In late August, the Securities and Exchange Commission approved the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board’s rule proposal governing the oversight of foreign accounting firms.
Under Sarbanes-Oxley, non-U.S. accounting firms are required to register with the PCAOB just like domestic firms, and they are subject to the similar types of inspections and investigations. The registration provision caused considerable frustration overseas, as foreign firms resented both the threat of U.S. oversight and the prospect of duplicative registration requirements.
