Bamboo Innovator Daily Insight: 20 Apr (Mon) – ‘Ojuk’: black bamboo craft; Tradition is a spirit not a skill; “I learned precious values through working with my teacher, like masterful perseverance and endurance and the historical significance of black bamboos. If an artisan is not ready for poverty and hardship, he or she cannot endure this entire process. My only goal is to transmit this art to others.”

Life

• ‘Ojuk’: black bamboo craft; Tradition is a spirit not a skill; “I learned precious values through working with my teacher, like masterful perseverance and endurance and the historical significance of black bamboos”: KT
• How Abraham Lincoln Became a Saint: Bloomberg
• Responses to David Brooks: The Road to Inner Virtue: NYT
• The six skills that make entrepreneurs extraordinary: Quartz
• How Steve Jobs became the greatest businessman the world has ever known: BI
• Computational thinking an essential skill for next-generation: TODAY
• A 30-year work anniversary is a freak event to be cheered; If Warren Buffett can spend decades at one company, so can others: FT
• Shopping Mall Developer Taubman Dies at 91; Taubman died Friday night at his home of a heart attack: WSJ
• What Leaders Can Learn from a Long Run: WSJ

Investing Process & Research

• AQR White Paper: Fact, Fiction, and Value Investing: SSRN

AsianExtractor: Unearthing Accounting Fraud in Asia

• Sihuan (460 HK) Updates on Audit Delay: Improper accounting treatment in consolidation trick of using MRAs (Market Research Agents) to exclude hidden sales and distribution expenses to artificially boost profits: AsianExtractor
• China Environment FY2014: Significant Deterioration in Receivables Collectability And No Provision for Impairment: AsianExtractor
• China Environment (SES: 50U, Bloomberg: CENV SP): Auditor Emphasis of Matter raises more questions on potential accounting tunneling risk: AsianExtractor
• Open Letter to SGX/MAS: Reply to CFO of SGX-Listed China Environment (CENV SP) on report “Potential Accounting Tunneling Fraud at China Environment?” – Address the accounting and governance concerns in an SGX/MAS announcement: AsianExtractor
• Does Auditor Explanatory Language in Unqualified Audit Reports Indicate Increased Financial Misstatement Risk? “Emphasis of matter” language predicts restatements + China Environment’s Auditor Emphasis of Matter: AsianExtractor

Greater China

• Li’s Wrist-Slash Vow Tested as First State-Company Default Nears: Bloomberg
• “China Bans “Umbrella Trust” equity leverage financing: How Big Is “Umbrella Trust”? : Barron’s
• China’s rotten grains highlight troubled policy: FT
• Monday Interview: Ren Jianxin, ChemChina; Boss of chemicals giant will soon be in charge of Pirelli: FT
• Changsha research team develops brain-controlled robot: WCT
• LeTV Changing Channels, Pushing for Investors; If investors agree, China’s online video-TV integrator LeTV will switch its focus from Internet TV to smartphones and cars: Caixin
• IBM Venture With China Stirs Concerns: NYT
• Thin-film solar technology under scrutiny as China’s Hanergy soars; What Li Hejun didn’t say was that the 30 percent conversion efficiency ratio was a laboratory-based result that experts say is hard to replicate in projects.: Reuters
• China Rethinks Its Car-Sales Model; Buyers find discounts on luxury in gray market, squeezing foreign auto makers: WSJ
• Foreign Companies at Risk From Proposed Chinese Law; New regulation may render illegal a corporate structure used in China by companies like Amazon, CBS: WSJ
• China Floats QE Trial Balloon, PBoC May Launch LTROs: Zerohedge
• Hong Kong Stocks a Seller’s Market With $3.4 Billion Dumped: Bloomberg
• China to Investors: Don’t Forget That Stocks Can Lose Money Too: Bloomberg
• Segway’s Second Chance in China: Bloomberg

Japan & Korea

• South Korea contract workers at heart of labour reform challenge: FT
• SK Group to merge units amid chaebol clean-up; SK Group to Combine Units as Chey Cements Grip From Behind Bars: FT, Bloomberg

ASEAN

• Declining fortunes of Benigno Aquino raise fears among investors: FT
• Vietnam: Profitable return; Those displaced by the war are now being encouraged to play a prominent role in the emerging economy: FT
• Commentary: AEC 2015 – Indonesia’s Call to Wake Up: JG
• How Indonesian Companies Can Survive a Falling Rupiah: WSJ
•  Temasek Succession Plans Under Scrutiny as Ho Takes Leave: Bloomberg

Macro

• Investors Grow Wary of Emerging-Market Debt; Fear of defaults grows as developing economies slow and dollar has climbed: WSJ
• “More Than Half Of All Global Government Bonds Are Yielding 1% Or Less”: ZeroHedge
• Student Debt Accounts For Nearly Half Of US Government “Assets”: ZeroHedge
• A cautionary tale of power, votes and second-class shares; The value of a company must be shared with all, writes Christopher Rossbach: FT
• Hedge Funds Hawk Single-Bet Deals; Fees are lower, money is locked up longer in special co-investments: WSJ
• For short-sellers in U.S. stocks, the agony just piles on: Reuters
• Carlyle to Close Two Mutual Funds in Liquid Alternatives Setback: Bloomberg
• World Braces for Taper Tantrum II Even as Yellen Soothes Nerves: Bloomberg
• The $320 Billion Bogey Needed to Placate U.S. Stock Market Bulls: Bloomberg

Energy & Commodities

• Cargill guards private life in 150th year: FT
• Oil Rigs’ Biggest Risk: Human Error; Five years after Deepwater Horizon, new rules and training go only so far: WSJ
• Investors Who See ‘Froth’ in Market Go All In for Oil: Bloomberg

Healthcare

• New Blood Test Shows Promise in Cancer Fight: NYT

TMT

• Build Your Own Cloud! Hard Drives Get a Second Life; Getting the convenience of the cloud with the value of external hard drives: WSJ
• Fintech Startups Navigate Legal Gray Areas To Build Billion-Dollar Companies: Techcrunch
• Why ‘Do It For Me’ Is The Next Big Thing: Techcrunch
• We Need To Get The Internet Of Things Right: Techcrunch
• The Unbundling Of Everything: Techcruch
• The Year Of Mobile Payments: Techcrunch
• Changing Tactics, Apple Promotes Watch as a Luxury Item: NYT
• Netflix Is Betting Its Future on Exclusive Programming: NYT
• Box, Provider of Cloud-Computing Services, Faces Make-or-Break Moment: NYT
• The drone revolution hits the high seas: Fortune
• Moore’s Law turns 50, but will it soon cease to exist?: Fortune
• The auto fraud squad: How Canadian insurance companies are trying to crack down on fake claims: FP
• Advertisers are looking inside your brain: Neuromarketing is here and it knows what you want: FP
• Check Point CEO Hustles to Stay on Top Amid Cyber Stock Surge: Bloomberg
• Data Is the New Middle Manager; Startups are keeping head counts low, and even eliminating management positions, by replacing them with a surprising substitute for leaders and decision-makers: data. WSJ
• Yale Stepping Up Computer Science After Students Demand Better Tech Training: Bloomberg

Consumer & Others

• Pay-as-you-go gyms increase in popularity over longer contracts: FT
• Levi Strauss Aims to Revive Its Past Glory: JG
• AutoNation’s Michael Jackson Steps on the Gas; Jackson has built AutoNation into the largest automotive retailer in the U.S., and become an industry visionary. Beware “The Ashes of Idiots.”: Barron’s