http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/morning_call/2014/12/how-oil-prices-will-reveal-financial-foul-play.html?s=print

How oil prices will reveal financial foul play

Suzanne Edwards

22 December 2014

Houston Business Journal Online

As oil prices force upstream oil and gas companies to make some hard decisions, investment advisers will be tested on how well they hedged against companies that may have over-reported their production and reserve amounts, said Tom Ajamie, managing partner at Houston-based Ajamie LLP. “Now as oil prices have fallen, you’re going to see who had too much debt,” Ajamie said. “You’re going to see maybe who was inflating reserves and inflating prospects.” Continue reading →

http://blogs.reuters.com/breakingviews/2014/12/30/accounting-fraud-is-ripe-for-fresh-scrutiny/

Accounting fraud is ripe for fresh scrutiny

30 December 2014

Reuters News

(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.)

By Reynolds Holding

NEW YORK, Dec 30 (Reuters Breakingviews) – Dodgy numbers will replace insider trading as Wall Street watchdogs’ preferred prey in 2015. New auditing and analytics have already given the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission a head start, even if the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley reforms make cases of accounting fraud harder to track down. Continue reading →

http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/business/2015/01/07/12/0501000000AEN20150107002400320F.html

S. Korea banks feared to suffer massive losses on mounting bad loans

7 January 2015

Yonhap English News

SEOUL, Jan. 7 (Yonhap) — South Korean banks are expected to suffer massive losses due to a series of bankruptcies and suspensions of big-name companies amid a protracted economic slump in the country, industry data showed Wednesday. Dongbu Corp., a construction arm of the 18th-largest conglomerate Dongbu Group, filed for court receivership last week, after admitting it was unable to pay off some 262 billion won (US$238 million) it had borrowed from several local banks, according to the data. Banks will likely set aside reserves against the bad loans extended to the builder, and their loan-loss reserves are expected to increase further if the financially shaky firm’s 1,713 subcontractors go bankrupt in the near future.

Taihan Electric Wire Co., one of South Korea’s largest electrical materials manufacturers, was suspended from stock trading by the bourse operator on Dec. 24 for accounting fraud. Continue reading →

http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887324705104578149222319470606

Posted by Katharine TAN Pei Shi, Year 4 undergrad at the School of Accountancy, Singapore Management University

Auditing wasn’t all Deloitte LLP did for Autonomy Corp., the software firm recently accused of accounting improprieties by its parent company. To many observers, that sort of multitasking is potentially an industry problem.
Continue reading →

Bing Lin: Accounting Abuse Among Listed Chinese Companies Still Widespread

Posted by Terence CHUA Tong Liang, Year 4 undergrad at the School of Business, Singapore Management University

Below is the interview done by China Money Podcast with guest Bing Lin, portfolio manager at Hong Kong-based US$1.4 billion-under-management Keywise Capital Management, who speaks about why he believes there are still many major overseas listed Chinese companies with fraudulent accounting practices, and how 2014 will be a great year for shorting certain overseas-listed Chinese stocks.
Q: China announced plans to launch a Shanghai-Hong Kong stock connect pilot program in six months. How will this impact hedge funds investing in the Greater China region?
Continue reading →

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2015/01/14/suit-accuses-franklin-resources-billionaire-of-defrauding-investors-heir/?ref=business&_r=0

Mutual Fund Billionaire Accused of Fraud in Suit

By WILLIAM D. COHAN

JANUARY 14, 2015 3:21 PM January 14, 2015 3:21 pm 9 Comments

Charles B. Johnson built Franklin Resources, the publicly traded mutual fund business, into a juggernaut before he retired.Credit Robert Holmgren

Charles B. Johnson has been lauded for numerous accomplishments. He built Franklin Resources, the publicly traded mutual fundbusiness, into a juggernaut that has nearly $900 billion under management and a market value of about $34 billion. He is a highly respected philanthropist, recently pledging $250 million to Yale University, his alma mater. He is said, by Forbes, to be worth about $6.5 billion and is the largest single shareholder of the San Francisco Giants, the reigning World Series champions.

But now Mr. Johnson, 82, stands accused of helping defraud the heir of one of the earliest investors in Franklin Resources out of $150 million. Continue reading →

http://www.scmp.com/print/business/companies/article/1679643/founder-securities-denies-related-company-embezzled-28-billion

Related news: (1) Founder Group executives held in graft probe following Zenith allegations that executives have committed insider trading, selling state assets, rigging stocks, as well as bribery and forgery of documents (Link)

(2) Court orders 3b yuan in Founder Securities assets to be frozen; Beijing Zenith has accused Founder Group directors of various crimes, including insider trading, money laundering, embezzling state assets, forging documents (Link)

Founder Securities denies related company embezzled 2.8 billion yuan

Wednesday, 14 January, 2015, 5:26pm

Toh Han Shihhanshih.toh@scmp.com

Mainland brokerage Founder Securities has denied reports its business was disrupted after a related company, Founder Finance, embezzled 2.8 billion yuan (HK$3.5 billion) from Founder Securities for “emergency” purposes, but said it would deposit an unspecified amount of money with Founder Finance. Continue reading →

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/01/14/us-fbi-wolfofwallstreet-idUSKBN0KN25Y20150114

FBI raids Florida firm with ‘Wolf of Wall Street’ link: witnesses

4:15pm EST

By Aruna Viswanatha and Zachary Fagenson

WASHINGTON/BOCA RATON, Fla. (Reuters) – U.S. FBI agents on Wednesday raided the offices of Med-Care Diabetic & Medical Supplies Inc, a Florida medical device company whose executive vice president helped inspire the movie “The Wolf of Wall Street,” according to a Reuters reporter and other witnesses. Continue reading →

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/17/us-peregrine-wasendorf-idUSBRE88G16U20120917

Posted by Nureen CHAN Wan Wei, Year 4 undergrad at the School of Accountancy, Singapore Management University

U.S. regulators inadvertently raise a question about who’s to blame for investor losses.

In a ruling last week, an administrative trial judge at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission suspended the Chinese branches of the Big Four accounting firms from practicing at the SEC for six months. As a consequence, these accountants will not be able to sign off on the books of Chinese companies listed in the U.S., which could force the Chinese firms to delist at least temporarily for lack of audited accounts. The Big Four are appealing the ruling. Continue reading →