Posted by Eugene SAY Gui Hua, Year 4 undergrad at the School of Business, Singapore Management University
Official Suspected of Biggest Financial Fraud in China’s History Investigated
By Lu Chen, Epoch Times | February 9, 2015
Last Updated: February 10, 2015 7:59 am
The high-living nephew of a former Chinese communist leader is said to be in the crosshairs of the Party’s anti-corruption investigators, according to a number of reports in the Hong Kong press recently. Continue reading
Posted by Eugene SAY Gui Hua, Year 4 undergrad at the School of Business, Singapore Management University
Jan 23, 2013
Rare Victory for U.S. Investor in Chinese Reverse Merger Company
Investors have lost billions over the last couple of years from investing in U.S.-listed Chinese companies that saw their share prices fall to mere pennies after short sellers accused them of fraud or auditors said their financial disclosures couldn’t be trusted. Continue reading
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/f87c9cbc-b072-11e4-92b6-00144feab7de.html#slide0
984 HK clients named on list
Imogene Wong
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
The Swiss private banking arm of HSBC Holdings (0005) had 984 Hong Kong and 246 mainland clients, including Li Xiaolin – the daughter of former Premier Li Peng. Continue reading
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/09/nyregion/jho-low-young-malaysian-has-an-appetite-for-new-york.html
Posted by Valerie NG, Year 3 undergrad at the School of Accountancy, Singapore Management University
Flamboyant Malaysian’s real-estate deals called into question
NEW YORK — In early 2010, a young Malaysian financier named Mr Jho Low began making some very expensive real-estate deals in the United States.
FEBRUARY 10
NEW YORK — In early 2010, a young Malaysian financier named Mr Jho Low began making some very expensive real-estate deals in the United States. First, a shell company connected to Mr Low, famous back home for partying with the likes of American socialite Paris Hilton, bought a US$24 million (S$32.5 million) apartment in the Park Laurel condominiums in Manhattan. Three years later, that shell company sold the condo to another shell company, this one controlled by someone even more prominent in Malaysia: The film-producing stepson of the Prime Minister. Continue reading
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/9b70a976-8f8a-11e0-954d-00144feab49a.html#axzz3RKU6E8m7
Posted by LIM Hui Jie, Year 4 undergrad at the School of Economics, Singapore Management University
Like any emerging market, China has its fair share of fraud, scams and corporate governance fiascos. But a spate of scandals at Chinese companies listed in New York, Hong Kong and Toronto is increasingly unsettling investors.
http://www.valuebuddies.com/thread-1706.html
Posted by CHEN Liting, Year 3 undergrad at the School of Accountancy, Singapore Management University
Business Times – 28 Dec 2011
THREE years of investigations have uncovered several financial and accounting irregularities at FibreChem Technologies, including an unauthorised share transfer and HK$777 million (about S$130 million) in missing cash.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/24/us-china-accounting-idUSTRE75N19J20110624
Posted by Valerie NG, Year 3 undergrad at the School of Accountancy, Singapore Management University
Valerie: Majority of the accounting frauds in the U.S. originates from small Chinese companies which become listed through a reverse takeover. While these companies are mostly audited by smaller accountancy firms in the States or Hong Kong, there are an increasing number of high profile scandals in which the Chinese companies in question were audited by the Big Four. According to the author, by auditing in China, the Big Four are exposing themselves to even more high profile accounting scandals, which could tarnish their reputation. This brings to mind the recent fine of $2m that the Big Four had to fork out collectively to SEC for failing to hand over audit documents of Chinese companies that SEC was investigating on. The dilemma that the Big Four faced was that China treats audit paperwork somewhat like sovereign secrets. Therefore, by deciding to audit in China, the Big Four have to weigh the risks of breaking China’s secrecy law or the States’ securities law.
China accounting scandals put Big Four auditors on red alert
Fri, Jun 24 2011
By Rachel Armstrong
HONG KONG (Reuters) – The string of accounting problems and stock plunges at publicly traded Chinese groups has sparked deep concerns across the world’s biggest audit firms, putting the so-called Big Four on alert from worries that their reputation could be brought down along with a growing list of stricken companies. Continue reading
http://www.businessinsider.com/warren-buffett-on-dividends-2013-3?IR=T&#ixzz3R9RcBly0
Posted by CHEN Tiancheng , Year 4 undergrad at the School of Accountancy, Singapore Management University
Back in September 2011, Warren Buffett announced that Berkshire Hathaway would be buying back shares of the company.
At the time, some people went after Buffett for not offering a cash dividend. Continue reading
http://www.acfe.com/article.aspx?id=4294976289
Posted by GOH Shuqi, Year 3 undergrad at the School of Accountancy, Singapore Management University
Small businesses have it rough. They’re particularly vulnerable to fraud because they lack the resources to implement complete systems of internal controls and properly segregate accounting duties among their limited staffs. However, small businesses don’t have to be rife with fraud. Here are some viable prevention options. Continue reading
Posted by GOH Shuqi, Year 3 undergrad at the School of Accountancy, Singapore Management University
Lessons from NSEL, Satyam — managements should not appoint their own auditors.
When scams break out in the private sector, auditors, too, end up on the firing line, and rightly so. This was evident in the Enron scam in 2001, the Satyam scam in 2009 and the NSEL episode now. The massive Enron scam in the US, where future sales were booked as current, predictably took its toll on its auditor, Arthur Andersen. In the case of Satyam, the management booked fictitious sales in order to project financial and profit muscle that it did not possess. Its auditor, Price Waterhouse Coopers, got away with a rap on its knuckles.
Now, Financial Tech, the holding company of NSEL that has defaulted on paying a whopping Rs.5,500 crore to its investors is in the news — its auditor Deloitte has withdrawn its report pending revision. Withdrawing an audit report smacks of abdication of responsibility. Continue reading
AsianExtractor: Unearthing Accounting Fraud in Asia 