- The Chinese branch of PwC has cut down its partner class by over 60 in recent months.
- The decrease in partners follows PwC's record fine and a six-month suspension of operations in China.
- The firm's business fell in the Asia-Pacific region last year, with particularly slow growth in China.
Over 60 partners have stepped down from their roles at PwC's China division as the firm handles the aftermath of its involvement in the Evergrande Scandal.
The number of partners at the mainland Chinese arm of PwC has recently fallen by 66, according to filings from December and January with the Unified Supervision Platform of the Chinese CPA Profession, a regulatory platform.
The filings do not state whether the 66 partners have left the company. Four new partners were registered in December.
The Financial Times first reported on the partners standing down.
The decrease in partner numbers comes as PwC deals with the fallout of its involvement in the Evergrande scandal. In September, the firm was found to have helped conceal fraud at the now-collapsed Chinese property developer Evergrande by issuing false audits.
"PwC has seriously eroded the basis of law and good faith, and damaged investors' interest," the commission investigating PwC's involvement said.
Evergrande, which collapsed in January 2024, was accused of inflating its revenues by $78 billion in 2019 and 2020 — one of the largest fraud cases in history.
The Chinese government fined PwC around $62 million and removed its license to operate in the country for six months. 11 employees were fired or left the company, and state-owned enterprises have since dropped PwC as their auditor.
Mohamed Kande, PwC's global chairman, said the findings of the Evergrande audit were in "stark contrast" to the high-quality work PwC produces and were not representative of what the firm stands for.
The Big Four accounting firm has been battling to retain business in the region following the scandal. In October, PwC reported a 12.7% decline in net income for the Asia-Pacific region for the financial year ending in June.
The firm said demand was particularly slow in China, where revenue fell.
PwC's Chinese division did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
