中概股的会计欺诈闹剧

    谈到美国中概股的会计欺诈问题，我总是喜欢以上海双金生物科技有限公司（China-Biotics）为例。遭遇香橼（Citron）狙击后，2011年，中国生物股价暴跌。当时，我就注意到现金占到了这家公司资产的54%，是真是假取决于审计机构能否确认这些现金结存。

    一个月后，审计机构德豪国际（BDO）请辞，原因是它们发现上海双金生物科技有限公司提交给它们用于核实现金结存的银行网站是假的。中国公司在提供银行询证函方面总是存在大量问题，但这很可能是最肆无忌惮的一例。

    美国证券交易委员会（SEC）暂停了这只股票的交易。2012年2月，一位行政初审法官以其未提交年度报告为由，取消了上海双金生物科技有限公司的证券注册。SEC已经取消了很多“进入休眠”(go dark)的中概股的注册。

    但与其他取消注册的大多数中概股不同，上海双金生物科技有限公司并没有就此销声匿迹。它对SEC的行动提起了上诉。中国生物找了一家新的审计机构Weinberg and Co.，这是一家总部位于佛罗里达州博卡拉顿的小型注册会计师事务所。Weinberg为很多中国公司的借壳上市提供了审计服务。但美国上市公司会计监管委员会（PCAOB）最新的调查报告发现，它调查的5项审计中有4项存在非常严重的缺陷，PCAOB认为Weinberg没有获得充足的合格证明材料来支持其对发行人财务报告的审计意见。这可能是在PCAOB报告中所能看到的最糟糕的结论了。但PCAOB的处罚流程非常缓慢，可能要到几年后，Weinberg才需要为这些审计行为承担责任。与此同时，其客户的投资者们正暴露在风险中。

    上海双金生物科技有限公司已要求SEC重新考虑取消其注册的决定。这家公司的律师表示，上海双金生物科技有限公司的文件提交已经符合相关规定。目前，这家公司的CFO已经换人，但CEO仍在位。如果SEC委员们真的投票让这家公司再次上市交易，估计他们今后会允许任何阿猫阿狗上市交易。（财富中文网）  

    China-Biotics has been one of my poster children for accounting frauds in China. It blew up in 2011 after it was attacked by Citron. At the time, I observed that with 54% of its assets in cash, the proof would be in whether the auditors were able to confirm the cash balances.

    A month later auditor BDO resigned after they discovered that the company had sent them to a fake bank website to confirm the cash balances. There have been a number of problems with bank confirmations for Chinese companies, but this was probably the most audacious.

    The SEC suspended trading the stock and in February 2012 an administrative trial judge revoked the company’s securities registration for failing to file annual reports. The SEC has revoked the registration of many Chinese companies when they “go dark”.

    What is unusual about China-Biotics is that unlike most other deregistered Chinese companies it did not just disappear. An appeal was filed against the SEC action. The company found a new auditor, Weinberg and Co., a small CPA firm based in Boca Raton, Florida. Weinberg audits a number of Chinese reverse mergers. Its most recent PCAOB review found deficiencies in four of five audits reviewed that were so serious that the PCAOB concluded that Weinberg had not obtained sufficient competent evidential material to support the opinion on the issuer’s financial statements. That is about as bad as it gets in a PCAOB report. PCAOB disciplinary procedures are so slow it could be years before Weinberg faces accountablilty for those audits. In the meantime, investors in their clients are exposed.

    China-Biotics has now asked the SEC Commissioners to reconsider the decision to revoke their registration. The company’s lawyer argues they are now up to date in their filings. Although the CFO has been replaced, the CEO is still there. If the SEC commissioners vote to let this one trade again, they will let anything trade.