Chinese securities regulator penalizes PwC for Evergrande audit lapses

BEIJING, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) — The China Securities Regulatory Commission Friday announced an administrative penalty on PwC for failing to live up to its obligations in auditing annual reports and bond issuance of Evergrande Real Estate Group.
The commission announced the confiscation of PwC’s revenue of 27.74 million yuan (about 3.91 million U.S. dollars) related to the Evergrande audit case and a fine of 297 million yuan, bringing the total to 325 million yuan.
The penalty comes as PwC failed to meet its auditing responsibilities for 2019 and 2020 annual reports and bond issuance of Evergrande Real Estate Group, according to the securities regulator.
PwC violated multiple audit standards and requirements during the audit process, did not make correct professional judgments, and failed to detect significant and widespread financial fraud, the commission said. ■