Key points

• Accurate financial statements are critical to investors in making informed decisions and vital to the overall well-being of the US capital market.
• For cross-listed and multi-jurisdictional businesses, the current regulatory frameworks fail to create governance equivalency between foreign and US domestic issuers that are listed in the USA.
• The US Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act (HFCAA) seeks to level the playing field.
• Companies that use accounting firms which cannot be inspected by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board for three consecutive years risk being de-listed from US securities exchanges and also becoming subject to a prohibition in over-the-counter trading in their stock.
• Behind the statutory response in HFCAA are intertwined tensions between stakeholders and sovereigns.
• The key to addressing the current imbalances will be to strike a balance between maintaining the US stock markets’ open to high-quality foreign issuers and enabling US investors to have access to reliable financial information.
• It remains uncertain whether the HFCAA will reshape the governance landscape geoeconomically.

中文翻译：

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外国公司问责法（HFCAA）的剖析：灵丹妙药还是双刃剑？

关键点

• 准确的财务报表对于投资者做出明智的决策至关重要，对美国资本市场的整体福祉也至关重要。
• 对于交叉上市和跨司法管辖区的企业，当前的监管框架未能在美国上市的外国和美国国内发行人之间建立治理等效性。
• 美国控股外国公司责任法案 (HFCAA) 旨在营造公平的竞争环境。
• 聘用会计师事务所连续三年无法接受公众公司会计监督委员会检查的公司有可能被从美国证券交易所退市，并可能被禁止在场外交易其股票。
• HFCAA 的法定回应背后是利益相关者和主权国家之间相互交织的紧张关系。
• 解决当前失衡的关键是在保持美国股市对高质量外国发行人的开放和让美国投资者能够获得可靠的金融信息之间取得平衡。
• HFCAA 是否会在地缘经济上重塑治理格局仍不确定。