Replies to post #72199 on China Growth Stocks

[Rames]

Well, I guess in China it might be possible to obtain any and all documents if you talk to the right people and have some skills beyond just words ;)

I just know that I looked into the PCAOB-is-blocked issue from a slightly different angle. As you know the PCAOB is banned from doing any inspections in most of Europe and here is the reasoning from Germany:

...the German legal system differs so significantly from that of the U.S., that implementation in Germany of certain provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, in particular, numerous aspects of the proposed rules relating to inspection, investigation and adjudications would be legally impossible and implementation of others would place extremely onerous burdens on German public accounting firms.

In Germany the auditing profession is subject to professional confidentiality obligations set forth in the legislation governing the profession and audits of financial statements. This legislations prevents our members from providing the PCAOB, as a third party, access to any or all facts and circumstances with which they are entrusted or of which they become aware during the course of their professional work. The German Penal Code makes undue disclosure by an accountant a criminal offence (§203 Strafgesetzbuch). Furthermore, the contract between a public accountant and the client carries an implied duty of confidentiality.