The PCAOB and the Supervisory Board of Public Accountants of Sweden have entered a cooperative agreement in their oversight of audit firms, the PCAOB announced Monday.
The agreement takes effect immediately and provides for joint inspections while allowing for the exchange of confidential information. An agreement on data protection also was reached.
Within the European Union, the PCAOB has similar agreements with Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, and the United Kingdom. The PCAOB also has agreements with Switzerland and Norway, as well as regulators in North America, the Middle East, Asia, and Australia.
“The agreement with the Swedish [regulator] confirms our shared commitment to strengthen the oversight of global audits and investor protection through cross-border cooperation,” PCAOB Chairman James Doty said in a news release. “The PCAOB is highly focused on reaching cooperative arrangements with its counterparts in the remaining jurisdictions in the European Union and other parts of the world.”
More than 900 of the approximately 2,300 audit firms that are registered with the PCAOB are located outside the United States; eight PCAOB-registered firms are located in Sweden.
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Ken Tysiac (
ktysiac@aicpa.org
) is a JofA senior editor.
