"The net of heaven is vast and wide, and nothing can escape it", this is the simple belief of the ancients that justice will eventually appear; and today, when artificial intelligence and financial auditing go hand in hand, perhaps even the "looseness" will be filled tightly. With the evolution of technology, a game about whether the "gray area" can be hidden between code and model is quietly unfolding in the core battlefield of capital operation of listed companies.
At the end of 2024, a piece of news ignited the nerves of the capital circle: an A-share main board company used "non-recurring gains and losses" to make beautiful financial statements during the merger and acquisition process, but was discovered in real time by the AI financial analysis system. Those operations that used to be covered by "time difference" are now exposed under the spotlight of model building. This makes us think: In the era when AI auditing technology is gradually maturing, is there still room for maneuver in the capital operation of listed companies?
As Goheal, who has been deeply involved in the merger and acquisition restructuring market for many years, we have realized in countless actual battles that to tell a capital story, we must not only understand the rules, but also the technology. In the past, we emphasized the art of "storytelling", but today, we are more concerned about - are you ready to tell stories to AI?
American Goheal M&A Group
The "stage play" of capital operation has always been wonderful. From high-premium acquisitions to asset injections, from PE+ listed companies to "snake swallowing elephants", there is never a lack of imagination. But the reason why the story is established is that the audience is willing to believe it. Once the audience becomes a tireless and emotionless AI, those logically inconsistent plots may evolve into a "chain of evidence" for supervision.
For example, the classic routines of the past - increasing market value, creating net profits, and avoiding delisting risks through mergers and acquisitions - if you look closely at the data logic, there is inevitably suspicion of water injection. In the past, multiple equity structures, VIE structures, off-balance sheet financing and other tools were used to "patch". Now these patches are identified one by one in AI modeling, and even the reasons for the "abnormal" of gross profit margins can be automatically cross-verified from the upstream and downstream data chains. The gaps in capital operation are being gradually sealed by lines of code.
This is not alarmist. According to a Hong Kong stock "shell-changing" project in which Goheal participated, the other party's target company used a set of "fitting and tuning" growth curve charts when disclosing the financial forecast model. It seems reasonable, but it is actually based on a set of idealized industrial policy assumptions. However, in the AI-assisted audit system, these forecasts are compared with actual macro data, policy documents, and industry average indicators one by one, and the model is eventually "re-made", and the capital party eventually turns to conservative valuation. Storytelling is of course important, but the story must stand up to the "model test".
In this context, Goheal has been thinking about a question: Does the logic of future capital operation have to shift from "telling a story that can impress investors" to "telling a logic that AI cannot find fault with"? This is not a simple upgrade problem, but a thorough reconstruction of narrative language.
In the past, the narrative of enterprises in the capital market was more like a human game, competing for experience, information gap, and persuasiveness. Today, the relationship between enterprises and AI is more like coexisting with an "auditor" who does not take a nap and has unlimited memory. Each of your asset restructuring plans, every gambling arrangement, and every future income statement will become a data point for structured analysis and be "reviewed" in hundreds of millions of reference models.
Is there any gray space? Goheal's answer is: Yes, but not by hiding, but by the advancement of design logic. In other words, truly smart capital operations are no longer "covering up problems" but "reasonable construction". You can't hide, but you can set compliance boundaries in advance and dance within the rules.
For example, in a "M&A + restructuring" case, we assisted clients in using AI to simulate the acceptability of different valuation paths from a regulatory perspective, thereby avoiding valuation disputes caused by high premiums. We also built an AI prediction system that can automatically judge the reaction tendency of a capital action in the secondary market based on disclosure text, financial report data and market public opinion, helping clients determine the "rhythm" and "method" of information disclosure, truly achieving "data as a shield and technology as a spear".
Many people worry that AI will make capital operations lose imagination. In fact, it is just the opposite - the more restrictions, the more interesting the innovation. A well-constructed transaction structure is often easier to gain the trust of investors and pass regulatory review. Future capital operations are more like a precise logical deduction, which requires the use of "audit thinking" to reversely deduce the "story script".
This requires companies to form a "trinity" structural design capability with technical personnel and compliance personnel before planning capital actions, and even take "AI explainability" as a prerequisite to build financing logic. At Goheal, we call it "story as model", that is, behind every M&A story, a capital model with a clear structure, transparent path, and traceable cause and effect must be generated.
Goheal Group
You may ask, what should those listed companies that still rely on old routines do? Our suggestion is: accept the reality that AI supervision will become the mainstream of the capital market as soon as possible, and start to build your own financial and business structure from an "anti-audit perspective". Don't wait for AI to find fault with you, but first train your story to run in front of the AI model and fix the "plot loopholes" before you can perform on stage with peace of mind.
Back to the original question: In the AI era, is there still a "gray space" in the capital operation of listed companies? If the "gray" is to evade supervision, then the answer is clear-the opportunity is getting smaller and smaller. But if "grey" refers to the ambiguous story space and the narrative space that can be freely imagined, then it has not disappeared, but has evolved into a higher-level, more sophisticated and more compliant "structural design language".
This change has already happened. AI is not the end, but the beginning of a redefinition of "trust". Goheal will continue to stand at the intersection of technology and capital, helping more companies to tell stories further in the light of compliance.
So, are you ready to let AI read your M&A script? Welcome to discuss your views with us in the comment area.
[About Goheal] Goheal is a leading investment holding company focusing on global M&A holdings. It has deeply cultivated the three core business areas of listed company control acquisition, listed company M&A and restructuring, and listed company capital operation. With its deep professional strength and rich experience, it provides enterprises with full life cycle services from M&A to restructuring to capital operation, aiming to maximize corporate value and long-term benefit growth.
