Drew Bernstein, Co-Managing Partner of Marcum Bernstein & Pinchuk, Quoted in Compliance Week Article "Will MOU With China Change Audit Regulation? "
Compliance Week
Excerpt:
Legal experts with a view of the regulatory standoff between China and the United States are placing little hope in a recent agreement between the two countries to end the stalemate.
The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board recently announced it has established a “memorandum of understanding” on enforcement cooperation with the China Securities Regulatory Commission and the Ministry of Finance in China. The agreement establishes a cooperative framework, the PCAOB said, for each country to produce and exchange audit documents relevant to investigations in the United States and China.
Drew Bernstein, co-managing partner with Marcum, Bernstein & Pinchuk, a New-York-based audit firm with affiliations in China, is more optimistic about the recent agreement. “It’s a mechanism and a protocol for auditors to comply with subpoenas, so they don’t have to risk losing their license,” he says. “It takes pressure off the industry.” He also believes the deal signals that it’s at least possible for authorities in China and the United States to agree on something and potentially work together. “There were a lot of people who believed a deal could never be made,” Bernstein says.
