【新唐人2011年10月6日訊】週一，美中兩國就允許美國會計師事務所監管機構到中國進行審查的談判，因中方代表臨時取消訪美行程，不得不推遲，外界認為，在誠信問題上，中國方面恐怕難以面對美方的審計。
中方的代表原定這個月訪問華盛頓，進行第二輪的商討，議題包括是否允許美國上市公司會計委員會的審計師到中國查核帳目，特別是在美國上市而由中國會計公司做賬的中國公司。
由於中方臨時取消訪美行程導致會議推遲，事發突然，中方代表之一的中國證監會官員對此並沒有作出回應。
今年以來，多家在美國上市的中國公司，因傳出帳目不清或資產數字有誤，導致股價大幅度下跌，遭到美國司法部門介入調查。特別是一些中、小規模的互聯網站公司，問題尤其嚴重，連帶相對賬項透明的公司例如「新浪」及「百度」，也被投資者拋售，造成股價急挫，據媒體報導，部分原因是美國政府對這些公司的會計審計調查力度正在加大。
就在談判被推遲的幾週前，美國證券交易委員會繞過中國監管機構，直接對大型會計師事務所——「德勤」的中國子公司採取行動，要求它提供一家美國證券交易委員會正在調查的客戶相關檔案。
中央研究院經濟研究所研究員蔡文禎：「 任何國家的公司在美國註冊或運作，本來美國就有權力作這個調查，你要調查，股票就跌，事實上是一個不好的警訊，就是為甚麼美國一調查，市場就會有這麼大的危機反應，我覺得這才是問題之所在。」
在出現問題的中國企業中，有很多企業的審計是由中國的會計師事務所進行的，經濟評論員草庵居士指出，中國社會普遍存在誠信問題，使得美方在審查中國公司申請在美國上市的過程中，無法取得相關的資料，現在美國要開始展開調查，中國公司方面的態度不是躲就是逃避。
經濟評論員草庵居士：「追查之後，發現中國公司造假的情況，非常嚴重，非常普遍，就造成美國投資人商譽上很大的損失，誠信造成很大的問題，針對這方面，美國就遵照美國的法律，政府司法部門開始進行調查，看看這裡面有沒有蓄意欺詐的情況，就造成中國這些公司普遍的不敢面對這些司法問題，所以它們就 一直在躲，一直在逃避。」
草庵強調，美國司法部門的介入，實際上反映的是中國的政治問題。
經濟評論員草庵居士：「(美國)司法部門介入，我相信在今後會有大量中國上市公司會爆出造假問題，表面上是經濟問題，但是實際上反映的是很多政治問題，包括國家的誠信問題，其實對中國的經濟會有很大的影響。」
根據《彭博社》報導，引述美國上市公司會計監管委員會一名發言人的話說，重開談判的確實日期「尚未有定案」，但他重申：「我們仍熱切期待能與中方代表在短期內重開談判。」
至於美中雙方何時可以展開第二輪談判，商討美國監管機構能否到中國進行審查，各界仍在密切關注。
新唐人記者周玉林、林平、孫寧採訪報導。
China Postpone US Audit Inspection Of Chinese Firms
Negotiations between the U.S. and Chinese officials, giving
US securities regulators the right to investigate companies
within China, had to be postponed on 3rd October.
This is because China suddenly canceled a visit to the U.S.
Analysts believe that in terms of good faith, Chinese firms
are unlikely to face a U.S. audit inspection.
Chinese officials were scheduled to visit Washington
this month for the second round of discussions,
including issues whether allowing the auditors of U.S.
Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB)
to audit in China. The special targets are US-listed
Chinese firms whose accounting was done by
Chinese accounting firms in China.
Chinese officials temporarily canceled the visit to the U.S.
causing the meeting to be postponed.
A China Securities Regulatory Commission officer,
one of the Chinese representatives, has not responded yet.
This year, a number of Chinese companies went public
in the U.S., but were reportedly making opaque accounting
or inaccurate assets figures, leading shares to fall sharply.
The U.S. judiciary began to conduct a probe into this.
The problem is particularly serious for some medium sized
and small website businesses.
Even Sina and Baidu, two companies with relatively
transparent systems of accounting, were sold off by investors, causing stock prices to plunge.
One of the reasons is reportedly that the U.S. regulators have
intensified probes into the accounting and auditing of these U.S.-listed Chinese companies.
A few weeks ago, the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC), bypassing China’s regulators,
directly asked the Chinese subsidiary of Deloitte to
provide some files of clients that are under investigation.
Tsai Wen-Chen (Research Fellow, Academia Sinica):
“The U.S. has the power to conduct a probe into
any company that has registered or operated there.
Probes into these companies can cause their
stocks to fall, which is in fact a bad warning signal.
But why does the market respond so sensitively to
the U.S. regulators’ probe? I think that’s the core issue."
Many of these questioned Chinese enterprises are audited
by the Chinese accounting firms. Cao’an Jushi,
an economic commentator, indicates that when these
Chinese businesses applied for public listing in the US,
Chinese society’s lack of credibility prevented
the U.S. regulators from obtaining the relevant data.
Now the US regulators began its probes into this area,
thus the Chinese companies either hid or avoided the probe.
Cao’an Jushi (Economic Commentator):
“The probe found the Chinese companies’ fraud
very serious and very commonplace. This has caused
U.S. investors great losses of goodwill. Accordingly,
the US Justice department started probes to find out
if deliberate fraud exists. But in general, Chinese
companies dared not face these judicial questions.
So they either hid or have been trying to avoid the probe."
Cao’an stressed that the U.S. judiciary’s involvement,
in reality, exposes China’s political problems.
Cao’an Jushi (Economic Commentator): “I believe that
the US judiciary’s involvement can help expose
a large number of fraud issues of those US-listed
Chinese companies. It looks like an economic problem,
But there are a lot of political issues in fact, including
credibility of a nation. In reality, this will naturally exert a great impact on China’s economy."
PCAOB spokesman was quoted by Bloomberg saying that
the exact date of the talks resuming “remains unclear".
But he reiterated, " We are still looking forward to
resuming negotiations with Chinese officials in the short term. “
The date of the second round of talks and whether US regulators
can be allowed to make audit inspections in China,
have been closely watched by all parties concerned.
NTD reporters Zhou Yulin, Lin Ping and Sun Ning.
