Do we like them?

Do we like PwC?

Big Four accounting, audit, tax and consulting network (PricewaterhouseCoopers); global network with its London-based network centre.

Our score: 3 out of 10. We wouldn't back them. The Australian tax-leaks scandal and the record China penalty over Evergrande show repeated, serious failures, and the good they do is mostly ordinary professional work.

PwC is one of the Big Four accounting giants. Each country has its own member firm and the partners own it. It audits companies and advises on tax and strategy. We found nothing in our searches that names the person running the global network today beyond a 2023 announcement of Mohamed Kande as the next chair.

In Australia, a former partner leaked confidential government tax plans between 2014 and 2017. Twelve partners were forced out. A Senate committee accused the firm of a deliberate multi-year strategy to cover up the breach.

The penalties followed. The US audit regulator fined PwC Australia US$600,000 for not disclosing the investigation. Chartered Accountants ANZ gave the maximum A$50,000 fine. The Tax Practitioners Board found breaches and ordered compliance training.

In China, regulators gave PwC Zhong Tian a six-month suspension and a 441 million yuan fine over its Evergrande audits. They said 88% of the audit work in 2019–2020 was untrue. PwC called the audits unacceptably below its standards and sacked six partners.

Hong Kong's accounting regulator has since fined PwC and banned it from taking new clients for six months over the same audit. We score it low: serious, repeated failures at the heart of what an auditor is for.