Reassurances won over Sarbanes Bill
UK companies with secondary listing in New York may not be hit by tough new anti-fraud measures set out in the hard-hitting Sarbanes Bill.
Link: Sarbanes Bill row escalates
Crucially the bill seeks allow US regulators to demand working papers from any foreign audit firm if they are working for a subsidiary of company based in the states.
Lawmakers in America have reassured British officials that the new regulations, which include chief executives and chief financial officers signing oaths of accounting honest to US Securities & Exchange Commission, may not be applied here.
Accountancy Age reported at the end of July that the British ambassdor in Washington had moved to impress US legislators of grave concerns in the UK for the bill.
According to the FT, the DTI has now obtained reassurances after weeks of lobbying. The department said exemptions would depend on how the US chose to impose the rules.
The Sarbanes-Oxley Bill, already passed by congress, would affect as many as half of FTSE 100 companies. Big names like BP, Vodafone and GlaxoSmithKline all have secondary listings in New York.