"When a company’s numbers look too good, they often are,” says Bank of America Merrill Lynch. That’s easy to say, but often harder to prove.

　　美银美林（Bank of America Merrill Lynch）说，当一家公司的财务数据看上去过于漂亮时，他们往往是……。不过这话说的容易，想要证实却比较困难。

　　But thanks to BofA-ML’s guidelines, now anybody can engage in a bit of sleuthing, Muddy Waters style. Focusing on 32 Chinese companies listed in the U.S., Hong Kong and China where there were publicly disclosed details regarding fraud, BofA-ML says there are three common accounting frauds and three common ways of finding out.

　　Everett Collection多亏了美银美林的指导，现在任何人都可以从事一些侦查工作，而且风格类似独立调查公司Muddy Waters。在集中研究了32家在美国、香港和中国上市的中资企业之后，美银美林说，市场上有三类常见的会计欺诈行为，也有三种常见的方法可以查出这些行为。上述三地市场均对会计欺诈进行公开披露。

　　The “three common manipulations”:

　　下面是三种常见的股价操纵行为：

　　1. Sales to non-existing customers.

　　1. 向子虚乌有的客户销售产品

　　Example: RINO International Corp. admitted in March that at least two of its manufacturing contracts didn’t exist after a report issued by Muddy Waters (yes, them again) in November 2010. The Chinese equipment maker was suspended by the Securities and Exchange Commission in April after RINO failed to disclose to shareholders that investigators looking into fraud allegations at the company had resigned.

　　例子：Muddy Waters（是的，又是他们）在2010年11月发布了一份报告之后，绿诺国际有限公司（RINO International Corp.）今年3月承认，该公司至少有两份制造合同根本不存在。今年4月，美国证券交易委员会（Securities and Exchange Commission，简称：SEC）暂停了绿诺国际这家设备制造商的股票交易。此前该公司没有向股东披露正在调查欺诈指控的调查人员已经辞职的事实。

　　2. Inflating sales and cost of goods via related party transactions.

　　2. 通过关联方交易夸大销量和产品成本

　　Example: New York-listed Duoyuan Global Water Inc. faced lawsuits late last year alleging, among other things, the existence of accounting improprieties. Regulators suspended the stock from trading in March, as the company failed to bring its filings to the SEC up to date. A Muddy Waters report in April later said Duoyuan engaged in “improper undisclosed related party transactions that transfer money to its chairman.”

　　例子：去年年底，在纽约上市的多元环球水务公司（Duoyuan Global Water Inc.）面临多项指控，首当其冲的便是存在会计处理不当的行为。今年3月，监管机构暂停这只股票的交易，因为该公司至今未能向SEC提交备案文件。今年4月Muddy Waters的一份报告指出，多元水务公司涉及“未经披露的不当关联方交易，这些交易将资金转移至该公司主席名下”。

　　3. Overstating cash or understating bank loans.

　　3. 高估现金或低估银行债务

　　Example: Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu CPA resigned as Longtop Financial Technologies Ltd.’s auditor in May, citing recently identified false financial records related to cash at bank and loan balances and possibly sales revenue. 例子：今年5月，德勤会计师事务所（Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu）的注册会计师辞去了东南融通金融技术有限公司（Longtop Financial Technologies Ltd.）的审计师一职，因为德勤发现与银行存款及贷款余额相关的财务记录存在造假行为，销售收入可能也存在问题。

　　The “three ways of detection”:

　　以下是三种发现问题的方法：

　　1. Checking bank statements.

　　1. 查验银行对账单。

　　According to BofA-ML:

　　美银美林说：

　　“Many of these companies suffer from acute cash flow pressure, as they have to spend to convince outside parties, but their spending won’t generate economic returns, e.g., keeping a big sales team to make big sales numbers more plausible. As a result, they often have to live on borrowing from related parties or banks.”

　　这类公司中有很多都承受着巨大的现金流压力，因为他们不得不大把花钱以说服外部各方。但这些支出不会产生经济效益：比如为了让夸大的销售数据看上去更为可信，他们不得不维持一只庞大的销售队伍。所以他们往往得向银行或关联方借款才能生存。

　　As such, BofA-ML recommends people check bank statements, which are “difficult to dress up.”

　　所以从这个角度说，美银美林建议各位查验银行对账单，因为银行对账单很难造假。

　　2. Cross-checking with the company’s government filings.

　　2. 利用目标公司向政府提交的备案文件交叉核验财务数据。

　　BofA-ML says companies need to submit “more realistic” statements to relevant government authorities because “they are more difficult to fool.” As such, there’s often a gap between filings made to the government and to the public. 美银美林说，此类公司必须向有关政府机构提交“更为真实”的财务报表，因为有关政府机构更难以被糊弄。因此，向政府提交的备案文件和向公众披露的数据之间往往存在差异。

　　3. Field checks.

　　3. 实地检验。

　　BofA-ML recommends people actually go check out these companies’ operations where possible. In some cases, you don’t even go and get your hands dirty it cites the example of one publication which used online monitoring to discover that the traffic to New York-listed China Education Alliance’s website was much lower than reported.

　　美银美林建议各位尽可能实地检验此类公司的经营状况。在某些情况下，你甚至都不用亲自跑一趟。美银美林举了一个例子：一家刊物只是利用了在线监测数据就发现了在纽约上市的中国教育联盟（China Education Alliance）的网站流量数据比其公布的要低得多。