(Reuters) – U.S. audit officials have started a fresh round of inspections of about a dozen New York-listed Chinese firms including Tencent Music Entertainment Group, Didi Global Inc, and NetEase Inc, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday.
The inspection, part of an agreement signed last year, comes amid rising tensions between the United States and China, including U.S. consideration of export controls on artificial intelligence chips to China.
The U.S. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) sent a team to Hong Kong last month to review 2022 audit reports of some of the most high-profile Chinese stocks listed in the U.S., according to the report, citing people familiar with the matter.
In May, the PCAOB found unacceptable deficiencies in audits of U.S.-listed Chinese companies performed by KPMG in China and PricewaterhouseCoopers in Hong Kong.
The PCAOB, Tencent Music Entertainment Group, Didi Global, and NetEase did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
(Reporting by Yana Gaur in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich)
