Latest Solar Audit Resignation Hints at Major Issues Ahead 中国太阳能行业再现审计人员辞职：昭示问题还在前方

By newsdoug on July 19, 2011

A new solar sector storm cloud with LDK resignation The latest resignation of a top audit committee member in the solar sector, this time at LDK Solar (NYSE: LDK), hints that major new storm clouds could be on the horizon for an industry already struggling with its worst ever downturn. LDK announced late on Monday in the US that Louis Hsieh, one of its independent directors who also happened to chair its audit committee and was a member of its corporate governance committee, has resigned for unspecified reasons after several years on the board. (company announcement) LDK’s announcement comes less than a week after an eerily similar one from another major player, Trina Solar (previous post), whose audit committee chairman, an independent director as well, also abruptly resigned without any further explanation. (company announcement) These two similar resignations so close together look very ominous, especially in light of the industry’s current woes, which have seen solar panel prices drop steadily for most of this year due to oversupply. One of my industry sources tells me word on the street is that many of these firms may have recorded sales to phantom customers during the industry’s brief boom in 2009 and 2010, hoping to earn a profit by selling that product at higher prices later when panel prices were still rising. If that were true, the current downturn may have left many of these companies with piles of inventory that have already officially been “sold” on their accounting books for much higher prices than current market rates. Whatever the case, I sense even more turbulence ahead for this already-reeling industry, which perhaps now faces the potential for its own set of accounting scandals.

Bottom line: The resignation of LDK Solar’s audit committee chairman, following a similar departure at a rival last week, points to a potential industry-wide accounting scandal in the struggling solar sector.

中国太阳能行业又有审计人员辞职了，这次是江西赛维LDK太阳能公司<LDK.N>。此事暗示整个行业新的乌云可能已不远。LDK周一晚在美国宣布，公司独立董事、公司治理委员会成员、审计委员会主席Louis Hsieh辞职，原因不详。无独有偶，天合光能<TSL.N>几天前刚刚宣布独立董事兼审计委员会主席突然离职，公司对辞职原因亦没有给出解释。两起辞职事件如此相似，时间如此接近，给人一种不祥的预感，尤其考虑到当前整个行业的困局。我的一名业内消息源向我透露坊间传闻，称2009和2010年行业向好时期，很多太阳能企业可能把一些对挂名客户（phantom customers）的销售记录在帐，希望随後价格上升时以更高的价格卖出产品。如果事实确实如此，那麽目前颓势可能让很多企业滞留大量库存，而在帐面显示上已是以很高的价格“卖出”了。无论到底是什麽情况，我认为太阳能行业将会有更多地震，眼下来看有爆发审计丑闻的可能。

一句话：继上周天合光能审计委员会主席辞职後，江西赛维LDK太阳能也宣布其审计委员会主席辞职，两件事双双指向同一种可能：挣扎不一的太阳能行业可能爆发会计丑闻。