boyutpedia Chapter 18 Xia Ming
Chapter 18 Xia Ming
The news that Xu Zhiping had suddenly fallen ill and that Xu Feng had been temporarily replaced as the head of the annual audit team was like an invisible thunderbolt, weighing down on all the subsidiaries of Yinghai Group.
From the moment he stepped out of the hospital corridor, Huang Lilin's face hadn't looked good. He knew perfectly well that Xu Zhiping had been in the audit position for over a decade. He was shrewd, sensible, and knew how to handle people. He understood balance, human relationships, and boundaries. Every year, his audits were always brief and to the point, giving his old colleague plenty of face. He never really went all out to investigate.
But Xu Feng is different.
Xu Feng is young, clean-cut, without factions, old connections, or vested interests. He only cares about rules, only cares about the chairman, and only cares about auditing regulations.
What's even more critical is that Xu Feng is a trusted confidant whom Zhao Xiankun promoted ahead of schedule. This time, he suddenly took over as the head of the audit team. At this crucial juncture in the group's preparation for listing, replacing Xu Zhiping with Xu Feng is a clear signal.
It's clear that Zhao Xiankun is serious and wants to use the compliance of the listing to thoroughly clean up the old guard in the subsidiaries.
Especially Tianke!
Unlike Tiancheng, which focuses on people's livelihood and urban construction and has many small, quick and flexible projects, Tianke has a completely different weight in the Yinghai system.
Tianke is the core engineering subsidiary of Yinghai Group with the most complete qualifications, the largest scale, and the highest-level municipal qualification. It has been rooted in Shanghai for more than 20 years, specializing in government-required projects such as landmark elevated roads, integrated pipe corridors, and main urban roads. It has a large cash flow, stable client payments, and a deep network of contacts.
Half of Yinghai's revenue and reputation, and most of its high-quality government and enterprise resources, are all in Tianke's hands. Precisely because of its deep pockets and substantial power, Huang Lilin has been the undisputed leader at Tianke for years. Departments are strictly divided, finance operates on its own, and business contracts are handled independently. They only recognize Huang Lilin and obey Xia Ming's orders. Any attempt by the group to extend control has always faced tremendous resistance.
It is precisely because Tianke is so important that Zhao Xiankun has hesitated to take drastic measures; and it is also precisely because it is so important that Xu Feng's first move in this major compliance audit for the IPO will inevitably be to target Tianke.
The car came to a smooth stop in front of the Tianke office building. The entire office building was impressive and well-organized. The area below was full of government and business vehicles. Security at the entrance was tight. Inside the building, the departments were clearly divided: the Engineering Management Department, the On-site Safety Department, the Financial Accounting Department, and the Business Contracts Department each performed their duties. The building always appeared to be operating efficiently and as a cohesive unit.
Today, however, the atmosphere in the building was noticeably tense. Employees were walking quietly, and everyone knew that an audit storm was about to hit.
Huang Lilin, deep in thought, strode into his office and told his secretary to call Xia Ming.
He sat on the sofa, picked up a cup of hot tea and took a big gulp to suppress his anxiety, waiting for Xia Ming to come over so they could discuss countermeasures.
A moment later, Xia Ming knocked and entered, dressed in a crisp suit, his expression calm, his steps steady, showing no sign of panic. He was Tianke's chief economist, the de facto general manager. He oversaw all of Tianke's project quotations, business negotiations, and internal and external accounting. No one knew better than him the intricacies of Tianke's accounts and the depth of its interpersonal relationships.
"Xia Ming, this is a huge problem, just as you said!" Huang Lilin said in a low voice, getting straight to the point, his tone full of anxiety. "In previous years, Xu Zhiping, being the nice guy, always led the audits, and everyone kept things polite, letting old issues slide with a few vague words. But this year, Xu Zhiping suddenly feigned illness and stepped down, replacing him with that hothead Xu Feng! That kid is obsessed with currying favor with Zhao Xiankun, and this time he's definitely going to investigate thoroughly!"
Huang Lilin became increasingly agitated, speaking faster and faster: "This means Zhao Xiankun is going after us! How much profit has Tianke contributed to the group over the years? How could Zhao Xiankun treat me like this after decades of friendship?"
He had expected Xia Ming to be worried, even just a little, but Xia Ming only nodded slightly, his expression remaining calm. He calmly reassured him, "Uncle, don't panic. Panicking will only make you make mistakes, and if you expose a flaw, everything will be over. Zhao Xiankun has been targeting Tianke for a long time. Sending people to conduct an investigation was exactly what I expected. I had already arranged for all departments to prepare for the investigation in advance, so there won't be any last-minute problems."
Huang Lilin was taken aback, then breathed a sigh of relief: "It's good that you've arranged everything. Have you cleaned up the company's accounts?"
"No problem," Xia Ming said confidently.
At this moment, the office of Tianke Business Contracts Department was already bustling with activity, with everyone on high alert.
The Business Contracts Department Manager was a senior mid-level manager at Tianke, having worked under Huang Lilin for over a decade. He was experienced and shrewd, understood the rules and regulations better than anyone, and knew better than anyone that audits first checked contracts and were most likely to uncover loopholes in subcontracting agreements. Upon receiving the tip, he immediately stopped irrelevant chatter and kept everyone in the department working overtime to categorize and organize all the business ledgers overnight.
Holding a thick stack of contract files, he solemnly assigned tasks: "Listen up, everyone. No leaving early, no taking leave, and no passing on information privately tonight. First, rebind and archive all subcontracting contracts, labor agreements, and temporary supplementary visas from the past three years, categorized by project number, time sequence, and approval process. Replace any missing signatures with compliant ones overnight, and replace any missing attachments with the necessary process attachments overnight. Second, all verbal agreements and temporary off-site coordination activities must be documented in a unified manner. Only written records will be accepted. Anyone who speaks carelessly in private will be held responsible. Third, all sensitive, small, miscellaneous expenses and past favors and miscellaneous fees must be included in the historical maintenance buffer ledger, uniformly labeled as legacy expenses from old projects. No separate listings or mentioning of these expenses are permitted."
With clear and concise instructions, the entire Business Contracts Department immediately split up and took action, organizing ledgers, verifying official seals, and completing procedures. They worked in an orderly manner, plugging all the obvious loopholes in advance and leaving the audit team with no leverage.
Xia Ming was fully aware of all these overt preparations, but he never spoke of them. He wanted more than just a superficial smooth passage; behind the scenes, he had already quietly manipulated the finances: quietly postponing several large, high-quality payments to the next quarter, compliantly collecting upfront costs for multiple projects, and centrally accruing hidden maintenance losses, all to silently optimize the accounting data and gradually push Tianke's annual report towards a slightly unprofitable range.
He would never tell Huang Lilin these things. Firstly, Huang Lilin was impatient and couldn't keep secrets; if word got out, everything would be lost. Secondly, the time wasn't right; saying more would be pointless. The most appropriate time would be to wait until the audit revealed financial difficulties and the group was in a difficult position before proposing independence and self-rescue. Right now, all that was needed was to stabilize the situation and prepare for the audit; nothing more needed to be said.
In his office, Huang Lilin was still anxiously muttering, "As long as they don't seize power or dredge up old issues, we'll get through this audit."
Xia Ming nodded slightly in agreement, but his eyes remained calm and deep.