The U.S. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) has issued a new framework rule that is expected to assist the implementation of the Foreign Company Responsibility Act, which prohibits foreign companies such as those from China and Hong Kong from listing on U.S. exchanges if they refuse to undergo audit inspections, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump signed the Foreign Company Responsibility Act last December, which prohibits foreign companies that refuse to undergo an audit for three consecutive years from being listed on U.S. exchanges. The bill is seen by industry sources as a response to Beijing’s persistent refusal to allow Chinese companies listed in the U.S. to undergo relevant audits.
Reports say the Chinese chain RuiXing Coffee, which was delisted from the U.S. last year after a scandal involving fake accounts, has agreed to pay $180 million to settle charges by U.S. regulators that it falsified its accounts for profit. The incident also highlights the difficulty for U.S. regulators to audit Chinese companies listed in the U.S.
The U.S. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board is known to inspect more than 200 non-U.S. auditors in over 40 jurisdictions every three years, but is unable to do so in China and Hong Kong. It also cannot review audit documents in China without the approval of the relevant Chinese authorities.
The latest framework policy of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) will determine that it is unable to inspect auditors located outside the United States, and that it can require disclosure of operational information from auditors and auditing firms through the SEC, and take action against those firms such as issuing trading bans.
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