(Yicai) June 6 -- Following a series of Chinese clients dropping PricewaterhouseCoopers over concerns about its auditing work for China Evergrande Group, the property developer at the center of a major financial fraud case, PwC's local unit has been rehired by Jahwa United, China’s biggest homegrown cosmetics brand.

Jahwa’s auditing and risk management committee confirmed PwC Zhong Tian as the firm’s auditor for this year because it meets the professional competence, investor protection, integrity, and independence requirements, the Shanghai-based beauty company said yesterday. Its fee will be about CNY4 million (USD552,000).

More than 20 Chinese listed companies, including PetroChina, People’s Insurance Company Group of China, China Merchants Bank, and China Railway Group, have cut their ties with PwC and its affiliates in the wake of the financial scandal at Evergrande. The Chinese authorities are investigating the accounting giant’s work for the bankrupt developer.

On March 18, the builder’s unit Evergrande Real Estate Group announced it had been administratively punished by the China Securities Regulatory Commission for inflating its revenue by over CNY560 billion (USD77.3 billion) in its 2019 and 2020 earnings reports. The CSRC fined the unit CNY4.2 billion (USD579.5 million).

Evergrande, which is now in liquidation, used PwC as its auditor for 14 years between 2009 and January last year. PwC issued unqualified opinions on the developer’s annual reports from 2009 to 2020.

PwC Zhong Tian, owned equally by London-based PwC and Shanghai Zhong Tian, provided auditing services to 109 Chinese mainland-listed firms in 2022, earning CNY529 million (USD73 million) in fees, Jahwa said. PwC audited 107 publicly traded businesses in the mainland last year for fees of CNY869 million, according to data from Wind Information.

Editor: Futura Costaglione