会计谜团中的阿里巴巴究竟价值几何？

    根据招股说明书，阿里巴巴的单一业务理由是：首席运营决策者是“由公司管理团队成员组成的战略委员会……公司只有一项运营业务需报告，即提供互联网和移动商务及相关服务。虽然互联网和移动商务及相关服务由阿里巴巴不同的业务部门组成，但提供给首席运营决策者的信息是收入层面信息。而且，阿里巴巴不在业务部门间分配运营成本或资产，因为首席运营决策者不会用这些信息来配置资源或评估业务部门的绩效。”

    没有一家公司愿意披露超出监管要求范围的信息，尤其是业务细分信息。但是，即便是从表面上看，阿里巴巴给出的一维报告解释仍存在一些问题。首席运营决策者/管理委员会只是按收入来分配资源或评估绩效。也就是说资产与费用控制不在考量范围内。唯一的内部约束机制就是扩大收入。但股东们对管理层的期待更多，比如明智的资本配置。如果管理者全都只盯着收入，就别指望这些了。

    同样，华尔街也不会因为阿里巴巴管理者的资产配置技巧喜欢上这家公司。只谈增长，不论代价。缺乏不同业务部门的重要信息，可能导致估值猜测沦为一场阿里式的七嘴八舌。（财富中文网）

    Jack T. Ciesielski是位于巴尔的摩的资产管理和研究公司R.G.Associates, Inc.的总裁，该公司为机构投资者出版研究服务资讯刊物《The Analyst’s Accounting Observer》。

    译者：早稻米

    Alibaba’s one-segment rationale, according to the prospectus: the chief operating decision maker is a “strategic committee comprised of members of the Company’s management team… the Company had one single operating and reportable segment, namely the provision of online and mobile commerce and related services. Although the online and mobile commerce and related services consist of different business units of the Company, information provided to the chief operating decision-maker is at the revenue level and the Company does not allocate operating costs or assets across business units, as the chief operating decision-maker does not use such information to allocate resources or evaluate the performance of the business units.”

    No company likes to disclose more than required, least of all segment information. Yet taking Alibaba’s explanation for one-dimension reporting at face value still raises troubling issues. The chief operating decision maker/management committee is using only revenue to allocate resources or evaluate performance. Forget about asset and expense control – the only internal discipline is to grow revenues. Yet shareholders ought to expect more from the managers running their company, such as wise allocation of capital. Don’t expect it if managers are focused only on the top line.

    Then again, Wall Street won’t be loving Alibaba because of its managers’ asset allocation skills. It’s going to be all about the growth, no matter what the price. And the lack of meaningful information about the different segments may make valuation guesses just so much Ali-babble.

    Jack T. Ciesielski is president of R.G. Associates, Inc., an asset management and research firm in Baltimore that publishes The Analyst’s Accounting Observer, a research service for institutional investors.