Response to YONG fraud allegations
March 29, 2011
– Comments (28) |
RELATED TICKERS: YONG
Let's be clear: If YONG is fooling (lower case 'f') us as investors, they must also be fooling KPMG as their auditor. It gives me a lot of faith in this company when a big-four auditor, where reputation is everything, signs off on their internal reporting standards.
The allegations of fraud are just a hot topic right now because they are all the shorts have going for them. They can't attack the business fundamentals, so they appeal to investor emotion. But this will eventually fade. Think of Ben Graham: "In the short term, the market is a voting machine. In the long term, it is a weighing machine."
Following is an excerpt directly from YONG's 10-K for 2010. It is the audit report written by KPMG, dated March 2011. Pay special attention to the fifth paragraph.
I, too, am getting sick of the short attacks. But I really like the long-term risk/reward scenario for this company.
______________________________________________________
Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
The Board of Directors and Stockholders
Yongye International, Inc.:
We have audited Yongye International, Inc.’s (the “Company”) internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2010, based on criteria established in Internal Control – Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO). Yongye International, Inc.’s management is responsible for maintaining effective internal control over financial reporting and for its assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting, included in the Management’s Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s internal control over financial reporting based on our audit.
We conducted our audit in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States). Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether effective internal control over financial reporting was maintained in all material respects. Our audit included obtaining an understanding of internal control over financial reporting, assessing the risk that a material weakness exists, and testing and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of internal control based on the assessed risk. Our audit also included performing such other procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances. We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion.
A company’s internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. A company’s internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that (1) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the company; (2) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and that receipts and expenditures of the company are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and directors of the company; and (3) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use, or disposition of the company’s assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.
Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.
In our opinion, Yongye International, Inc. maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2010, based on criteria established in Internal Control – Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission.
We also have audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States), the consolidated balance sheets of Yongye International, Inc. and subsidiaries as of December 31, 2010 and 2009, and the related consolidated statements of income, stockholders’ equity and comprehensive income, and cash flows for the years then ended, and our report dated March 14, 2011 expressed an unqualified opinion on those consolidated financial statements.
KPMG
Hong Kong, China
March 14, 2011
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