China orders Big Four accounting firms to localize operations

Hong Kong's stock exchange has defended a decision to let Chinese companies listing on the exchange use mainland accounting standards and auditors, saying it will increase efficiency and reduce costs.However the move came in for criticism Monday that it might lead standards to slip.In a statement Friday the bourse said the amendments to listing rules, which limit the Hong Kong regulator's ability to tackle fraud, would take effect Wednesday this week.

Bruised, battered, Chinese official's death spotlights abuses of Communist Party graft probes

In China, where fast-paced real estate development has created thousands of massive shopping centers, the amped-up development bubble has left some cities with more malls than they can handle, suggesting this trend may be about to run out of steam.  

  As powerful as it may be, the Fed is not the market. And since the Fed failed to restore trust in the system by forcing all bad debts to light, the financial world has grown increasingly volatile and broken as investors grow increasingly distrustful of the system and begin to pull their money from it: see market volumes continuing to plunge.  

China's official manufacturing PMI report held steady at 50.6 in December, while the final HSBC report came in at 51.5, the highest reading in 19-months.

Foreign auditing firms will have to appoint a Chinese national as their chief partner in China as part of a sweeping overhaul of the country's accounting industry.

The HSBC Flash China Manufacturing PMI™ report shows Operating conditions continue to improve in December. Key points Flash China Manufacturing PMI™ at 50.9 (50.5 in November). Fourteen-month high. Flash China Manufacturing Output Index at 50.5 (51.3 in November). Two-month low. Data collected 5–12 December 2012.

WASHINGTON – Regulators on Monday charged the Chinese affiliates of five top accounting firms with violating securities laws, alleging they refused to produce audit documents in connection with accounting fraud investigations into Chinese companies. The Securities and Exchange Commission began proceedings against the Chinese units of Deloitte & Touche; Ernst & Young; KPMG; PricewaterhouseCoopers and BDO.