China and the US have announced an agreement to audit Chinese companies

The signed agreement will allow US inspectors to inspect companies in China and Hong Kong

Washington and Beijing on Friday (26.Aug.2022) reached an agreement on auditing Chinese public companies, a key step to prevent some Chinese companies from leaving US stock markets. Information from The New York Times From this Wall Street Journal.

The deal, which has been negotiated for months, allows U.S. supervisors to inspect companies in China or Hong Kong. Listed on stock exchanges. Investigators will work to assess whether the Chinese According to US law until September.

oh PCAOB (Public Company Accounting Oversight Board), established by the United States Congress to oversee audits of public companies, this agreement “First step“.

Until then, due to the impasse between the countries, studies were blocked. China had previously refused access to US regulators on national security grounds.

By Access, the U.S. Regulators can now obtain affidavits from “All personnel involved in audits that the PCAOB examines or investigates”.

The PCAOB, the China Securities Regulatory Commission and the Chinese Ministry of Finance signed the agreement. According to the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, there are 261 Chinese companies listed in the US with a total market value of about $1.3 trillion by 2022.

“The agreement signed today gives the PCAOB full access to audit work documents, personnel and other information of any firm we choose, without loopholes and exceptions, but The real test is whether the words agreed on paper translate into full access in practice. I said PCAOB President Erica Y. Williams.