United States of America: Issued PCAOB report confirming complete access to inspect investigate registered public accounting firms headquartered in China

On 15 December 2022, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) issued a report under the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act of 2020 (HFCAA) stating that it is able to inspect and investigate all the public accounting firms established in People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Hong Kong. The report is vacating the PCAOB assessment from 16 December 2021 that determined that it could not investigate the public accounting firms established in PRC. The PCAOB was able to access the data of accounting firms following the cooperation agreement signed on 26 August 2022 by the Securities Regulatory Commission and the Ministry of Finance of China aimed at increasing cooperation and offering the PCAOB access to the documents of registered public accounting firms based in China and Hong Kong. The PCAOB has the power to investigate and inspect companies issuing securities in the US that use an accounting firm from a foreign jurisdiction to certify to the Securities and Exchange Commission that they are not owned or controlled by a foreign governmental entity. The HFCAA gives the PCAOB the power to inspect and investigate the accounting firms of the companies that list their securities in the US.