Chinese and U.S. flags flutter near The Bund in Shanghai
READINGS of audits of Chinese companies listed in the United States have begun, and it could be months before the conclusions are known, PwC Global Chairman Bob Moritz said.
A China-U. The S. agreement in August allows U.S. regulators to inspect China-based accounting firms that audit New York-listed companies for the first time to help resolve a dispute that threatened to boot more than 200 Chinese companies from U.S. exchanges.
We are in the middle of the inspection process. Moritz told Reuters that they were in the very early stages of that.
We have a number of months to go before the conclusions are reached. Moritz said that they are continuing to share information that is allowable.
He said record global revenues for PwC were $50.3 billion for the year ended June 30, up 13.4% on the previous period.
During its last fiscal year, the Big Four auditor pulled out of Russia after the country's Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, while its global headcount went up by more than 32,000 to 328,000 as a four-year, $12 billion programme to hire 100,000 people kicked off.
The business rebounded from the COVID- 19 pandemic and Moritz expects significant hiring in the current fiscal year.
PwC has yet to set out a minimum number of days for working in the office, though hybrid work is here to stay, he said.
When they come in, there is a purpose for coming in. It's making sure that the other people are there as well, Moritz said.
Rival EY is asking partners if they back-split audit and consulting into two companies.
Moritz said that we have been very clear that our current construct and organisational model is appropriate for the stakeholders we serve and that we do not see any need for change.