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ARTICLE · 26 FEBRUARY 2020

Audit Quality In Emerging Markets And Coronavirus

Mayer Brown
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Last week, in a joint statement, Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Jay Clayton, the Director of the Division of Corporation Finance, Bill Hinman, the SEC's Chief...

United StatesAccounting and Audit
Anna T. Pinedo
Anna T. Pinedo
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Last week, in a joint statement, Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Jay Clayton, the Director of the Division of Corporation Finance, Bill Hinman, the SEC's Chief Accountant, Sagar Teotia, and the PCAOB Chair, William Duhnke, commented on the continuing dialogue among the SEC, PCAOB, and representatives from the four largest US audit firms regarding audit quality across their global networks. The discussion focused on the challenges associated with audit work in emerging markets, including in China. The statement notes that the PCAOB continues to be prevented from inspecting the audit work and practices of PCAOB-registered audit firms in China on a comparable basis to other non-U.S. jurisdictions. The statement notes that the four largest audit firms audit the financial statements of approximately 140 China and China-based, U.S. exchange-listed, public companies, and the China and Hong Kong network firms for these four audit firms participated in 5% or more of the

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