China sent officials to Hong Kong to assist US audit regulators with onsite inspections – report
China sent officials to Hong Kong to assist US audit regulators with onsite inspections – report

China sent officials to Hong Kong to assist US audit regulators with onsite inspections – report

China has sent a team of officials to Hong Kong to assist US regulators with onsite audit inspections involving Chinese companies, Reuters reported citing people familiar with the matter.

About 10 officials from the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) and the Ministry of Finance (MOF) have arrived in Hong Kong and joined the audit inspection, which started on Monday, the report said.

The officials will assist a team of inspectors from the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), the US audit watchdog, who are in Hong Kong for the onsite inspection, it said.

The two countries’ regulators last month reached an agreement to allow US watchdog, for the first time, to inspect China-based accounting companies that audit New York-listed companies, a major step towards resolving an audit dispute that threatened to boot more than 200 Chinese companies from US exchanges. 

PCAOB chair Erica Williams said in a speech on Thursday that agency officials had arrived in Hong Kong to begin the inspections.

“The PCAOB has sole discretion to select the firms, audit engagements and potential violations it inspects and investigates – without consultation with, nor input from, Chinese authorities,” she said.