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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 GUANGZHOU 006994 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EB, DRL, EAP/CM 
USDOC FOR 4420/ITA/MAC/MCQUEEN 
TREASURY FOR OASIA/INA-CRANE 
STATE ALSO PASS USTR FOR STRATFORD 
STATE ALSO PASS FEDERAL RESERVE 
 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON ETRD EINV SCUL PHUM CH
SUBJECT:  Hong Kong-Based Corporate Finance Officers To Try 
Stop "Enrons Just Waiting to Happen" in China 
 
REF: 05 Guangzhou 24188 (notal) 
 
GUANGZHOU 00006994  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
(U) THIS DOCUMENT IS SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED.  PLEASE 
PROTECT ACCORDINGLY.  NOT FOR RELEASE OUTSIDE U.S. 
GOVERNMENT CHANNELS.  NOT FOR INTERNET PUBLICATION. 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary:  The Chief Financial Officers of several 
prominent Hong Kong-based international multinational 
companies along with a few of their mainland-based 
counterparts have established the "International 
Association of CFOs and Corporate Treasurers (China) 
Limited" (IACCT China) with the aim of helping create a 
professional class of CFOs in Chinese businesses where 
traditionally authoritarian top managers tend to view CFOs 
and Treasurers as glorified bookkeepers who would just get 
in the way of their wheeling and dealing.  The heavily 
Cantonese-accented Mandarin spoken by the leaders of the 
Association may limit communications with mainland 
counterparts perhaps except in Guangdong where the 
Association decided to hold its inaugural coming out party. 
The biggest gap, however, may not be linguistic but 
cultural since the concepts of accountable business 
management are not exactly widespread even in a Guangdong 
setting with a head start in "reforming" enterprise 
development.  End Summary. 
 
IACCTing Up 
----------- 
¶2.  (U) They are certainly not any where near being as well 
known as their bosses, but a group of Chief Financial 
Officers and Treasurers from a number of Hong Kong-based 
multinational companies has teamed up with a smaller number 
of counterparts on the mainland to establish IACCT China. 
At their inaugural event in China, held in Guangzhou and 
co-sponsored by the American Chamber of Commerce Guangdong, 
IACCT China Chairman and AIG Regional Director and 
Treasurer Peter Wong introduced the organization as one 
dedicated to establishing a truly professional class of 
CFOs and Treasurers in China.  Wong and AmCham Guangdong 
President Harley Seyedin remarked that with banking reform 
in China gaining momentum, a different and more specialized 
skill set is required in managing financial assets and 
liabilities as well in managing relations with banks, 
institutional investors, and rating agencies.  Sharing 
treasury practices, creating a network of treasurers and 
CFOs, and developing treasury training and certification 
will make the investment environment in China more 
favorable and attract more foreign investment, they 
remarked to an audience including Guangdong provincial and 
Guangzhou municipal investment promotion officials. 
 
A Constellation of Stars, As Such 
--------------------------------- 
¶3.  (U) Wong noted that several CFOs and corporate 
treasurers, mostly members of the Hong Kong Association of 
Corporate Treasurers, established the 'China Treasury 
Forum' initiative 18 months ago, and IACCT China developed 
as part of this initiative to invite CFOs and senior 
finance executives in both multinational companies and 
Chinese enterprises based in China to join as members.  He 
was accompanied at the event by several colleagues from 
Hong Kong, including  Timothy Shen, CFO, Universal Holdings; 
Keith Yuen, Head of Treasury and Investment, Hong Kong 
Land; Stephen Leung, Group Treasurer, Hysan Development; 
Mark Takahashi, Group Treasurer, CLP; Peter Tse, General 
Manager-Finance, CLP; W. K. Lo, Group Treasurer, Hong Kong 
and China Gas; Francis Wai, CFO, Dragonair; Eyman Tsang, 
General Manager, Corporate Finance and Treasurer, Hong Kong 
and Shanghai Hotels; Nikson Ma, Financial Controller-China, 
Emerson; and K. S. Chan, Group Treasurer, Hutchison 
Whampoa. 
 
Starting in a Receptive Climate 
------------------------------- 
¶4.  (SBU) Asked by Congenoff why IACCT China chose 
Guangzhou as its venue for its inaugural event in the 
mainland, Wong noted that there has been a considerable 
amount of interaction between counterparts in Hong Kong and 
 
GUANGZHOU 00006994  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
in the Pearl River Delta.  For example, many Hong Kong 
enterprises operating in the PRD have been approached by 
mainland companies trying to learn about possibly issuing 
shares in the Hong Kong securities markets.  Moreover, 
people such as Stephen Cheng, Amway CFO and an AmCham 
Guangdong board director have also been helpful in trying 
to get IACCT off the ground. 
 
"Enrons Waiting to Happen" 
-------------------------- 
¶5.  (SBU) Wong added, however, that members of IACCT China 
were by no means naive enough to believe that Chinese 
enterprises, whether in Guangdong or further away from Hong 
Kong, were receptive to the concept of giving company CFOs 
and Treasurers greater role in management and business 
planning.  "They think that CFOs are just bookkeepers, and 
the best bookkeepers are those that keep their mouths 
shut," Kong said, adding that the top management of most 
Chinese enterprises, state-owned or genuinely private, run 
their firms in a highly authoritarian manner oblivious to 
the advice that professionals such as CFOs should deliver. 
Nevertheless, if China is ever to develop genuinely 
accountable and sustainably profitable world-class 
companies, then it was critical that the CFOs in these 
companies become more sophisticated, ethical, and 
influential.  Otherwise these companies are "Enrons just 
waiting to happen," Wong said. 
 
Comment 
------- 
¶6.  (SBU) One obstacle for IACCT China getting much 
traction on the mainland might be linguistic.  While the 
English-speaking part of IACCT presentations at the 
inaugural cocktail party was flawlessly fluent, their 
attempts to translate themselves into Mandarin had a 
heavily Cantonese flavoring that might not go over too well 
in Shanghai and Beijing where the group hopes to go for 
similar events later in the year.  The real obstacle for 
IACCT China is not dialect differences, however, but 
conceptual.  IACCT is planning to hold a seminar in 
Guangzhou in a few months as a first step in trying to 
create "certification" standards for professional CFOs and 
Treasurers in China.  There is no denying that such 
standards and the business values inherent in them are 
absolutely crucial for a truly modern economy to develop in 
China.  The problem is that it is unlikely that there is as 
yet a market for such certification standards -- which 
means that the unaccountable authoritarian style of the top 
management tier in most of south China's enterprises is 
unlikely to evolve very quickly. 
 
Dong