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Satyam

Satyam is actually “Saat-Yama” !

Today the Media has been airing, what they attribute to sources,that the jailed and disgraced Promoter Chairman of Satyam,Ramalinga Raju,has disclosed on interrogation that he has been fudging the Books of satyam for the last Seven Years !

So we are talking about “Saat-Yama” !…That’s Seven Years which heralded the Beginning of the End with the God of Death,Yama, Dancing around in the Accounts ! 

So this would mean that the Re-statement of Account has to be atleast from the Financial Year 2000-2001

The Government has stepped in and constituted a New Satyam Board that begins with three  Members, Deepak Parekh,Karnik and C Achuthan…The New Board appeared before the Media this evening and it was conveyed that an Independent Firm of Auditors will be appointed in the next 48 hours to get working on restating the Accounts 

This has to be the Priority,as No urgent funding can be obtained unless the Accounts reflect the true state of Affairs…Banks will not lend

My advice is to begin with the Accounts of FY 2000-2001 as this would then include investigation of the  hyped Indiaworld Deal between Sify and Rajesh Jain for US $ 116 Million

Read Ramalinga Raju’s Chairman Statement in the Annual Report of FY 2007-8…Incredulous !….This man knew he was lying,as he had been cooking the Books for Seven Years and yet he had the Boldness & Brashness to boast of Satyam Success

Methinks he would make an interesting case Study for Psychiatrists…this guy had to be psychotic as he lost contact with external reality….what was he thinking !? to have persevered with Seven Years of Creative Accounting and not be found !…..and perhaps the Auditors too would make an Interesting Case study for how they failed to Detect such Creative Accounting !  

Interestingly,the jailed CFO,V Srinivas too has confessed that he was completely in the dark on what Ramalinga Raju did…he was only concerned with quarterly results and never looked at the Balance Sheet.He was only instructed by Ramalinga Raju and his Brother,to manage payments with Operational cash and when some Payments got delayed,he suspected something was wrong !…This is realy difficult to swallow ! As CFO for years he had to be privy to what was happening…he did say that the Fixed Deposits were fictitious !….Also he was invited to and attended every Audit Committee Meeting that also included four Independent and Non Executive Directors as Members and both the Auditors,Internal and Statutory as Invitees read more

Twisting some Nursery Rhymes for Satyam’s Ramalinga Raju

Raju Raju sat on the wall
Raju Raju had a great fall
Balance sheet died
Shareholders cried
Raju Raju made a fraud

 
Raju Raju
Yes baba
Cheating us
No baba
Telling Lies
No baba
Open the balance sheet
HA HA HA

 (Thanks VGP) 

 

 

Larsen Jumps the Gun in Buying 4% into Satyam and sees Big Erosion of over 85% and over Rs 300 Crs inside just Two Days !…they must file an FIR against Satyam and it’s Chairman,Ramalinga Raju

Larsen was probably ill advised to buy a 4% Stake in Satyam at undisclosed price…Definitely over Rs 100 asY.M. Deosthalee told Dow Jones Newswires by telephone that the company acquired the stake over ten days ending Tuesday through its L&T Capital arm.

This would mean L & T Capital,through whom Larsen bought the Stake,paid Prices of between Rs 114 to Rs 180 which were the Low and High in Satyam over the days of the Purchase

Larsen now holds close to 2.70 crore shares in Satyam at Investment cost of over probably  between Rs 350 crs to Rs 450 crs….On Wednesday,January 7,Satyam opened at Rs 175 but closed at Rs 40 after Ramalinga Raju’s Confession of a massive Fraud…Today Satyam has sunk even lower to Rs 20…Larsen’s holding in Satyam is worth just Rs 54 Crores inside days…It has lost over 85 % and @ over Rs 300 crs notionally inside two days !…it will have to mark the investment to market

If Satyam ceases to exist,so will it’s Equity and Larsen would have lost over Rs 350 crs

Larsen just jumped the Gun Here !…Sure some in Larsen will lose their Jobs !

They were clearly ill advised to take this Risk and Methinks should take the Lead in Filing a FIR against Satyam and Ramalinga Raju for the Fraud and even the auditors for not spotting the Asset Hole 

There is also the grave posssibility that L & T Capital may have picked up the same 4 % of Equity sold by the Lenders to Ramalinga Raju on his pledged shares…If this is so,then Ramalinga Raju may have awaited this sale at High Prices before releasing his Confession Letter on January 7,2009

Larsen must not let Satyam and Ramalinga Raju get away with this ! 

The Share Price of Larsen has also eroded by 15% to below Rs 700 in quick time

SATYAM : Seems Sunk and looks difficult to Save and Salvage as too many Contingencies scaring off potential Buyers

On Paper, as of September 30,2008 the Assets of Satyam were Rs 8300 crs…after adjusting for the overstated assets and understated liabilities as confessed by the now disgraced Promoter Chairman,Ramalinga Raju the networth of Satyam drops to @ Rs 1200 crs….With 67 crore shares of Face Value Rs 2 in existence,the book valueper share would get restated to around Rs 20…Satyam’s Share Price has dropped from yesterday’s closing of Rs 40 to Rs 20 this morning reflecting this

But will Satyam’s Share Price drop to Zero or move up from here !? Will Trading be stopped in it ?

The Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister has written to the Prime Minister to form a Committee of I T Stalwarts,Narayan Murthy from Infosys,Azim Premji from Wipro and Ramodarai of TCS to salvage Satyam and save the jobs of over the claimed 50000 Satyam Employees 

However,as I look at it right Now even this restated networth of Rs 1200 crs of Satyam looks suspect and will be under threat on two accounts

  • Ramalinga Raju has confessed that for years he inflated Revenues and Profits in Satyam ..It has to be investigated as to when did he start doing so and what is the quantum of inflated revenues and profits…If he inflated Revenues,then it would mean perhaps that the Debtors have been overstated and further adjustment may not be required here…but Profits may convert to losses and therefore Reserves may need further adjustment to reflect the quantum of overstated profits…This would reduce the Networth further and posssibly make it Negative…This would mean the Book Value of Rs20 too would appear overstated
  • Law Suits have already been filed in USA on behalf of ADR Shareholders and law suits will surely follow in India too….Claims in such suits runs into Hundreds of Millions of Dollars…Satyam may not be solvent enough to tackle such Claims…Right Now such Claims are Contingent

There are some other tainted issues too…like the Real Number of Satyam Employees…Management claims 53000 employees….It is suspected that this figure is grossly overstated…Also there is strong views on the Credibility of Satyam Managers…Most IT Companies are smply in no hurry to absorb them…In fact Infosys has categorically said it will not touch tainted Satyam and has also instructed it’s HR Dept not to entertain Satyam Employee Resumes

It is difficult for any Potential Buyer to only absorb the Operating Business of Satyam without exposing themselves to the sword of growing Contingent Liabilities

As a seperate Legal Entity,Satyam is toxic to touch right now…However what will happen is that It’s Lifeline,it’s Clients will review their relationship with Satyam and in all probability migrate to other IT Companies as the risk of staying with Satyam may be too high…Satyam resources may be directed towards fighting for survival rather than Client Servicing…To maintain some level of Continuity,what is possible is that Satyam Teams working on Genuine Client Business may also migrate to the Clients directly or to the IT Company that has taken over from Satyam to serve the Client

The Nightmare for Satyam has only just begun…..difficult to see any potential Buyer taking the risk to buyout Satyam,given the growing contingent liabilities…therefore cannot advice to buy into Satyam at Rs 20

Remember the risk that some crazy NSE Member took when he bought Millions of Shares of the tainted Global Trust Bank at Rs 9 to Rs 11 a few years ago in the wrong belief that a white knight or the Government will bail it out read more

Satyam Auditors, Price Waterhouse, issues a statement late today..Let’s put it in perspective

In this unfolding Satyam Saga unleashed by Chairman,Ramalinga Raju’s confession on fudging accounts for years,this evening we had their auditors,Price Waterhouse releasing a statement defending their audit of Satyam ,stating it complied with generally accepted auditing standards in India and that there was appropriate evidence to support their audit

They have also ,under the excuse of client confidentiality,refused to give more details

Come on Price Waterhouse !…what Client !? Satyam !?…legally it is the Shareholders (Satyam has over 2 lakh of them) who have reappointed you at the last AGM as the auditors…you have a fiduciary responsibility to them more than to Satyam…so hiding behind the Coat of Client Confidentiality is clearly ill- advised

It would ofcourse be interesting to see what their ‘appropriate evidence’ is.

But let’s put their role in perspective and in context of the last published Annual Report of FY 2007-8

Relevant Extracts from Satyam’s Annual Report of FY 2007-8 

Pages 39 and 40 

AUDIT COMMITTEE

The Audit Committee consists of 100 percent independent and non-executive directors.There were four Members….Prof M Rammohan Rao,Chairman,Dr (Mrs) Mangalam Srinivasan,Mr T R Prasad,Prof V S Raju….There were seven committee meetings in 2007-8 an were attended by the CFO,Head of Internal Audit and Statutory Auditors as Invitees.The Committee reviewed the adequacy of the Internal Control Systems and Internal Audit Reports and their compliance thereof. 

Page 56

Internal Control Systems and their Adequacy…Part of Managment’s discussion and analysis…Important Points

  • The Internal Audit,an independent appraisal function to examine and evaluate the adequacy and effectiveness of the Internal Control System,appraises periodically about activities and audit findings to the AUDIT COMMITTEE
  • Internal Audit ensures that transactions are executed and assets are safegaurded
  • The AUDIT COMMITTEE was constituted as a sub -committee of the Board of Directors and it consists solely of Independent Directors.The committee also holds discussions with statutory auditors,internal auditors and the Management.It also reviews with the statutory auditors the scope and results of the audit 
  • Compliance with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act 2002
  • Under revised Corporate Governance standards adopted by the Stock Exchanges a Certification has to be made by the CEO and the CFO of the effectiveness of the Internal Control Systems and that they have disclosed any deficiencies and how they were resolved to the Auditors and the Audit Committee

Page 60

Personnel Costs…Part of Managment’s discussion and analysis…Important Points

Personnel Costs were Rs 5045.54 crs ( 62.01% of Revenues ) for an aggregate employee base of 55360 of which 43279 were technical associates,2690 were non-technical associates and 9391 were onsite technical associates

Page 62

Auditors Report to the Members of Satyam Computer Services Ltd  

Point 2 : We conducted our audit in accordance with auditing standards generally accepted in India.Those Standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement….We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion

Point 4 g goes on to give the auditors unqualified opinion that the financial statements that comprise the Balance Sheet,the Profit and Loss Account and the Cash Flow  as on March 31,2008 ,read with the notes give a True and Fair view inconformity with generally accepted accounting principles in India read more

AUDITORS PRICE WATERHOUSE : Will Surely Pay the PRICE as there is not enough WATER to douse the SATYAM FLAMES that are engulfing their HOUSE !

Within just one day of Satyam’s Promoter Chairman,Ramalinga Raju confessing to cooking up the Books, in his letter to the Board,the Auditing House and one of the ‘Big Four’,PRICE WATERHOUSE is already being relegated to history for their role in this unfolding and sordid Satyam Saga…remember how the Auditing Giant,Arther Anderson wound up when Enron failed !?

Price Waterhouse audits over 100 listed Indian companies like the Auto Giants Maruti and even the huge HCL Group in the Software Sector…so it’s not that they don’t have any experience of auditing software majors…..So their obvious lapses when auditing Satyam was a huge shocker

I remember that in 2007, when I was at a High Profile Corporate Governance Seminar in Mumbai where the dignitaries were Heads of Exchanges and Government Ministries and Leading Corporate and Auditing Houses from all over India,there was a very ‘show offy’ lady from Price Waterhouse whose presentation revolved around their specially developed software of a Corporate Governance System that clould be implemented by Corporates….When the Chief Secretary of the Orissa Government,one Mr Patnaik,asked her how much would this Software and Implementation Cost and could it be applied to PSU and Government Set Ups,this lady had the bloody cheek and arrogance to state ” You probably would not be able to afford it !…It would cost over Rs One Crore “….There was a shocked and studied silence for a few moments on her brazenness…When I was asked to address the audience I commented on this sort of arrogant and snobbish mindset by professionals..She was just one of a Tribe, that sadly has many members,who have inflated egos and inflated opinions of themselves and their firm and status….I daresay it’s a contagious American Banking and Corporate Trait…but look where it’s landed America and it’s once major Powerhouse Icons !

Auditors are appointed by Shareholders at the AGM to ensure Independent Review and Audit of the Financial Books and Assets…but for all purposes their Independence is severely compromised as they have to interact with Management and Promoters to solicit increase in Fees and potential other Business like Certification,Tax and Conultancy work in Mergers and Acquisition and Valuation Situations….even though the ICAI and the Companies Act has directives that should be followed and practises so as to not create any Conflict of Interest in Auditors,these firms find a way out by routing business other than audit to other front or related and friendly firms…as this is widely practised by most firms in this competitive era,the ICAI is not a very strict enforcer of directives and guidelines….this strengthens and makes for a compelling case for the government to intervene and set up a seperate legal body to conduct Audits or create a Regulatory Body for Auditors.In fact the New Amendments to the Companies Act will involve stricter and more stringent compliance by Auditors and Directors read more

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