U.S. Reaches Auditing Deal With China

English: An entrance to the Peking University (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

New York, Oct. 10, swing trading .-  In a step toward resolving tensions between Washington and Beijing over accounting by Chinese companies, American regulators said Tuesday that they had reached an agreement to let them begin observing corporate audits in China.

The agreement, announced by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, an auditing watchdog based in Washington, fell short of the full access the board wanted to inspect and examine Chinese audits of American-listed corporations.

The board and Chinese authorities “have signed an agreement to proceed with observational visits. We expect them to take place within the next couple of months,” a spokeswoman for the board, Colleen Brennan, said.

American regulators want access in China to inspect audit companies that check the books of companies based in China that are listed on American exchanges, but China has resisted, citing sovereignty concerns.

The accounting oversight board’s chairman, James R. Doty, has repeatedly said that a plan for such inspections had to be in place by the end of this year.

Paul Gillis, a professor at Peking University’s Guanghua School of Management, called Tuesday’s agreement “a face-saving way to kick the can down the road,” arguing the accounting oversight board might decide to extend its year-end deadline for a full inspection deal. 

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