China Growth Stocks

[GorillaGorilla]

NEP He was probably there primarily for bi-lingual skills...

He probably got the job because of his language skills but on the board he had the strongest accounting skills. The audit committee was Bruce, Rule and a Geologist called Li - see below.

Audit Committee. In June 2008, Messrs. Bruce, Rule and Li were appointed to serve on the audit committee of the Board of Directors. Mr. Bruce serves as Chair of the audit committee. [1]

So going over the group:

Li - was a Geologist by training - he had experience in industry - no obvious account experience.
Rule - investment banker - financial experience but no obvious accounting credentials
Bruce - was a CFO of a private company

On this basis Bruce was the only one of the three who had previously held of job, CFO, producing accounts and given Bruce was made Chairman then he was either the only man with accounting expertise or certainly the most experienced. Bruce, while not responsible for the accounts, oversaw the release of the accounts which had a number of deficiencies from Q2 2008 to end of 2009.

He missed a catalog of errors so he isn't providing much in the way of over-sight. Clearly finding someone with strong accounting experience and bi-lingual skills is a tall order! However, Bruce's didn't prevent the problems occurring - in that case the audit committee was not functioning properly and there would have to be changes in that committee before NEP started trading - why would stockholders have confidence that the committee would be any better now at picking up accountancy errors?




The 3 CVs:

EDWARD M. RULE has served as Director of the Company since May 2008. Mr. Rule is Chairman of TDR Capital International Limited, a Hong Kong based financial services house. Most of his career has been spent in China, initially as a diplomat and subsequently as an investment banker with the Standard Chartered Group and private equity professional with the $800 million Asian Infrastructure Fund. He is a graduate in Chinese language of the University of Melbourne and the Australian National University. He speaks Mandarin Chinese and Cantonese. He has been director of several listed companies in Hong Kong and Australia.


ROBERT C. BRUCE has served as Director of the Company since May 2008. Mr. Bruce is President of Oakmont Advisory Group, LLC, a financial management consulting firm located in Portland, Maine. Prior to founding Oakmont Advisory Group, from 1999 through 2004 he served as Chief Operating Officer, Treasurer and Director for Enterix Inc., a privately-held, venture-funded medical device and laboratory services company that was purchased by Quest Diagnostics. He also previously served as Chief Financial Officer for Advantage Business Services (1997 to 1998), a privately-held national payroll processing and tax filing business that was subsequently acquired by PayChex. Mr. Bruce is a member of the Board of Directors of Immucell Corp., a NASDAQ listed manufacturer of animal health products. Mr. Bruce received his MBA from the Yale School of Management, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in East Asian Studies from Princeton University. Mr. Bruce speaks and reads Mandarin Chinese.

LI JING FU has served as Director of the Company since May 2008. Mr. Li is the Chairman and top representative of Joint Management Committee of Qian Guo County Longhai Petroleum & Natural Gas Co., Ltd. and was appointed to that position by Petro China’s Jilin branch in 2005. Mr. Li has been in the petroleum industry since 1970. In his extensive career he has served as Vice Monitor for Jiang Han Oil Field’s comprehensive logging team, Secretary of Command Department of Petroleum Hui Zhan in Jilin Province, Vice President of Jilin Oilfield Exploration and Development Research Institute. From 1995 to 2002, Mr. Li was appointed by PetroChina’s Jilin branch to serve as General Manger of management and production operation of oil exploitation of Jilin Jiyuan Petroleum & Natural Gas Development Co. Ltd. From 2002 to 2005, Mr. Li, served as Project Manager of Song Yua City Qian Yuan Oil & Gas Development Co., Ltd. also by appointment by PetroChina’s Jilin branch. Mr. Li received his bachelor’s degree from Chang Chun Geology Institute in Jilin, China.

rich

[1] http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/787251/000121465909000711/d3319210k.htm