China

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP's China unit expects the Chinese government to hand down a six-month ban as part of punishment over its audit of failed property giant China Evergrande Group, according to a person familiar with the matter.

China Evergrande Group's liquidators have launched court proceedings against PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, another legal step to recover at least a fraction of creditors' investments from the property giant.

The Accounting and Financial Reporting Council is still carrying out a separate investigation into audits on China Evergrande Group.

The Ministry of Finance may announce the penalties on Big Four firm PwC as soon as this week.

China may suspend some of the global auditor's local operations over its role in one of the nation's biggest alleged financial fraud cases.

China Taiping Insurance Holdings, China Merchants Bank, China Railway Group, China Electronics Huada Technology and People's Insurance Company (Group) of China are among those that changed auditors.

The AFRC will investigate an anonymous report alleging deficiencies in the firm's quality management and the quality of its audits of the Chinese real estate giant.

PricewaterhouseCoopers said it will investigate an anonymous letter circulating on social media that made "false allegations" about the company and its partners over its role in auditing China Evergrande Group.

Chinese authorities are ramping up pressure on the global accounting giant that audited a slew of developers before the sector's meltdown.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board imposed a total of $150,000 in fines against three partners at KPMG's firm in mainland China for violating PCAOB standards and imposed sanctions on them.