'Not our fault': That has become the collective refrain of a group of American investment bankers and auditors associated with United States-listed mainland companies that are embroiled in accounting scandals.
A slew of mainland firms whose shares trade in the US are being investigated by regulators for sloppy or false accounting.
The Securities and Exchange Commission said last week it was also probing investment banks and accountants that brought the companies to US stock exchanges, as well as lawyers and stock promoters.
At a conference in Beijing yesterday, representatives of professional firms that specialise in advising small mainland companies who were meant to be there to promote their businesses soon descended into repeating soft mantras of self defence and justification.
To a warm crowd of sympathetic professional advisers, George Qin, a partner from Texan accountancy Malone Bailey, which specialises in auditing small Chinese companies, laid into mainland businesses for falsifying their bank statements.
During a presentation at the Dealflow Media's Beijing IPO conference, Qin said: 'The environment is only getting tougher. But who caused this? It is not the auditors or the bankers. It is the companies who are committing fraud.'
