SEC Auditor Case Seen Jeopardizing Chinese U.S. Listings

U.S. regulators, in a move to sanction auditors for blocking investigations at China-based companies, have set a course that jeopardizes the listing of more than 100 stocks from the world’s most populous nation.

In a Dec. 3 enforcement action against the China-based affiliates of the Big Four accounting firms, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission escalated a three-year impasse between the two nations over whether auditors can share work documents with regulators investigating possible accounting fraud at companies selling securities in the U.S.