(Provisional Translation)
August 14, 2019
Financial Services Agency
Certified Public Accountants and Auditing Oversight Board

Equivalency Assessment on Audit and Public Oversight Systems of Foreign Jurisdictions

The Financial Services Agency (FSA) and the Certified Public Accountants and Auditing Oversight Board (CPAAOB) published “A Framework for Inspection / Supervision of Foreign Audit Firms, etc.” on September 14, 2009, and stated that with respect to information requirements and inspections regarding foreign audit firms, the FSA and CPAAOB will, in principle, rely on such actions by the competent authorities of the firm’s home jurisdictions, instead of seeking to obtain information from or conducting inspections on firms themselves, provided that (a) audit and public oversight systems in the firm’s home jurisdictions are equivalent to those of Japan, (b) necessary information can be provided from the foreign competent authorities through appropriate arrangements of information exchange, and (c) reciprocity is ensured.

Pursuant to this announcement, the FSA and CPAAOB published “Guidance on Equivalency Assessment on Audit and Public Oversight Systems of Foreign Jurisdictions” on July 10, 2012 and identified the criteria for equivalency assessments in terms of (a). The FSA and CPAAOB have conducted the assessments based on the criteria and reached a decision that the audit and public oversight systems for auditors and audit firms of following jurisdictions are equivalent to the corresponding systems in Japan.

Grand Duchy of Luxembourg
Kingdom of the Netherlands
Swiss Confederation