Sino-Forest, 大而不美

Overheard

How many billable hours do you get for $35 million?

At Sino-Forest, it is how much the troubled Chinese forestry firm said it has paid for a special investigation into allegations it engaged in a fraud. For the princely sum, an independent committee of Sino-Forest's board has had the services for five months of PricewaterhouseCoopers and three law firms—one in Canada, where the company is listed, and one each in Hong Kong and mainland China.

So far, the investigation has put out two interim reports. The first said the company's cash balance was correct (though presumably a few million dollars lower because of legal and accounting bills).

The second report, out Tuesday, seemed to confirm that the company's assets and revenue weren't overstated. A final report—and presumably a final bill, too—is due in the next few weeks. Hopefully by then, investors will be able to see the forest for the trees.

曾幾何時 台積電 tsmc 已數萬名員工/ 明基等一年可虧損500億

大而不美

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