The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) has struck an agreement with Chinese regulatory authorities that would allow the inspection of audit reports for US-listed Chinese companies. Now, according to SEC chair Gary Gensler, “The proof will be in the pudding.”
Roughly 200 Chinese companies — including biopharma companies BeiGene, Hutchmed, Zai Lab, I-Mab, Sinovac, Gracell Biotechnologies, Adagene and Burning Rock Biotech — have been singled out by the SEC for violating a new governing US-listed companies. The law, called the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act, stipulates that any foreign companies audited by a firm that the nonprofit PCAOB is unable to review for three consecutive years should be delisted.