China

Ruling Finds Communication With Federal Regulators Not Privileged Information

April 23, 2013

A recent district court ruling could push banks and other companies to be more careful with what they share with regulators, including the information they provide on compliance with certain regulations. A judge ordered Bank of China to provide plaintiffs in a lawsuit with information, including internal-analyses of its compliance systems, proposed actions, and changes to its compliance procedures that generally have been considered privileged in the past. More inside.
 

No Clear Solutions in Audit Standoff With China

January 23, 2013

As U.S. regulators press forward with their pursuit of access to documentation from audits conducted in China, public companies with units or subsidiaries there are becoming increasingly concerned that the countries won't be able to resolve the conflict. As few solutions emerge, some are wondering if Big 4 and other leading global audit firms could see their China affiliates barred from practicing before the SEC. More inside.
 

Whistleblowers to Play a Bigger Role in Enforcement in 2013

January 02, 2013

Corporate lawyers don't expect the SEC or the Justice Department to ease up on vigorous enforcement of securities laws, fraud, and global corruption. In fact, the number of enforcement actions in these areas could rise in the coming year, as whistleblower tips from the SEC's Whistleblower Office move through the pipeline. Inside, we consider what's in store for litigation and enforcement this year.
 

SEC Abandons Negotiations with China Over Documents

December 11, 2012

The Securities and Exchange Commission has given up hope of working with its Chinese regulatory counterparts to obtain audit work papers and has begun legal action against the largest audit firms in the United States to compel them to hand over audit documents compiled by affiliates in China. "Negotiations [with Chinese regulators] have ended unsuccessfully," the SEC said in a legal brief filed last week.
 

SEC Chases Five Major Firms for China Work Papers

December 03, 2012

Tired of being denied audit work papers in China, the Securities and Exchange Commission has begun administrative proceedings against affiliates of all Big 4 audit firms and BDO for refusing to produce documents the SEC has pursued related to China-based companies that are under investigation for possible accounting fraud.
 

PCAOB Reaches Tentative Deal With China

September 25, 2012

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has struck a tentative agreement with regulators in China to begin observing each other's audit oversight activities, in the hope it will eventually lead to greater cooperation. At this time, the deal does not include detailed reviews of individual audits or the release of work papers during investigations. More details inside.
 

SEC Pursues Charges at Two Companies Tied to China

September 07, 2012

The SEC accused a California company and three of its former executives last week of hiding a scheme from investors to transfer ownership of a Chinese subsidiary to its three Chinese managers—the second time that week that the agency took action against U.S.-listed companies operating in China, and the latest chapter in a protracted struggle U.S. regulators are having with the country. More inside.
 

U.S.-China Audit Standoff Courting Uncertainty

September 05, 2012

The standoff between the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board and the Chinese government about inspecting Chinese audit firms is continuing to escalate, to the point that Big 4 firms are restructuring their operations there and U.S. companies are wondering how their audits will fare under dueling regulatory scrutiny. More details—but no easy answers—are inside.
 

UTC Criminal Charges Highlight Need for Export Controls

August 07, 2012

The federal government is keeping a watchful eye on exports, wary of any shipment of sensitive technology to foreign powers like China and Russia, and it's coming down hard on companies that don't comply, as United Technologies Corp. recently found out. The defense contractor's consent agreement with the government conveys best practices in compliance with export control laws. Details inside.
 

PCAOB Warns China Patience is Wearing Thin

June 19, 2012

U.S. audit regulators are giving their Chinese counterparts a year-end deadline to create a process for joint audit inspections. Meanwhile, pending enforcement actions, incomplete inspections, and unresolved registration requests pile up as the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board awaits word from Chinese authorities. Full details inside.
 

With Deloitte Ensnared, China Localizes Audit Firms

May 16, 2012

China's Ministry of Finance recently announced a new policy that requires China's audit firms to increase their staffing of Chinese-trained and certified auditors so that no more than 20 percent of its partners are non-Chinese-certified accountants or auditors by 2017. A recent enforcement action against Deloitte is "more of a symptom than a cause" for the policy, says the general counsel of a U.S.-based audit firm.
 

Chinese Accounting Scandals Leave Bankers Jumpy

January 24, 2012

A wave of accounting scandals emerging from China in 2011 has caused investment bankers to get more cautious about new offerings, according to a recent BDO poll.
 

What's Fueling the U.S.'s Audit Standoff With China?

December 20, 2011

The United States and China are locked in a cold war of sorts over China's refusal to allow U.S. representatives to conduct inspections of firms that audit Chinese companies listed on U.S. exchanges. As the conflict deepens, the consequences increase. "If an acceptable mutual agreement cannot be reached, that would be quite shocking," says William Currier, a partner at White & Case and a former SEC official.
 

Senator Calls on PCAOB to Deregister Some Chinese Audit Firms

November 30, 2011

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) is calling on the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board to deregister Chinese audit firms that are not in compliance with U.S. regulatory inspections mandated by Sarbanes-Oxley. In a recent letter to the PCAOB, Schumer argued that the board has waited long enough for Chinese officials to get in line with U.S. inspection rules.
 

PCAOB Spotlights Fraud Risks, Especially in China

October 04, 2011

After a rash of auditor resignations and disclosures of accounting problems coming from China, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board issued a warning to auditors to pay closer attention to fraud risks when assessing financial information coming from China and other emerging markets. It also reminds auditors to be skeptical even of work by affiliated firms.
 

SEC, PCAOB Send Delegation to China

July 07, 2011

The SEC and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board are sending a delegation to China this week to meet with regulators there to take up concerns over allegations of shoddy audit work conducted by China-based firms. The contingent hopes to reach an agreement on how to conduct joint investigations of China-based auditing firms registered with the PCAOB.
 

SEC Warns Investors of Reverse Mergers; Joins PCAOB, NASDAQ in Worry

June 10, 2011

The Securities and Exchange Commission warned investors to be "especially careful" about investing in "reverse merger" companies, one day after the NASDAQ Stock Market proposed a rule to add listing requirements for such firms. The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has also recently published a research note and staff alert on reverse mergers from China. "It is pretty rare when you see so many regulators issuing guidance or modifying their rules etc. related to one particular issue," says Sanjay Shirodkar, of counsel at the law firm DLA Piper.
 

China Passes Anti-Bribery Law

April 12, 2011

At just two lines of text, China's new anti-bribery law is open for interpretation—but it is certain to complicate corporate anti-bribery efforts. "The government is concerned that corrupt officials are besmirching the good name of the Communist party," says Amy Sommers, national China partner for law firm Squire, Sanders & Dempsey.
 

How Language Shapes Our Perception of Ethics

July 25, 2010

I don’t often recommend articles from a rival publication, since (of course) Compliance Week delivers every bit of information our readers could possibly want. But an essay from the Wall Street Journal’s latest weekend edition merits an exception.The July 23 article, “Lost in Translation” by Lera Boroditsky, explores how differences...
 

China to Enforce Monopoly Laws Soon

August 25, 2009

Time is running out for any companies trading in China that have not yet ensured they comply with the county’s anti-monopoly laws, according to a briefing from law firm Mayer Brown.China has done nothing to enforce its new monopoly laws to date, deciding instead to wait until government agencies have...
 

News From the HR (Human Rights) Department...

June 09, 2009

Compliance headaches have gone global this week, from Nigeria to China.First, Royal/Dutch Shell finally blinked and settled a civil lawsuit against the company about to start in New York. Relatives of Ken Saro-Wiwa, a Nigerian civil-rights activist hanged by authorities there in 1995, had sued Shell under the U.S. Alien...
 

China’s Corporate Governance Improves, Slowly

May 15, 2009

Corporate governance practices at China’s biggest listed companies are improving, but weak internal controls remains a “pervasive issue,” according to a new study.For most Chinese listed companies, introducing the kind of enterprise-level internal controls and risk management systems needed to underpin good governance “is still at its nascent stage,” said...
 

Europe Extends IFRS Opt-Out for U.S. and Others

December 16, 2008

The European Commission has extended a ruling that permits companies from the United States and five other countries to file accounts under their own national GAAPs, rather than having to use International Financial Reporting Standards, which are mandatory for European public companies.When the trading bloc made IFRS reporting mandatory for...
 

China's Sarbanes-Oxley

October 01, 2008

I was just reading Richard Meyer's interesting article on Compliance Week (here) about “CSOX,” China’s version of governance and financial reporting akin to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in the United States, which Chinese authorities would like to have in place by the middle of next summer."CSOX"?   People, please!  I demand...
 

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