SEC rethinking auditing penalties, lawyers say

'Big Four' affiliates might escape ban threatened by US securities commission

The final penalties imposed on the Chinese affiliates of the Big Four auditors may not be as severe as United States regulators had previously implied, lawyers said on Tuesday.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has accused the accounting firms' China joint ventures of withholding audit documents of US-listed Chinese companies and threatened to impose a six-month ban on their services. Such a ban would force more than 200 Chinese companies listed in the US to find new auditors.