Cook in soup as global broking empire crashes to earth
Ben Butler
14 March 2015
The Australian
Australian businessman Bryan Leonard Cook is in a lot of trouble. The 59-year-old has been held in a German jail since June last year while authorities there investigate him and his globe-spanning financial services empire, the London Capital group, for serious fraud and market manipulation, allegedly involving more than a dozen companies. Continue reading
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/15/business/sec-wants-the-sinners-to-own-up.html?ref=business
S.E.C. Wants the Sinners to Own Up
MARCH 14, 2015
Mary Jo White, the S.E.C. chairwoman, in 2014. Under her leadership, the agency has undergone a shift in policy to require more companies and individuals to admit to misconduct as part of a settlement. CreditAlex Wong/Getty Images
For decades, the Securities and Exchange Commission has allowed companies and individuals to make settlements without admitting any wrongdoing. Even a company committing an egregious sin that cost investors millions of dollars could walk away from the proceedings without ever acknowledging its role. Continue reading
Posted by Hannah YAP Qing, Year 4 undergrad at the School of Accountancy, Singapore Management University
Robert BowmanContributor
LOGISTICS & TRANSPORTATION 4/16/2014 @ 5:59PM 6,353 views
Companies Are Failing to Detect Financial Fraud in Supply Chains: Deloitte
A surprising number of business executives are leaving their supply chains vulnerable to financial fraud, according to a new study by Deloitte Financial Advisory Services. Continue reading
http://www.forbes.com/sites/riskmap/2015/02/12/behind-chinas-corruption-crackdown-whistleblowers/
Posted by KOH Ngiap Hao, Year 4 undergrad at the School of Accountancy, Singapore Management University
A top concern for most multinational companies doing business in China the last year has been the Chinese government’s dogged crackdown against corruption. Ask CEOs in China what wakes them at 2 a.m. in a cold sweat and their answer is simple: the dreaded “dawn raid.” What is less widely known is the outsized role that whistleblowers have played. Almost every major fraud or corruption crisis faced by multinational companies in the past year kicked off because of a whistleblower allegation. According to Chinese officials, four out of every five anti-corruption investigations are initiated by whistleblowers. Often these are former and disgruntled employees, suppliers, distributors, consumers, scammers and competitors—some complaints are legitimate, others not. Continue reading
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2011/06/14/accounting-scandals-galore-china-not-enron-bound/
Posted by WOO Jiacheng, Year 4 undergrad at the School of Accountancy, Singapore Management University
China has always had its fair share of naysayers, but last week’s decision by one mid-sized Connecticut broker dealer to ban margin trading on Chinese equities has vindicated them. Is corporate China run by a bunch of CEOs like Kenneth Lay of the infamous Enron?
On June 8, Interactive Brokers told clients that it would not allow them to buy some Chinese stocks on margin. The news made it to CNBC. China equities underperformed its big emerging market peers, and the MSCI Emerging Markets index, over the next two days over accounting fears. The margin ban went into effect on Monday. Continue reading
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/10/us-china-accounting-enforcement-idUSTRE7692I820110710
Posted by WOO Jiacheng, Year 4 undergrad at the School of Accountancy, Singapore Management University
Alarmed by widening accounting debacles at U.S.-listed Chinese companies, American regulators are scrambling to stem the damage from gaps in laws adopted to protect investors after the Enron scandal a decade ago.
U.S. investors had risked billions of dollars on hundreds of companies based in China – under a belief they were subject to U.S. rules when they sell and list shares in the United States – but a lot of that money has gone up in smoke.
The accounting blowups have humbled some prominent American investors such as top hedge fund manager John Paulson and former AIG CEO Maurice “Hank” Greenberg, spawned lawsuits and prompted a broad investigation by U.S. regulators. Continue reading
The logistics of committing fraud on an industrial scale
Friday, 13 March, 2015, 9:41pm
MONEY MATTERS SHIRLEY YAM
“Think big and implement to the finest detail” was the motto of Chun Chi-wai, chairman of China Metal Recycling (CMR), once the darling of fund managers and stock commentators.
Judging from the way he cooked the company’s books, the 44-year-old entrepreneur practised what he preached.
“This was fraud on an industrial scale,” said Mr Justice Jonathan Harris while approving an unprecedented winding up application by the Securities and Futures Commission against CMR. Continue reading
Posted by Padma LAU Heng Ee, Year 4 undergrad at the School of Business, Singapore Management University
On any given day we’re lied to from 10 to 200 times, and the clues to detect those lie can be subtle and counter-intuitive. Pamela Meyer, author of Liespotting, shows the manners and “hotspots” used by those trained to recognize deception — and she argues honesty is a value worth preserving.
http://www.scmp.com/print/business/companies/article/1737083/ping-unit-put-disclosure-blacklist
Ping An unit put on disclosure ‘blacklist’
Saturday, 14 March, 2015, 6:00am
Bloomberg in Beijing
Rating agency says Lufax.com failed to disclose debtor information
An online peer-to-peer finance platform owned by mainland China’s second-largest insurer has been put on a “blacklist” by a rating company, which cited reasons including failure to disclose debtor information. Continue reading
http://blogs.wsj.com/cfo/2015/03/13/avolon-cfo-untangling-new-lease-accounting-rules/
March 13, 2015, 2:44 AM ET
Avolon CFO: Untangling New Lease Accounting Rules
NOELLE KNOX
Editor, CFO Journal
Avolon Holdings Ltd.AVOL +0.42%, a global aircraft-leasing company based in Ireland, went public in December on the New York Stock Exchange and had its first quarterly conference call last week. U.S. accounting regulators are debating sweeping changes for long-term capital leases, and CFO Journal Editor Noelle Knox spoke at length about the ramifications with Avolon Chief Financial Officer Andy Cronin. Here is an edited excerpt:
The Financial Accounting Standards Board is evaluating how to change standards for lease accounting. Will the variations between U.S. and international standards be a challenge to manage? Continue reading
AsianExtractor: Unearthing Accounting Fraud in Asia 