IMO any report shouldn’t just be dismissed; even though it comes...

IMO any report shouldn’t just be dismissed; even though it comes from a questionable source the content should be scrutinised to see if it has merit.
It certainly suggests that we should be alert for decreasing profitability in upcoming quarters.


The below are generalisms, written for myself as points to conduct research on:
On my second reading the report implicated Allkem’s actions in 2023 far more than Livents. I find this interesting, given that the merger vote happened so late in the year, and there were some vocal opposition, which really didn’t make it a sure thing.
So if these accounting practices by Allkem are correct, the question is what was their motive?
1.Could it be to get bonuses that may have been paid on post merger
results?
2. Could an alternative explanation be that Allkem did this to maximise the 2023 profitability to prevent renegotiation of the merger ratio, which would have ended up in Livents favour? We now know that both Allkems and Livents shareholders thought the merger ratio unfair, and there have been hints that Allkem may have been running the Olaroz plant at high throughput levels that were unsustainable.

As for DSI, I think not all facts have been reported. The inverse correlation between DSI and gross margin has been presented, but there is no overlay of lithium price. Perhaps an overlay of lithium price would almost perfectly correlate with gross margin, and provide a better explanation of margin pressures than building inventories?

I need to do better investigation of management performance measures.