Err - HK isn't another country, have you heard of "one country, two systems"? And I wouldn't say that HK companies are some kind of gold standard either - I strongly suggest you read up a bit about the demise of Akai Holdings. This was an HK listed company with a $5bn turnover and audited by Ernst & Young.
Sounds exemplary no? But there was massive fiddling of the accounts, apparently with the connivance of the local branch of E&Y. Thing is that at least historically, the HK branch of a Big Four firm was effectively little better than a local auditor with a fancy logo. You might think the logo means you're getting London levels of auditing but you're not by a long shot.
Things have got a little better since then - paying out $200m concentrates the mind wonderfully - but they still have problems just getting the staff when China is expanding so rapidly, and fierce competition on fees doesn't help either. So the Big Four are no guarantee of reliable accounts - Deloitte did Longtop and China Media Express, E&Y did Sino Forest, KPMG did China Forestry, don't think PWC have been badly caught out yet in China but have elsewhere in Asia - Kanebo, Satyam, DSQ, Global Trust Bank etc.
