四大吃官司,在美中國公司可能退市
????上周,中國監管機構在華盛頓與美國上市公司會計監管委員會(PCAOB)和美國證券交易委員會(SEC)進行了會談。會談估計不是很順利。? ????周一,美國證券交易委員會對四大國際會計師事務所中國業務以及德豪國際(BDO)中國成員所大華提起了行政訴訟,指控這些會計師事務所拒絕提供在美上市公司的審計工作文件,違反了美國證券法和《薩班斯-奧克斯利法案》(Sarbanes-Oxley Act)。在此之前,德勤(Deloitte)也由于相同原因被訴諸法庭,因為它拒絕提供東南融通(Longtop Financial Technologies)的審計工作文件。 ????四大會計師事務所發布聲明,把這個問題歸咎于外交失敗。? ????筆者相信,由此將啟動一項議程:美國上市公司會計監管委員會可能取消這些中國會計師事務所的注冊,禁止它們繼續向美國證券交易委員會提交報告。除非問題得以解決,否則這可能導致在美國上市的中國公司退市。在華跨國公司也可能面臨問題,因為美國上市公司會計監管委員會的條例要求在跨國公司審計中承擔關鍵角色的審計公司必須在這個委員會注冊。對于在中國擁有龐大業務的美國跨國公司而言,現實狀況是四大會計師事務所中國業務在其審計中承擔了關鍵角色。要想解決這個問題,他們可能需要將審計工作分由幾家事務所承擔,沒有一家事務所承擔關鍵角色。 ????筆者估計下一步會看到美國上市公司會計監管委員會發布一項擬議規定,撤銷它無法實施檢查的會計師事務所的注冊資格。筆者預計會在未來幾周看到這一幕。美國上市公司會計監管委員會的擬議條例將征求公眾建議,預計會產生激烈反響。當然,任何條例都必須經過美國證券交易委員會的審批批準。 ? ????譯者:早稻米 |
????Chinese regulators had meetings in Washington last week with the PCAOB and SEC. ?They must not have gone very well.? ????The?SEC yesterday?charged the Big Four and BDO in China with violations of U.S. securities laws and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act for failing to provide audit working papers for U.S. listed companies. ?This follows the earlier charges against Deloitte for the same issue, and the Court action against Deloitte for failure to produce the working papers for Longtop Financial Technologies.? ????The Big Four?issued statements?pointing blame at diplomatic failure.? ????I believe that this marks the beginning of the process to deregister Chinese accounting firms from the PCAOB and to ban them from practice before the SEC. ?Unless resolved, this will likely lead to the delisting of U.S. listed Chinese companies. Multinational companies in China may also face issues since PCAOB rules require an auditor playing a substantial role in the audit of an MNC be registered with the PCAOB. ?There are situations where the China Big Four are playing a substantial role in the audit of U.S. MNCs that have substantial operations in China. They may need to resolve this by dividing the work among several firms so that no single firm plays a substantial role.?? ????I expect the next action we see is the PCAOB releasing a proposed rule that will revoke the registration of any accounting firm it cannot inspect. I expect that we see this in the next few weeks. The proposed PCAOB rule would be sent out for public comment, which should be vociferous. Any rule has to be approved by the SEC.?? |
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