The US and China are nearing an agreement allowing American accounting regulators to travel to Hong Kong to inspect audit records of US-listed Chinese companies, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.
Securities regulators in Beijing are making arrangements for Chinese companies listed in New York and their accounting firms to transfer audit working papers and other data from mainland China to Hong Kong, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter. Regulators from the US Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) would then go to perform on-site inspections.
Beijing and Washington are in talks to resolve a long-running audit dispute which could result in Chinese companies being banned from US exchanges if China does not comply with Washington’s demand for complete access to the books of U.S.-listed Chinese companies.