While special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) have existed since the early 1990s, these investment vehicles have gained popularity in recent years. SPAC IPOs have raised over $49 billion thus far in 2020, outstripping all prior records, and many more have filed to go public by the end of the year. While in the past, most SPACs were taken public by boutique investment bankers and raised tens of millions of dollars, today, nearly every "bulge bracket" firm has led a SPACs deal, with proceeds up to hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created novel challenges for the audit profession that could have lingering impacts on the quality and reliability of independent accounting firm’s work if not carefully addressed. The increased reliance on remote auditing needs to be carefully managed particularly for auditors with clients in areas like China and Europe, where travel restrictions limit site visits compared to domestic locations that can be visited with COVID protocols in place. Management, audit committees, and investors all need to be aware of the limitations that auditors are operating under and the steps that can be taken to ensure that audit quality remains robust during this period.

On May 20^th, the U.S. Senate passed legislation to force Chinese issuers to comply with inspections by the Public Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) and to certify that they are not owned or controlled by the Chinese government.