PCAOB Foreign Inspections Blocked

State Board Report

February 2010

Despite the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board’s intentions to conduct inspections of registered public accounting firms in 27 non?US jurisdictions during 2009, they were unable to conduct inspections in 12 of those jurisdictions during the year. The PCAOB reported on February 3 that these inspections did not occur: “Specifically, because of asserted restrictions under non?US law or objections based on national sovereignty, access to the information necessary to conduct inspections of registered firms was, and continues to be, denied in China, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.” Talks with the relevant authorities in those jurisdictions are continuing in an effort to resolve objections to the PCAOB’s inspections. The names of the uninspected firms have been posted on the PCAOB’s Web site, www.pcaobus.org.

By the end of 2009 the PCAOB had conducted inspections of one or more registered firms located in the following non?US jurisdictions: Argentina, Australia, Belize, Bermuda, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Cayman Islands, Chile, Colombia, Greece, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Kazakhstan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Russian Federation, Singapore, South Africa, Taiwan, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom.