网秦资金之谜

    彭博（Bloomberg）的杜恩•劳伦斯和贝琳达•曹撰写了一篇十分有意思的文章，就浑水（Muddy Water）对网秦（NQ Mobile）的攻击进行了探讨。文章得出了一个与会计有关的模棱两可的结论。

    彭博采访的多位专家表示，每日销售回款（DSO）高居不下是一个危险的信号。较高的DSO通常不是件好事，但是跟浑水所宣称的相比，这种刻意而为的造假也只能是相形见绌。浑水称，网秦超过90%的业务都是假的，公司不能凭借缓慢推高DSO达到瞒天过海的目的。

    第二个焦点在于是否存在现金。我认为这是检验公司是否是空壳的一面照妖镜。如果有现金存在的话，我觉得任何骗局都不可能达到浑水所宣称的规模。网秦正在采取一些特别措施，以解决这一问题。1级/2级的争论是毫无意义的。

    资金的动向更有意思。浑水称，网秦不可能在不违反中国法律的情况下将股票发售所得的收益转移至可变利益实体（VIE）。然而有几位专家对此存有异议。

    会计德鲁•彭斯滕表示，有强大关系网的人可以绕开规定。卡森•布洛克说，（网秦公司）这些人没有这个权力。我跟布洛克的观点一致。我很难相信，这家公司竟能够说服中国的银行置法律而不顾，允许他们将美元兑换成人民币，然后将资金转移至一家私营公司。

    身为律师的洛基•李给出了另外一种解释。网秦将资金存放在一个离岸中国银行，作为给VIE所有人提供在岸贷款的担保，而VIE所有者则将资金转化为资本。从财务报表来看，事情并不是这样。首先，这种交易会要求实质性披露，而公司并未披露此类信息。第二，这家公司和VIE的资产负债表都表明，此类事情没有发生过。

    VIE称总债务为1.61761亿美元。网秦称总债务为3436.9万美元，其中1687.1万美元据称是VIE的债务。因此，为什么会存在1.4489亿美元的差额？我认为，唯一合理的解释就是，差额是网秦外商独资企业应从VIE得到的公司间应收账款，而这笔账款在合并后被取消了。但这意味着VIE欠网秦1.45亿美元。如果这笔资金是按照李律师的所说的方式转化成了资本，那么VIE是不应该有债务的。如果银行向VIE贷了款，那么合并之后贷款应依然存在。

    因此，1.45亿美元是怎么转入VIE的呢？鉴于中国的外汇管制，我认为将美元转入VIE也只有一种途径。那就是在中国找一个拥有巨额人民币、且希望把人民币换成美元的人。为此，你找到一个手持6.5亿人民币的王先生。我们姑且不问他的钱是从哪来的。王先生会去银行兑换，每年换5万美元。如果他还有2,097位朋友帮他一起换钱的话，即每人换5万美元，那么王先生一年就可以把这些钱换出来。或者，如果要一次性完成的话，你可以向王先生的香港账户打入1亿美元，当然同时王先生也得在你的中国账户中存入6.5亿人民币。（你还可以藉此拿到不错的汇率）。这种方法的实现方式多种多样（李律师在文章中就提到过上市公司曾使用过的一种方式），也有做这种交易的中间人。很多财富便是通过这种形式离开了中国，而这都违反了中国的外汇管制规定。

    但有可能网秦找到了一种更好的合法途径。我愿意洗耳恭听。（财富中文网）

    译者：翔   

    There was an interesting article by Dune Lawrence and Belinda Cao of Bloomberg looking at the status of Muddy Water’s attack on NQ Mobile. The article reaches a mixed conclusion on the accounting.

    Several experts interviewed by Bloomberg said the high days sales outstanding (DSO) was a red flag. High DSO usually is a red flag, but a fraud perpetrated in this way would be quite small compared to what Muddy Water’s alleges. Muddy Water’s says that over 90% of the business is fake, and you can’t cover that up by edging up DSO.

    The second issue is whether the cash is there. I consider that the true test of whether the company is a fraud. If the cash is there, I see no way that any fraud could be of the scale alleged by Muddy Waters. The company is taking some extraordinary steps to clear this issue up. The Level 1/Level 2 controversy is meaningless.

    The movement of funds is more interesting. Muddy Water’s alleged that it was impossible for NQ Mobile to transfer the proceeds of the offering to the VIE without violating Chinese law. A couple of experts disagreed with that.

    Accountant Drew Bernstein said well-connected people can work around the rules. Carson Block says these people don’t have that kind of clout. I side with Block on this. I seriously doubt that the company could have convinced a Chinese bank to simply ignore the law and allow them to exchange dollars into renminbi and then transfer the funds to a privately held company.

    Lawyer Rocky Lee suggests another possibility. NQ deposits the funds with a Chinese bank offshore as security for an onshore loan to the VIE owner, who inserts the funds as capital. It is clear from the financial statements that is not what happened. First, such a transaction would require substantial disclosures that are not present. Second, the balance sheets of the companyand the VIE make it clear that is not what happened.

    The VIE reports total liabilities of US$161,761,000. NQ Mobile reports total liabilities of US$34,369,000 of which $16,871,000 are said to be liabilities of the VIE. So, why the difference of $144,890,000? The only explanation that makes sense to me is that the difference is an intercompany receivable from the VIE to NQ Mobile’s WFOE that is eliminated in consolidation. But that means that the VIE owes NQ Mobile $145 million. If the money had been contributed as capital in the manner suggested by Rocky Lee there would not be debt in the VIE. If the bank had loaned the money to the VIE the loan would not have been eliminated in consolidation.

    So, how did that $145 million get there? Given China’s exchange controls I see only one way to get dollars into a VIE. That is to find someone inside China who has a big pile of RMB and who wants to exchange it for dollars. So, you find Mr. Wang who has 650 million renminbi. We won’t ask how he got it. Mr. Wang could go to the bank and exchange $50,000 per year. If he had 2,097 friends help him, each taking out $50,000, he could get the money out in one year. Or, to do it all at once you could offer to deposit $100 million in Mr. Wang’s Hong Kong account if he will deposit his 650 million renminbi in your China account. (You can get a great exchange rate this way as well). There are a number of variations on this approach (Rocky Lee suggested one in the article that has also been used by public companies). There are middlemen who do these transactions. A lot of wealth has left China in this fashion, all in violations of China’s exchange controls.

    But perhaps NQ Mobile found a better, legal way to do it. I am all ears.