Ernst & Yount Redux -- E&Y's Original China Report, For Your Eyes Only
On May 3, I did a post on Ernst & Young's report on Chinese Non Performing Loans (NPL), entitled, "Troubled Loan Trail, Do Not Try This At Home," mostly focusing on opportunities for foreign companies to buy Chinese NPLs. On May 5 and again on May 6, one of our prescient readers, Joseph Wang, noted his objections to the Ernst & Young report in a couple of comments, accusing E&Y of having double counted in arriving at its approximately $900 billion bad loan figure. Mr. Wang's comments can be seen here and here.
On May 15, I did two posts, entitled, "China's Banks May Be Troubled, But Nobody Knows The Trouble Ernst & Young Has Seen," and "Ernst & Young And China Banks -- Better Wrong Than Right?" discussing Ernst & Young's retraction of its $900 billion bad loan report and whether the retraction was due to bad numbers (as Ernst & Young and Mr. Wang were claiming) or due to business politics swirling around the upcoming Bank of China IPO (as most of the blogosphere was claiming).
I sought to find a copy of the original Ernst & Young report so that accountants might analyze it, but without success. About one hour ago, however, I was provided with a copy of what certainly appears to be including the section on China that has drawn so much controversy, found on the net and provided to us by the Byzantine Ruins Blog. Thanks BR.
All you accountants out there, please review this and let us know what you think. Is there double counting? Is it internally inconsistent? Is it inherently inaccurate?

No comments yet
Start the discussion by using the form below