The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) has added Belgium to its list of countries with which it has a cooperative agreement to exchange information concerning the oversight of audit firms.
The PCAOB on Tuesday announced its entering into agreement with the Belgian Audit Oversight College (CTR-CSR). In addition to providing a framework for joint inspections, the pact allows for the exchange of confidential information in accordance with applicable Belgian law and the U.S. Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
“The agreement enables each regulator, consistent with our respective missions and statutory mandates, to conduct inspections and investigations, to select the audit work and potential violations to be examined, and to access firm personnel, audit work papers, and other information needed to complete our oversight activities,” said PCAOB Chairman William Duhnke III in a press release.
The agreement means the PCAOB can now inspect and investigate all PCAOB-registered accounting firms located in a European country that issue audit reports for public companies listed in the U.S. capital markets. The PCAOB said the pact demonstrates its continuing commitment to working cooperatively with other audit regulators in foreign jurisdictions.
On April 7, the PCAOB renewed its existing agreement with France’s audit regulator. Additionally, the organization has reached agreements with both Belgium and French audit regulators addressing the transfer of personal data to the PCAOB.
Jaclyn Jaeger is an editor with Compliance Week and has written on a wide variety of topics, including ethics and compliance, risk management, legal, enforcement, technology, and more.
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