PwC, the auditor of bankrupt Chinese property developer Evergrande, could soon face a ban in China.
The Chinese entity of the “Big Four” accounting firm has told clients that it expects authorities to impose a six-month business ban as early as next month, the Financial Times reports.
Beijing is reportedly considering a huge fine on PwC in addition to the business ban. The fine could go as high as 1 billion yuan ($140 million), Bloomberg reported in May, which would be the largest fine imposed on an auditing firm in China.
Regulators are scrutinizing PwC for its role in auditing China Evergrande Group, the embattled property developer that has become the poster child of China’s property crisis. In March, authorities accused Evergrande of inflating its revenue by almost $80 billion in 2019 and 2020.
Evergrande defaulted on its debts in 2021, helping to trigger China’s still-ongoing real estate crisis, which is continuing to drag down the economy. A Hong Kong court ordered Evergrande’s liquidation earlier this year. Evergrande’s liquidators have reportedly started legal action against PwC China, accusing the auditor of “negligence.”
According to the Financial Times, a ban would stop PwC from signing off on financial results and initial public offerings, and from conducting other regulated activities.
A PwC China spokesperson said it was not appropriate to comment on an ongoing regulatory matter.
Clients are already abandoning PwC China, which was China’s leading auditing firm as late as this March. In a late Monday filing, state-owned Bank of China said it would switch to EY for auditors.
The loss of clients has reportedly led to job losses and pay cuts at PwC’s China practice.
PwC’s China troubles are just the latest crisis for the global auditing firm. Last October, the CEO of PwC’s Australian practice apologized to the Australian government for leaking confidential government tax plans to U.S. clients. PwC’s Australian entity cut over 600 jobs following the tax leak scandal and sold off its government consulting business for 1 Australian dollar ($0.67)
Then, in December, a U.S. regulator fined PwC $7 million after finding that over 1,000 of the auditor’s China-based staff cheated on internal training exams related to U.S. auditing practices.