Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act

Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act

This bill requires certain issuers of securities to establish that they are not owned or controlled by a foreign government. Specifically, an issuer must make this certification if the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board is unable to audit specified reports because the issuer has retained a foreign public accounting firm not subject to inspection by the board. Furthermore, if the board is unable to inspect the issuer's public accounting firm for three consecutive years, the issuer's securities are banned from trade on a national exchange or through other methods.

Foreign issuers of securities that use such a firm to prepare an audit report must disclose for each non-inspection year

• the percentage of shares owned by governmental entities where the issuer is incorporated,
• whether these governmental entities have a controlling financial interest,
• information related to any board members who are officials of the Chinese Communist Party, and
• whether the articles of incorporation of the issuer contain any charter of the Chinese Communist Party.