* PCAOB to gain access to auditing firms in Switzerland
* Doty calls arrangement a "big breakthrough"
By Sarah N. Lynch
WASHINGTON, April 4 (Reuters) - U.S. audit inspectors will begin reviewing accounting firms in Switzerland starting later this year, said James Doty, chairman of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board.
Doty said the PCAOB had struck a joint agreement with Swiss authorities, describing it as a "big breakthrough."
"We will commence joint inspections in Switzerland in May, with the goal of inspecting three Big Four affiliate firms by the end of the year," he told the annual spring meeting of the Council of Institutional Investors.
The PCAOB was established by Congress via the Sarbanes-Oxley Act as an auditing watchdog following major accounting scandals at companies like Enron and WorldCom.
But the board has faced challenges with its inspections of non-U.S. audit firms, an issue that has allowed the audits of multinational companies to "escape review," Doty said.
He said he hopes that this new agreement with Switzerland, as well as another agreement struck in January with British authorities, will serve as a "model" for cross-border cooperation among regulators.
Still, he said talks with other European Union member-state regulators are progressing slowly, and the PCAOB has had very little success so far in striking a similar agreement in China. [ID:nN04270845] (Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)