PJS

• High Beneish M‑Score 1.6022: Beneish’s M‑Score combines eight ratios to screen for earnings manipulation; the company sits at the 97th percentile among Vietnamese peers (higher = more aggressive accounting versus VN peers). Note the US cutoff of -1.78 is not calibrated for Vietnam; about 28% of Vietnamese firms exceed that US threshold, so the peer percentile and the +3.93 year‑over‑year change are important context.
• Large positive AQI (Abnormal Quality Index) = 10.0000: AQI is the component that captures abnormal accruals; a value of 10 (the largest of the Beneish components here) indicates the abnormal‑accrual signal is driving much of the M‑Score elevation.
• Very low cash conversion component in the Earnings‑Quality breakdown: Cash conversion score 10.1/100 and the three‑year operating cash flow / net profit = 1.53 (65th percentile among VN peers) show profit is not converting to cash as efficiently as many peers.
• TATA (total accruals to total assets) = 0.0812: This measures the magnitude of accruals relative to assets; a positive 8.12% suggests non‑cash items are a material part of reported performance.
• Year‑over‑year M‑Score increase +3.93: Beneish M‑Scores are only weakly autocorrelated (consecutive‑year correlation ~0.06), so a pronounced rise in one year is a secondary cue that accounting drivers changed recently.

• Altman Z‑Score 3.63 (safe zone): this score measures distance from financial distress; 3.63 indicates a low bankruptcy risk by the Altman metric.
• Piotroski F‑Score 5/9 (neutral): the F‑Score aggregates profitability, leverage/liquidity and operating efficiency signals; 5/9 is neither strongly positive nor strongly negative.
• Receivables outside the trade cycle = 1.9% of total assets (48th percentile): this measure (prepayments, loans receivable and other long‑term receivables) is around the median, not unusually large for Vietnamese non‑financial peers.
• No accumulated losses and 0 consecutive years of parent net loss up to FY2025; owner's equity (excluding minority interests) is positive: the published statements meet Vietnamese statutory solvency markers in these respects.

Ownership is highly concentrated: Tổng Công ty Cấp nước Sài Gòn holds 70.4%, with two other institutional holders at 10.0% and 7.0% respectively; an individual holds 0.1%. The largest holder is a state‑linked water utility (state/institutional control), which implies group and policy objectives may influence reporting and intra‑group transactions. There were no director‑deal registrations provided in the data supplied (director‑deal registrations are exchange filings of intended transactions, not executed trades).

• Compare the 2025 statement of cash flows (operating cash flow) to the parent profit (profit after tax) and the auditor’s notes to reconcile the operating cash flow / net profit ratio used in the cash conversion metric.
• Inspect the notes and schedules for related‑party transactions and the line items supporting receivables, prepayments and loans receivable to confirm the composition of the 1.9% of total assets classified as receivables outside the trade cycle.
• Review the reconciliation of total accruals (TATA) in the accounting policies or the auditor’s explanatory notes to see which non‑cash items (provisions, depreciation policy changes, deferments) contributed to the 0.0812 TATA ratio.
• Read the equity and retained earnings schedules and the auditor’s report to verify the absence of accumulated losses, the positive owner’s equity (ex‑minority), and any audit emphasis of matter or going‑concern discussion despite the benign Altman Z‑Score.