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Trusted Foreign Auditing Act of 2025
To amend the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 to provide for disclosure regarding foreign jurisdictions that hinder inspections, and for other purposes.
Summary
This bill amends the Sarbanes-Oxley Act to address audit quality concerns involving foreign adversaries. It defines a "compromised auditor" as an accounting firm branch or subsidiary that is subject to the control, direction, or material influence of a country identified as a national security threat (such as China, Russia, Iran, or North Korea) or that has arrangements with a foreign government that could compromise audit independence. The bill authorizes trading restrictions for companies headquartered in countries of concern that use compromised auditors, and requires public PCAOB hearings when a compromised auditor is involved in inspection disputes. The provisions aim to ensure that foreign government influence cannot compromise audits of U.S. public companies.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
Actions (2)
- Jul 22, 2025 Referred to the House Committee on Financial Services. · house
- Jul 22, 2025 Introduced in House
Similar bills (6)
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Text versions (1)
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Full text
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
July 22, 2025
Ms. Stefanik introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services
A BILL
To amend the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 to provide for disclosure regarding foreign jurisdictions that hinder inspections, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Trusted Foreign Auditing Act of 2025”.
SEC. 2. INSPECTION OF REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRMS.
Section 104(i) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (15 U.S.C. 7214(i)) is amended—
(1) in paragraph (1)—
(A) by redesignating subparagraphs (A) and (B) as subparagraphs (C) and (D), respectively; and
(B) by inserting before subparagraph (C), as so redesignated, the following:
“(A) the term ‘compromised auditor’ means, with respect to a registered public accounting firm, an independent branch or office of that firm (or a subsidiary of such a branch or office) that—
“(i) is subject to the jurisdiction and laws of the government of a covered country;
“(ii) is directly or indirectly controlled, directed, or materially influenced by a covered country;
“(iii) has a manager or owner, or conducts any operation, that is subject to the direct influence of a covered country; or
“(iv) has entered into any arrangement, agreement, or relationship with the government or political party of a covered country that could compromise the objectivity, integrity, or independence of the branch, office, or subsidiary in performing auditing or attestation services;
“(B) the term ‘covered country’ means—
“(i) any country (including any special administrative region of such country) identified as a threat to the national security of the United States in the most recent report submitted to Congress by the Director of National Intelligence pursuant to section 108B of the National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3043b) (commonly referred to as the ‘Annual Threat Assessment’); or
“(ii) any covered nation (as defined in section 4872(d)(2) of title 10, United States Code);”;
(2) in paragraph (2)(A)—
(A) in the matter preceding clause (i), by striking “paragraph (1)(A)” and inserting “paragraph
(1)(C)”; and
(B) in clause (ii), by inserting “is a compromised auditor that” before “the Board is unable”; and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
“(5) Trading prohibition.—If a covered issuer that is headquartered in a country of concern retains a compromised auditor to prepare an audit report described in paragraph
(2)(A) for the covered issuer, the trading prohibition described in paragraph (3) shall apply to the covered issuer.”.
SEC. 3. PUBLIC HEARINGS.
Section 105(c) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (15 U.S.C. 7215(c)) is amended by striking paragraph (2) and inserting the following:
“(2) Public hearings.—
“(A) Definitions.—In this paragraph, the terms ‘compromised auditor’ and ‘covered issuer’ have the meanings given those terms in section 104(i)(1).
“(B) Conditions.—Hearings under this section shall not be public, unless—
“(i) a compromised auditor retained by a covered issuer is a party to the hearing; or
“(ii) otherwise ordered by the Board for good cause shown, with the consent of the parties to such hearing.”. <all>
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