Lately, the Ministry of Finance ("MOF") and the State Administration for Market Regulation ("SAMR") have jointly issued the Interim Provisions on Promoting Reforming the System of Limited Liability Accounting Firms into Partnership Accounting Firms (the "Provisions"), immediately effective from the issue date.
The Provisions carry on the system reform principles, procedures to conduct the system reform and other basic requirements, as provided in the Interim Provisions on Promoting Large and Medium-sized Accounting Firms to Adopt the Organizational Form of Special General Partnership, and, meanwhile, make necessary adjustments and improvements as below, in accordance with the Administrative Measures for the Practice Licensing and the Supervision of Accounting Firms (the "Measures"). The first is widening the scope of system reform and adding the "general partnership" as another organizational form after the system reform; the second is requiring that the partnership accounting firm, after the system reform, shall meet the practice licensing conditions newly introduced by the Measures; the third is adding the formalities for branches of reformed accounting firms to update their practice certificates; and the fourth is making clear that the change to a partnership accounting firm's form of partnership shall be handled through the record-filing formalities.