PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS (PwC) lost five Chinese clients in May alone, adding to a list of more than a dozen firms its stopped auditing in the country in the last two years.
China Taiping Insurance Holdings said on May 27 that it appointed KPMG as its auditor for 2024 after PwC retired, just as China Merchants Bank replaced it with Ernst & Young. China Railway Group, China Electronics Huada Technology and Eastroc Beverage are among the others that changed auditors.
The latest business losses underscore the challenges for PwC as regulators examine its auditing role for China Evergrande Group. The firm has come under intense scrutiny after China launched one of the biggest investigations into financial fraud in history.
A representative for PwC said the company could not immediately comment.
Authorities said Evergrande’s main onshore unit, Hengda, overstated its revenue by 564 billion yuan (S$105 billion) in the two years to 2020. Chinese government authorities are probing PwC’s involvement as a former auditor for the real estate giant, sources familiar said in March.
In recent years, PwC resigned as an auditor from at least 10 Chinese property companies, including Sunac China Holdings, Shimao Group Holdings, Sino-Ocean Group Holding and Agile Group Holdings. BLOOMBERG
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