PwC Zhong Tian

The six-month business suspension was imposed by China’s Ministry of Finance.

The ministry also imposed a fine of 116 million yuan ($16 million) on PwC Zhong Tian for its auditing failure of Hengda in 2018, according to an MOF statement.

The CSRC said in a separate statement that it had confiscated PwC Zhong Tian’s revenue involved in the Evergrande case totalling 27.7 million yuan and fined the unit 297 million yuan.

Chinese regulators have hit PwC’s auditing unit in mainland China with a six-month business suspension and a record fine of 441 million yuan ($62 million) over the firm’s audit of troubled property developer China Evergrande Group.

“PwC has, to a certain extent, covered up and even condoned Evergrande’s financial fraud and fraudulent issuance of corporate bonds,” said the CSRC statement.

“We are disappointed by PwC Zhong Tian’s audit work of Hengda, which fell unacceptably below the standards we expect of member firms of the PwC network,” PwC network, the alliance of PwC’s global member units, said in a statement.

China suspended the operations of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP for six months and imposed a record penalty over lapses in its auditing of China Evergrande Group.

The Ministry of Finance imposed a 116 million yuan penalty.

The work performed by PwC Zhong Tian's Hengda audit team fell well below our high expectations and was completely unacceptable

PricewaterhouseCoopers Zhong Tian LLP, a Shanghai-registered firm that is part of PwC’s global network, was Hengda's auditor during the period in question.