China Petroleum & Chemical (SNPMF) Risk Analysis
Risk Overview Q4, 2020
Source: the company's latest filing for the period ended Dec 31, 2020, filed Apr 20, 2021
Risk Change Over Time
- Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 1Our auditor, like other independent registered public accounting firms operating in China, is not permitted to be subject to inspection by Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, and as such, investors may be deprived of the benefits of such inspection. Our ADSs may be delisted under the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act if the PCAOB is unable to inspect auditors who are located in China. The delisting of our ADSs, or the threat of their being delisted, may materially affect the value of your investment.
The Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act, or the HFCA Act, was enacted on December 18, 2020. The HFCA Act states if the SEC determines that we have filed audit reports issued by a registered public accounting firm that has not been subject to inspection by the PCAOB for three consecutive years beginning in 2021, the SEC shall prohibit our shares or ADSs from being traded on a national securities exchange or in the over the counter trading market in the U.S. Our auditor, the independent registered public accounting firm that issues the audit report included elsewhere in this annual report, as an auditor of companies that are traded publicly in the United States and a firm registered with the PCAOB, is subject to laws in the United States pursuant to which the PCAOB conducts regular inspections to assess its compliance with the applicable professional standards. Since our auditor is located in China, a jurisdiction where the PCAOB has been unable to conduct inspections without the approval of the Chinese authorities, our auditor is currently not inspected by the PCAOB. On March 24, 2021, the SEC adopted interim final rules relating to the implementation of certain disclosure and documentation requirements of the HFCA Act. We will be required to comply with these rules if the SEC identifies us as having a "non-inspection" year under a process to be subsequently established by the SEC. The SEC is assessing how to implement other requirements of the HFCA Act, including the listing and trading prohibition requirements described above. The SEC may propose additional rules or guidance that could impact us if our auditor is not subject to PCAOB inspection. For example, on August 6, 2020, the President's Working Group on Financial Markets, or the PWG, issued a report recommended the SEC implement five recommendations to address companies from jurisdictions that do not provide the PCAOB with sufficient access to fulfil its statutory mandate, some of which were more stringent than the HFCA Act. The SEC has announced that the SEC staff is preparing a consolidated proposal for the rules regarding the implementation of the HFCA Act and to address the recommendations in the PWG report. It is unclear when the SEC will complete its rulemaking and when such rules will become effective and what, if any, of the PWG recommendations will be adopted. The implications of this possible regulation in addition to the requirements of the HFCA Act are uncertain. Such uncertainty could cause the market price of our ADSs to be affected, and our securities could be delisted or prohibited from being traded "over-the-counter," which may substantially impair the investors' ability to sell or purchase our ADSs. The PCAOB's inability to conduct inspections in China prevents it from fully evaluating the audits and quality control procedures of our independent registered public accounting firm. As a result, investors may be deprived of the benefits of PCAOB inspections. The inability of the PCAOB to conduct inspections of auditors in China makes it more difficult to evaluate the effectiveness of our independent registered public accounting firm's audit procedures or quality control procedures as compared to auditors outside of China that are subject to the PCAOB inspections, which could cause investors and potential investors in our stock to lose confidence in our audit procedures and reported financial information and the quality of our financial statements. In May 2013, the PCAOB announced that it had entered into a Memorandum of Understanding on Enforcement Cooperation with the CSRC and the PRC Ministry of Finance, which establishes a cooperative framework between the parties for the production and exchange of audit documents relevant to investigations undertaken by the PCAOB in the PRC or by the CSRC or the PRC Ministry of Finance in the United States. The PCAOB continues to be in discussions with the CSRC and the PRC Ministry of Finance to permit joint inspections in the PRC of audit firms that are registered with the PCAOB and audit Chinese companies that trade on U.S. exchanges.
Risk Highlights Q4, 2020
Risk Word Cloud
Risk Factors Full Breakdown - Total Risks 27
- Regulation - Risk 1Our overseas businesses may be adversely affected by changes of overseas government policies and business environment.
We have operations and assets and may seek new opportunities in various countries and regions, including countries in Africa, South America, Central Asia , Russia and certain other regions, some of which are deemed to be subject to a high degree of political risk. The operations in these countries and regions may experience debt divergence, changes in taxation and foreign exchange controls, legal litigations, deterioration in compliance management environments or public security, market fluctuations and oil and gas price fluctuations, changes in political situations and sanctions rules and policies, investment decision risk, safety production and equipment integrity risk. Occurrence of any of these conditions could disrupt or curtail our operations or development activities. These events may also limit our ability to pursue new opportunities, affect the recoverability of our assets or cause us to incur additional costs, particularly due to the long-term nature of many of our projects and the significant capital expenditure required by those projects.
- Regulation - Risk 2Government regulations may limit our activities and affect our business operations.
The PRC government, though gradually liberalizing its regulations on entry into the petroleum and petrochemical industry, continues to exercise certain controls over the petroleum and petrochemical industry in China. These control mechanisms include granting the licenses to explore for and produce crude oil and natural gas, granting the licenses to market and distribute crude oil and refined oil products, regulating the upper limit of the retail prices for gasoline and diesel; collecting special oil income levies, deciding import and export quotas and procedures, setting safety, environmental and quality standards, and formulating policies to save energy and reduce emission; meanwhile, there could be potential changes to macroeconomic and industry policies such as reforming of the oil and gas industry, and further reforming and improvement of pricing mechanism of refined oil products and natural gas, which could impact the development of the domestic petroleum and petrochemical industry and the production and operations of the domestic enterprises operating in such industry. Such control mechanisms may have material effects on our operations and profitability.
- Regulation - Risk 3The PRC governmental authorities, from time to time, audit or inspect our ultimate controlling shareholder. We cannot predict the impact, if any, of their outcome on our reputation, business and financial condition as well as the trading prices of our ADSs and H shares.
The PRC governmental authorities, from time to time, perform audits, inspections, inquiries or similar actions on state-owned companies, such as Sinopec Group Company, our ultimate controlling shareholder. Such inspections are not conducted on a regular basis with specific targets, and therefore we cannot predict the outcome of these governmental activities. If, as a result of such audits, inspections or inquiries, (i) material irregularities are found within Sinopec Group Company or us or our employees or (ii) Sinopec Group Company or we become the target of any negative publicity, our reputation, business and financial condition as well as the trading prices of our ADSs and H shares may be materially and negatively impacted.
- Regulation - Risk 4Some of our development plans require compliance with state policies and governmental regulation.
We are currently engaged in a number of construction, renovation and expansion projects. Some of our large construction, renovation and expansion projects are subject to governmental confirmation and registration. The timing and cost of completion of these projects will depend on numerous factors, including when we can receive the required confirmation and registration from relevant PRC government authorities and the general economic condition in China. If any of our key projects required for our future growth is not confirmed or registered, or not confirmed or registered in a timely manner, our results of operations and financial condition could be adversely impacted.
- Regulation - Risk 5Additional remedial measures imposed on certain PRC-based accounting firms, including our independent registered public accounting firm, in proceedings brought by the SEC alleging the firms' failure to meet specific criteria, could result in financial statements being determined to not be in compliance with the requirements of the Exchange Act.
In December 2012, the SEC brought administrative proceedings against the "Big Four" accounting firms in China, including our independent registered public accounting firm, alleging that these firms had refused to produce audit work papers and other documents related to certain other China-based companies whose securities are publicly traded in the United States. On January 22, 2014, an initial administrative law decision was issued, censuring these accounting firms and barring these firms from practicing before the SEC for a period of six months. The decision is neither final nor legally effective unless and until it is endorsed by the SEC. In February 2015, each of the four PRC-based accounting firms agreed to a censure and to pay a fine to the SEC to settle the dispute and avoid suspension of their ability to practice before the SEC. The settlement required the firms to follow detailed procedures to seek to provide the SEC with access to Chinese firms' audit documents via the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) in response to future document requests by the SEC made through the CSRC. We cannot predict if the SEC will further challenge the four China-based accounting firms' compliance with U.S. law in connection with U.S. regulatory requests for audit work papers or if the results of such a challenge would result in the SEC imposing penalties such as suspensions. In the event that the Chinese affiliates of the "Big Four" become subject to additional legal challenges by the SEC or PCAOB, listed companies in the United States with PRC operations may find it difficult or impossible to retain auditors in respect of their operations in the PRC, which could result in financial statements being determined to not be in compliance with the requirements of the Exchange Act, and hence face delisting. Moreover, any negative news about the proceedings against these audit firms may give rise to a perception of uncertainty to investors regarding China-based, U.S.-listed companies and the market price of our ADSs may be adversely affected. If our independent registered public accounting firm was denied, even temporarily, the ability to practice before the SEC and we were unable to timely find another registered public accounting firm to audit and issue an opinion on our financial statements, our financial statements could be determined not to be in compliance with the requirements of the Exchange Act. Such a determination could ultimately lead to delisting of our ADSs from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) or deregistration from the SEC, or both, which would substantially reduce or effectively terminate the trading of our ADSs in the United States.
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