After nearly two months of twists and turns, the annual report audit task for *ST Jintai (Shanghai Kinlita Chemical Co.,Ltd.) (SZ:300225, Price: 5.72 yuan, Market Cap: 2.719 billion yuan) is set to fall back into the hands of Zhongxinghua Certified Public Accountants (Special General Partnership) (hereafter referred to as Zhongxinghua). On the evening of January 27, *ST Jintai announced its intention to appoint Zhongxinghua as its annual audit accounting firm.
The announcement stated that, as of now, Zhongxinghua has not signed a formal agreement with the company, and the appointment of the annual audit accounting firm still needs to be submitted to the company's shareholders' meeting for approval. If the company fails to formally appoint an accounting firm and disclose the audited 2025 annual report before the legal deadline of April 30, 2026, it will lead to the termination of the company's stock listing.
It is noteworthy that this is not the first time *ST Jintai has appointed Zhongxinghua. At the end of 2024, the company had appointed Zhongxinghua as its annual audit firm. Subsequently, Zhongxinghua issued an adverse opinion on Kinlita's 2024 financial report, which led to the delay in the annual report and the company being labeled *ST.
In 2025, Zhongxinghua issued an audit report for Kinlita expressing an inability to form an opinion. According to a special statement issued by the audit firm, in 2024, Kinlita signed procurement agreements with traders, including Ruinai Trade (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., at the beginning of each quarter and transferred funds to them, then signed procurement cancellation agreements at the end of each quarter for the traders to return the funds. Based on fund flow records and procurement summaries, the auditor concluded that due to the quarterly cyclical flow of funds between Kinlita and the relevant traders, there was a significant risk that the funds were being channeled to an ultimate beneficiary through intermediaries for fund occupation.
Regulators also believed there was a significant risk that the relevant funds transferred out by Kinlita under the guise of strategic inventory were subsequently occupied by related parties. Following the expiration of Zhongxinghua's contract, *ST Jintai announced it would change its accounting firm. However, in less than two months, *ST Jintai announced it would once again appoint Zhongxinghua.
Notably, in several previous announcements regarding the planned change of accounting firm, *ST Jintai had repeatedly mentioned that "the company has fully communicated with the former accounting firm regarding the expiration of the engagement and non-renewal, and Zhongxinghua is aware of the above matter and has no objections." Comparing the teams proposed for appointment in 2024 and 2025, the intended appointee for *ST Jintai this time has changed to the Zhongxinghua Jiangsu Branch, and the engagement partner has been changed to Jin Jun.
Another notable piece of information is that *ST Jintai mentioned in its latest announcement that Zhongxinghua has not yet signed a formal agreement with the company. This means that until a formal agreement is secured, *ST Jintai's plan to appoint an accounting firm remains subject to change.
*ST Jintai's recent search for an accounting firm is a rare occurrence in the entire A-share market. In early December 2025, due to the expiration of its contract with Zhongxinghua, *ST Jintai planned to change its audit firm and announced its intention to appoint Beijing Zhengyuan Accounting Firm (General Partnership) (hereafter referred to as Zhengyuan Accounting) as the auditor for its 2025 financial report and internal control audit.
Public information shows that Zhengyuan Accounting's business scale is relatively small. In 2024, it served as the annual report auditor for 0 listed companies and 6 public-listed companies on the NEEQ, with total audit fees of 710,000 yuan. Its audited business revenue was 20.12 million yuan, including 15.99 million yuan from audit business and 2.36 million yuan from securities business.
In mid-January 2026, *ST Jintai proposed a new plan, changing the intended accounting firm to Shandong Shuntian Xincheng Accounting Firm (Special General Partnership) (hereafter referred to as Shuntian Xincheng). Shuntian Xincheng's size is also not large. In 2024, Shuntian Xincheng provided annual audit services for 2 listed companies and 29 NEEQ-listed companies. Its 2024 business revenue was 61.4657 million yuan, including 47.2299 million yuan from audit business and 7.0481 million yuan from securities business. Ultimately, this plan also failed to materialize.
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