■ Accounting
KPMG charged with fraud
KPMG LLP, the world's No. 3 accounting firm, and four current and former partners were charged with civil fraud by the Securities and Exchange Commission for allegedly allowing Xerox Corp to manipulate its books to inflate revenue. The lawsuit alleges the firm and its partners were aware of accounting irregularities at Xerox and still signed off on the company's financial statements. Named in the suit were partners Michael Conway, 59, Ronald Safran, 49, Joseph Boyle, 59, and former partner Anthony Dolanski, 56. The charges signal a shift in tactics by the SEC, which typically has charged individual accountants rather than entire firms. KPMG, which audits Citigroup Inc, General Electric Co and about 2,000 other US public companies, is only the second firm to face SEC charges for audit failures since 1990.
■ Semiconductors
Loss at Hynix narrows
Hynix Semiconductor Inc, the world's third-largest maker of computer memory chips, said its fourth-quarter loss narrowed as sales improved. The company posted a net loss of 917 billion won (US$783 million), compared with a loss of 1.37 trillion won in the same period a year earlier. Its operating loss narrowed to 347 billion won from 564 billion won. Sales increased by 48 percent to 746 billion won from 505 billion won, the company said in a statement to the stock exchange. Hynix, which was given a third bailout by its creditors last year, said sales shrank by a quarter to 3 trillion won last year, causing an operating loss of 940 billion won, in a report to the Korea stock exchange. Its net loss for last year was 1.9 trillion won.
■ Semiconductors
NEC narrows Q3 loss
NEC Corp's third-quarter net loss narrowed, aided by a rebound in semiconductor sales and lower costs following last year's job cuts. Japan's second-biggest chipmaker trimmed its full-year sales forecast by 3.3 percent. Tokyo-based NEC posted a group net loss of 4.5 billion yen (US$38 million), or 2.76 yen a share, in the three months ended Dec. 31, compared with a 155 billion yen net loss, or 93.73 yen, a year earlier, the company said in a statement to the Tokyo Stock Exchange. NEC, which yesterday left unchanged its 10 billion yen profit forecast, may be too optimistic about the outlook, investors said. "They've still got a long way to go in deducting costs until they can actually start to generate profit," said Hiromichi Tsuyukubo, who helps manage about US$650 million in securities at Tokyo-Mitsubishi Asset Management Ltd. "A company with its shareholder equity decreasing is far from being attractive as an investment pick," he said.
■ Deregulation
Japan to present action plan
In an effort to bring about comprehensive deregulation of the Japanese economy, the government has decided to compile an action plan of 15 to 20 priority measures for implementation by March 2005, a news report said yesterday. The government intends to select priority measures that are expected to have a significant impact on creating jobs and demand, such as allowing stock companies to run hospitals and schools, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun said. The details of the plan will be spelled out next month by the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy, which is chaired by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, the newspaper said.Agencies
MILESTONE: The foreign minister called the signing ‘a major step forward in US-Taiwan relations,’ while the Presidential Office said it was a symbol of the nations’ shared values US President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed into law the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, which requires the US Department of State to regularly review and update guidelines governing official US interactions with Taiwan. The new law is an amendment to the Taiwan Assurance Act of 2020 focused on reviewing guidelines on US interactions with Taiwan. Previously, the state department was required to conduct a one-time review of its guidance governing relations with Taiwan, but under the new bill, the agency must conduct a review “not less than every five years.” It must then submit an updated report based on its findings “not later
The Presidential Office today thanked the US for enacting the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, which requires the US Department of State to regularly review and update guidelines governing official US interactions with Taiwan. The new law, signed by US President Donald Trump yesterday, is an amendment to the Taiwan Assurance Act of 2020 focused on reviewing guidelines on US interactions with Taiwan. Previously, the department was required to conduct a one-time review of its guidance governing relations with Taiwan, but under the new bill, the agency must conduct such a review "not less than every five years." It must then submit an updated
CROSS-STRAIT COLLABORATION: The new KMT chairwoman expressed interest in meeting the Chinese president from the start, but she’ll have to pay to get in Beijing allegedly agreed to let Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) around the Lunar New Year holiday next year on three conditions, including that the KMT block Taiwan’s arms purchases, a source said yesterday. Cheng has expressed interest in meeting Xi since she won the KMT’s chairmanship election in October. A source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a consensus on a meeting was allegedly reached after two KMT vice chairmen visited China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Director Song Tao (宋濤) in China last month. Beijing allegedly gave the KMT three conditions it had to
STAYING ALERT: China this week deployed its largest maritime show of force to date in the region, prompting concern in Taipei and Tokyo, which Beijing has brushed off Deterring conflict over Taiwan is a priority, the White House said in its National Security Strategy published yesterday, which also called on Japan and South Korea to increase their defense spending to help protect the first island chain. Taiwan is strategically positioned between Northeast and Southeast Asia, and provides direct access to the second island chain, with one-third of global shipping passing through the South China Sea, the report said. Given the implications for the US economy, along with Taiwan’s dominance in semiconductors, “deterring a conflict over Taiwan, ideally by preserving military overmatch, is a priority,” it said. However, the strategy also reiterated
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