The Ministry of Finance and the China Securities Regulatory Commission suspended for six months and fined $62 million global auditing firm and dominant player in China, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). Chinese authorities asserted that PwC played a role in enabling financial misdeeds committed by China’s leading real estate developer, China Evergrande Group. According to the Ministry of Finance, PwC “knew that Evergrande made material misstatements in its financial statements for the years from 2018 to 2020” and “failed to point them out, issuing an inappropriate audit opinion and a falsified audit report.” PwC acknowledged their misconduct, fired involved staff members and promised to comply with penalties. This incident highlights China’s increased focus on financial misconduct and the $62 million is largest fine against auditors to date. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/13/business/pwc-china-evergrande.html?searchResultPosition=1
China Fines PwC $62million
