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Chinese official blames US politics for lack of auditing agreement for US-listed companies

  • A Chinese securities regulator blamed a shift in Washington’s political atmosphere for derailing progress made towards agreeable auditing standards
  • US-listed Chinese companies face being ejected from the NYSE or Nasdaq if they don’t comply, which is not currently allowed in China

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The Nasdaq MarketSite stands in New York City’s Times Square neighborhood on July 8, 2020. Chinese-listed companies risk being kicked off the Nasdaq and New York Stock Exchange if they do not allow US regulators to see company audits for three years in a row, something they cannot currently do under Chinese law. Photo: Bloomberg
Iris DengandCelia Chen
A top Chinese securities regulator in charge of talking with the US about the auditing of Chinese businesses listed in US markets called on US President Joe Biden’s administration to work with Beijing, blaming the lack of an agreement on an increasingly unfavourable political atmosphere in Washington.
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The US Securities and Exchange Commission started implementing in March a law passed at the end of 2020, as former president Donald Trump was on his way out, that allows the agency to review accounting documents of Chinese businesses publicly listed on US exchanges. Companies that do not comply – a possible result of Chinese regulators not yet granting access to the US Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) to audit papers – could be ejected from the New York Stock Exchange or Nasdaq, putting investors at risk if they have money in any of more than 200 Chinese companies listed there.

Fang Xinghai, vice-chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), said during a panel discussion at the 2021 Boao Forum for Asia on Monday that the regulator had made progress with the PCAOB over the past four to five years towards building a mutually acceptable mechanism for reconciling local auditing rules with global standards. That was upended when the “political environment in the US changed drastically”, according to Fang.

“As for specific ways for PCAOB to check Chinese accounting firms, we believe we have provided workable proposals that can meet PCAOB demands and China’s national security requirements,” Fang said. “We had sent over the latest version on August 4 last year about a joint review with the PCAOB, but unfortunately, the atmosphere in the US since the US presidential election has not been favourable for China-US cooperation. And we haven’t received a reply from the PCAOB over whether our proposal is suitable or not. We have been sending an email on every month since last August, but they just didn’t reply to us.”

A view of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) office building on Beijing’s Financial Street on December 18, 2019. Photo: Simon Song
A view of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) office building on Beijing’s Financial Street on December 18, 2019. Photo: Simon Song

Fang added that the US threat to delist Chinese businesses after three years of non-compliance, as well as its request for Chinese businesses to disclose “unusual information”, does not represent “a cooperative attitude”.

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