6:00 PM EDT
It’s been a dreadful week for Japanese corporations. Toshiba is facing questions about its accounting practices, Sharp is asking lenders for another bailout and Takata can’t escape bad news about its airbags. Continue reading
Don’t write off write-offs: Bad news often reflects past overoptimism
May 16th 2015
WHEN big companies announce write-offs, they tend not to do things by halves. Back in 2008 AIG, an insurance group rescued by the American government, reported an annual loss of $99 billion, with almost $62 billion of that occurring in a single quarter. In 2001 JDS Uniphase, an optical-equipment maker, chalked up a deficit of $56 billion.
Such losses are so big they can seem almost unreal. That can serve a dual purpose. First, the deficit can be dismissed as the product of “mere accounting”, the result of pedantic number-crunching. Assets have been written down in value, but that is not the same as a cash loss. Second, when new managers are appointed, a huge loss can be blamed on the previous regime. All the bad news can be revealed at once, a phenomenon known as “kitchen-sinking”. From that point on, the only direction for profits must be up. Continue reading
FT Alphaville | May 14 07:18 | 1 comment | Share
By Jennifer Hughes in Hong Kong
Seven weeks of silence. That’s what investors in Tianhe Chemicals have had since the short target said it needed to give its auditors more information and would delay publishing its 2014 results. Thursday marks exactly seven weeks since it made the announcement and suspended its shares at the same time, highlighting one of the less fun aspects of the Hong Kong market – the risk of getting trapped.
A recap:The Chinese speciality chemicals group became a Hong Kong market darling after it listed last June, gaining more than a third between the float and the moment it was attacked by Anonymous Analytics just over two months later. The now standard attack- denial-more attack-lengthy rebuttal process followed. Tianhe vigorously rejected AA’s claims that it had generated a fraction of the sales and profits it had reported. Continue reading
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-05-14/wesley-clark-penny-stock-general
Wesley Clark: The Penny-Stock General
The retired four-star general lends his name to some sketchy companies
May 14, 2015
Sixteen years ago, Wesley Clark was the four-star U.S. Army general running the Kosovo war. These days, he’s been pitching food-truck franchises to military veterans and helping a convicted felon raise money to grow hydroponic lettuce. “We’d love it if you joined with us in an investment,” the silver-haired Clark, 70, says in a promotional video for a company called the Grilled Cheese Truck. He’s pictured standing in front of a statue of a bald eagle in a replica of the Oval Office. “We’re going to be one of the fastest-growing young companies in America.”
The grilled cheese venture is losing money and hasn’t signed any veterans as franchisees, and the lettuce operation is being sued for failing to pay its bills. They’re just two of a dozen precarious ventures with which Clark has been associated since he retired from the Army with the self-proclaimed goal—a joke, he says now—of making $40 million.
Clark is one of many former governors, generals, and congressmen who’ve found second careers lending their name to tiny companies that are willing to pay for prestige. Since he ran for president in 2004, Clark has joined the boards of at least 18 public companies, 10 of them penny-stock outfits, whose shares trade in the “over the counter” markets, a corner of Wall Street where fraud and manipulation are common. Continue reading
Sinjia requests trading halt after SGX advisory
13 May 2015
The Straits Times
PROPERTY and clean energy firm Sinjia Land requested a trading halt yesterday after the Singapore Exchange (SGX) issued a trade with caution advisory following a 63.2 per cent plunge in its share prices between May 7 and 11. Continue reading
Yan Tat hit amid `pump and dump’ fear
Imogene Wong
Wednesday, May 13, 2015
A large batch of Yan Tat Group Holdings (1480) shares was exchanged between two brokerages last Thursday, just before a dramatic climb and even more dramatic plunge in the counter a day after that, data from the bourse showed yesterday. More than 90 percent of the firm’s public float is now held by four brokerages, leading many commentators to think the printed circuit board maker has been the subject of heavy speculation. Continue reading
http://seekingalpha.com/article/3172676-vipshop-we-are-not-buying-the-financial-statements?ifp=0
Mithra Forensic Research, mithraforensicresearch.com
Long/short equity, growth, contrarian, activist investor
Vipshop: We Are Not Buying The Financial Statements
Top Idea | May. 12, 2015 5:00 AM ET | 10 comments | About:
Disclosure: The author is short VIPS. (More…)
Summary
Vipshop has enjoyed share price appreciation of 45% in 2015 year-to-date.
Forensic models suggest that the firm has manipulated sales, receivables, profit and other asset accounts.
In several instances, the company’s financial statements are contradicted by management’s own disclosures.
May 11, 2015
Vipshop: We Are Not Buying Your Financial Statements
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Executive summary
VIPS has recorded consistently impressive results since its IPO
A reliable fraud indicator warns that VIPS is a potential manipulator
The multiplier effect: if VIPS uses cash from related parties, it can Gross them up to report even higher fake sales
This is downright Gross
Inventory: what’s mine is mine, and what’s yours is also mine
Lefeng and ovation: sweetheart deals on Valentine’s day?
Logistics investments: the last mile may be the last straw
CAPEX: aren’t we already swimming in excess capacity?
As RPTs grow, so grows ‘Other Receivables’
Held-to-maturity: is this another name for Related Party Loans?
Vipshop: We Are Not Buying Your Financial Statements
China’s leading discount ecommerce retailer has been flagged as possible manipulator by reliable forensic accounting quant models. Our qualitative analysis of the company’s financials also reveals possible improper GAAP accounting and financial anomalies that suggest that the quant models are indeed correct. In our opinion, VIPS may have grown its 2014 gross profit by $573M by possibly diverting funds to related parties to be used to transact fake sales. Continue reading
SEC Charges ITT Educational Services, Top Executives With Fraud
For-profit educator allegedly hid poor performance, financial impact of student-loan programs
The Securities and Exchange Commission said it has filed fraud charges against for-profit educator ITT Educational Services and two top executives. ILLUSTRATION: BLOOMBERG
CHELSEY DULANEY
Updated May 12, 2015 11:54 a.m. ET
The Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday said it brought fraud charges against ITT Educational Services Inc. and two of its top executives, alleging that they misled investors about the looming financial impact of two badly-performing student-loan programs on the for-profit educator.
According to an SEC complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, the company, Chief Executive Kevin Modany and Chief Financial Officer Daniel Fitzpatrick concealed from ITT’s investors the poor performance and magnitude of ITT’s guarantee obligations for two student-loan programs. Continue reading
AsianExtractor: Unearthing Accounting Fraud in Asia 