TheDeal.com (October 22, 2013 9:10 am) -- The latest edition of the DealFlow Report includes coverage of a Public Investors Arbitration BAr Association study finding an "alarming" increase in the number of instances in which stockbrokers accused of misconduct were allowed to expunge their disciplinary records after a settlement or award. Dan Lonkevich writes that From Jan. 1, 2007 to May 17, 2009, the study found that expungement was granted in 89% of the arbitration cases resolved by settlement or award. From May 18, 2009 to Dec. 31, 2011, the percentage of cases expunged increased to 96.9%.

Elsewhere, Bill Meagher reports that The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board is in talks with market regulators in Hong Kong about an agreement that could at least partially resolve a long-standing dispute with China over the U.S.'s ability to police accounting fraud by U.S.-listed, Chinese companies. China currently forbids inspections of either audit firms or audit work papers in Hong Kong or in mainland China, citing national sovereignty. The policy has become a point of contention since 2010 as scores of Chinese companies that had listed on U.S. stock markets have been accused of accounting fraud, costing investors billions.