Paul Leder, a former Director of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's Office of International Affairs, commented in the Financial Times about recent reporting that the U.S. audit regulator, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, may be making progress on reaching an agreement with Chinese authorities on inspections of audit firms located in China and Hong Kong. Leder made a connection between a public statement by a senior SEC official suggesting that the Chinese authorities could advance the discussions by seeking to delist certain companies from U.S. exchanges and recent announcements by five Chinese state owned enterprises that they would be seeking to delist their securities in the U.S.: "The fact that five companies connected to the Chinese government have taken that step [to delist] signals that progress is being made on a deal that would provide the PCAOB access to audit work papers located in China and Hong Kong. [This] certainly suggests that a deal with the PCAOB is in the works."