阿里巴巴 美中審計爭議或影響投資者信心

Deep within Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.'s filing to go public in the U.S. is a reminder that investors still have no way of telling how well or poorly Chinese companies are being audited.

阿里巴巴集團(Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.)在美國申請上市的文件中隱藏着一個提醒，那就是投資者仍然沒有辦法判斷對中國公司的審計質量如何。

Alibaba acknowledged Tuesday that investors could 'lose confidence' in the quality of its reported numbers because U.S. regulators haven't been able to inspect the work of its outside auditor, the Hong Kong affiliate of PricewaterhouseCoopers.

阿里巴巴週二承認，投資者可能對其報告的數據質量“失去信心”，原因是美國監管機構尚未能審查其外部審計機構普華永道(PricewaterhouseCoopers)香港合作所進行的工作。

The Chinese Internet giant mentioned the issue as a risk factor in its filing for what's anticipated to be one of the largest initial public offerings in history. The company's statements highlight anew the possibility that Chinese companies could get pulled into a long-running dispute between the U.S. and Chinese governments concerning how much oversight the U.S. should have over the audits and financial reporting of China-based companies that trade on U.S. markets.

這家中國互聯網巨頭在其申請上市的文件中將上述問題列爲風險因素。阿里巴巴IPO預期將是歷史上規模最大的IPO之一。該公司的聲明再次凸顯出中資公司可能被牽涉進美國和中國政府之間的一場長期爭論中。美中爭論的內容是美方對於在美上市中國企業的審計和財報的監管力度。

U.S. audit regulators from the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board conduct regular inspections of all firms that audit U.S.-traded companies, to evaluate the quality of the audit firms' work and their compliance with auditing rules. But the Chinese government has blocked the PCAOB from conducting inspections inside China.

美國公共公司會計監督委員會(Public Company Accounting Oversight Board，簡稱：PCAOB)的審計監管人員定期審查所有對在美上市公司進行審計的公司，評估審計公司的工作質量以及它們是否遵守審計規則。但中國政府禁止PCAOB在中國境內進行審查。

That affects not only Chinese audit firms, but also Hong Kong firms that audit companies based in mainland China, as PwC Hong Kong does. In all, the PCAOB hasn't been able to inspect 16 Hong Kong audit firms and eight mainland China firms, according to the board's website. (All the major accounting firms are international networks made up of freestanding, legally separate member firms in each country in which they do business, including separate firms for Hong Kong and mainland China.)

這不僅影響到中國的審計公司，同時也影響了對中國內地公司進行審計的香港公司，普華永道香港所就是一例。PCAOB的網站顯示，該公司總計未能對16家香港審計公司和八家中國內地審計公司進行審查。（所有主要會計師事務所都是由法律上獨立的成員所組成的國際網絡，這些成員所在各自所在的國家開展業務，包括香港和中國內地的獨立成員所。）

As a result, Alibaba said in its filing, its shareholders 'may be deprived of the benefits' that could flow from such inspections, such as making audits better by identifying and fixing problems with the auditors' procedures.

阿里巴巴在文件中稱，股東可能因此享受不到這類審查可能帶來的好處，比如通過發現和糾正這些審計公司在程序方面存在的問題來改進審計工作。

'Geopolitics are now part of risk factors,' said Jacob S. Frenkel, a former Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement attorney now in private practice. But he downplayed the possibility that Alibaba might actually be hurt by the U.S.-China dispute: 'Nowadays risk-factor disclosures include everything imaginable.'

私人執業律師、前美國證券交易委員會(Securities and Exchange Commission, 簡稱SEC)執法部律師弗倫克爾(Jacob S. Frenkel)說，地緣政治現在是風險因素之一。但他認爲阿里巴巴因美中糾紛受到影響的可能性不是很大。他說，如今的風險披露聲明包括了一切人們能想到的東西。

An Alibaba spokeswoman said the company didn't have any comment beyond the statements in its filing. A PwC spokesman declined to comment.

一位阿里巴巴發言人說，除申請文件中披露的內容外，公司沒有其他評論。普華永道一位發言人拒絕對此置評。

In addition, Alibaba said it could be affected by a related dispute over U.S. regulators' access to audit-firm documents about Chinese companies.

另外，阿里巴巴表示，美國監管部門要求查閱審計公司手頭的中資公司文件所引發的糾紛可能對公司造成影響。

In January, an SEC administrative law judge ruled the Chinese affiliates of PwC and other accounting firms should be suspended from auditing U.S.-listed companies for six months because they wouldn't give the SEC documents about some of their audit clients, to aid the SEC in investigating those companies. The firms have appealed the judge's decision, and they say they couldn't turn over the documents because China could penalize them harshly under Chinese laws that treat such documents as 'state secrets.

今年1月，一位SEC行政法法官裁定，普華永道和其他幾家會計師事務所的中國關聯公司須暫停爲在美上市公司提供審計服務六個月，因爲它們拒絕向SEC提供與部分審計客戶有關的文件以協助SEC調查這些公司。這些中國審計公司已經就這項裁決提起上訴，表示它們無法移交相關文件，因爲根據中國法律，相關文件屬於“國家機密”，如果交給SEC的話它們可能受到中國政府重罰。

The ruling doesn't affect Hong Kong audit firms, but experts have said the Hong Kong firms often outsource their audit work on Chinese companies to the same firm's affiliate in mainland China. It isn't known whether PwC itself does so. Alibaba said in its filing that if the Chinese firms lose their appeal and are suspended, the company would need to consider the 'alternate support arrangements' that PwC Hong Kong would need in auditing Alibaba's mainland-China operations.

上述裁決不影響香港的審計公司，但專家表示，這些香港公司常常把中資企業的審計工作外包給內地的分支機構。不清楚普華永道是否也採取了這樣的操作。阿里巴巴在文件中說，如果上述會計師事務所的中國關聯公司上訴不成功，被暫停審計資格，阿里巴巴就必須考慮普華永道香港所審計阿里巴巴內地業務所需要的“替代性支持安排”。