The list below includes the names of registered firms for which, as of December 31, 2013, the inspection fieldwork had not yet been completed by the PCAOB, even though four or more years have passed since the end of the calendar year in which the firm first issued an audit report while registered with the PCAOB. This updated list indicates four firms (two firms in France and one firm in each of Finland and Germany) have been removed from the June 30, 2013 version of this list because the inspection fieldwork of such firms has been completed. In addition, three firms were added since the June 30, 2013 version of this list because, as of December 31, 2013, four years have passed since the end of the calendar year in which these firms first issued an audit report while registered with the PCAOB. The Board had previously announced its intention to publicly identify firms meeting the criteria above. Such intention was communicated in the releases issued in connection with the PCAOB's adoption of PCAOB Rule 4003(g) and PCAOB Rule 4003(f).[1] Accordingly, this list is updated, at a minimum, on a semiannual basis by adding firms that qualify for the list and also by removing firms for which the inspection fieldwork has been completed or that have voluntarily deregistered from the PCAOB. The reasons that the inspection fieldwork for a firm has not been completed within four years of the firm having issued an audit report while registered with the PCAOB may vary. Many of the firms included on this list are located in a jurisdiction where the PCAOB is being denied access to the information necessary to conduct inspections of registered firms on the basis of asserted restrictions under local law or objections based on national sovereignty. As of December 31, 2013, the PCAOB was unable to conduct inspections of firms located in 15 such jurisdictions (Austria, Belgium, China, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal and Sweden).[2] In addition, the PCAOB was unable to conduct inspections of firms located in Venezuela despite continued communications with the Venezuelan government. The PCAOB continues to seek to resolve the obstacles to PCAOB inspections with the relevant authorities in all of these jurisdictions and remains optimistic about concluding bilateral agreements with many of them in the foreseeable future. With respect to certain other jurisdictions, namely France, Germany and Spain, cooperative agreements that permit PCAOB inspections have been concluded, but not all firms in the jurisdiction have been inspected to date. With respect to the firms listed below, no PCAOB inspections have been completed even though four or more years have passed since the end of the calendar year in which they first issued an audit report while registered with the PCAOB. PLEASE NOTE: Inclusion on this list should not be construed to support any positive or negative inferences about the quality of the firm's audit work, its systems, policies, procedures, or practices. [1] For more detail about these rules and the PCAOB's decision to publish this information, please see PCAOB Release No. 2009-003, Final Rule Concerning the Timing of Certain Inspections of Non-U.S. Firms, and Other Issues Relating to Inspections of Non-U.S. Firms (June 25, 2009), issued in connection with the PCAOB's adoption of PCAOB Rule 4003(g); and PCAOB Release No. 2008-007, Rule Amendments Concerning the Timing of Certain Inspections of Non-U.S. Firms, and Other Issues Relating to Inspections of Non-U.S. Firms (Dec. 4, 2008), issued in connection with the PCAOB's adoption of PCAOB Rule 4003(f). [2] The PCAOB currently is prevented from inspecting the U.S.-related audit work and practices of PCAOB-registered firms in Greece, Ireland and, to the extent their audit clients have operations in mainland China, Hong Kong, because of the positions taken by the local authorities in these jurisdictions. Certain registered firms in these three jurisdictions previously had been inspected by the PCAOB either because, in the case of some firms in Greece and Ireland, an inspection was conducted before the current obstacles arose, or because, in the case of some firms in Hong Kong, the inspections did not involve, or no obstacles were raised to, the review of audit work relating to a company's operations in China. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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