Department of Public Offering Supervision of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, Standards for Examination and Verification of Share Issues Memorandum (No. 16): Examination and Verification Requirements for Special Item Review of Companies Initially Offering Shares to the Public

Issued: February 28 2003

Main contents: If the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), in its examining the initial public offering application documents, finds material questions in the financial and accounting information submitted, or material defects in the internal control system for the financial and accounting aspects, thus causing major problems in the materials submitted, it may require the issuer to engage another accounting firm with a securities practising status and good reputation to review particular items. The review shall be conducted according to the procedures and standards of the Memorandum and focus on the financial and accounting data of the reporting period only. Within one fiscal year after the review report is issued, the accounting firm may not provide auditing and related services to the same issuer. If there are discrepancies between the review report and the original information submitted, the issuer, lead distributor and the accountant reporting the original information shall give opinions to deal with them. The report shall form part of the offering application documents. A list of the accounting firms with the qualifications to review is also provided.