With the collapse of talks between the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board and its Chinese counterparts, a trans-Pacific auditor inspection conflict is escalating and threatening to spin out of control. The PCAOB will soon be forced to follow its own rules and de-register Chinese accountants, a move that would likely lead to a series of […]
Richard Meyer
Posted inAnti-Bribery
China Passes Anti-Bribery Law
China, where many companies get tripped up for violating the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, has passed an anti-bribery law of its own. The measure, passed in late February, is an exercise in brevity. While the FCPA weighs in at 16 pages, and the U.K. Bribery Act runs about 17 pages, the Chinese anti-bribery law […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
Stock Exchange of Hong Kong: Away Game, Home Rules
When the Hong Kong Stock Exchange announced in early December that it would list Chinese companies that use mainland accounting standards and auditors, the international investment community was surprised, to say the least. One of the strongest and most reputable markets in the world had decided to welcome companies with financial statements prepared in a […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
One Way Around an Onerous China Tax Law? Ignore it
Chinese tax authorities surprised Western companies last December with a new tax law aimed squarely at a standard legal mechanism to do business in China, the offshore holding company. Now, nearly one year later, companies have found a surprisingly successful—yet potentially risky—strategy to comply with the law: pretend it’s not there. Bureaucratically known as Circular […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
The Perils of Good Labor Standards in China
Labor standards in China have re-emerged as a concern for global corporations this summer, after a series of worker suicides this year at a sprawling electronics manufacturer that counts Apple, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, and many other Western companies among its customers. The problem for corporate compliance and risk executives in the United States is a troubling […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
Overseas Jurisdictions Step Up Anti-Trust Reviews
Warning to anyone planning a big merger or acquisition this year: You may need to alert regulators in Zambia. Or Uruguay. Or Malaysia. Or any number of other nations, for that matter. More and more nations around the world are adopting pre-merger notification laws, meaning that global companies planning large deals may need to file […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
Corporate India Strives to Hit 2011 IFRS Goal
When India announced in 2007 that it would fully adopt International Financial Reporting Standards by 2011, nobody doubted it would. Two years later … nobody is quite so sure. “Whether all organizations in India adopt IFRS by 2011, we will have to wait and watch,” says Manish Dugar, CFO of Wipro Technologies. “My estimate would […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
Positive Signs From China on Regulation
Compliance executives should take note of a spate of new tax rules from the Chinese government for two reasons: first, the nuts-and-bolts headache of obeying the laws; and second, for the deeper message Chinese regulators are telegraphing about how they will handle U.S. companies doing business there. And get this: That deeper message might actually […]
Posted inData Privacy
State Secrets, Business Information in China
The broad contours of the dispute between mining conglomerate Rio Tinto and the Chinese government—hardball business tactics, espionage charges, four Rio employees under arrest—are enough to leave any compliance officer unsettled. The spat itself is likely to be settled via quiet diplomacy between China, Australia (Rio Tinto’s home country), and Rio’s boardroom. But compliance officers […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
Once Feared, China Labor Law Eases Its Bite
The Chinese Labor Contract Law went into effect on Jan. 1, 2008, amid suspicions that it might be used to force Western companies into compliance with the whim of whatever Chinese regulator happened to use it. Then China’s economy began to unravel along with the rest of the world’s. Today, the law might as well […]