Beyond Cyprus, PWC has weathered a decade of global probes and scandals

PWC is(was) first and one of the best if not “the best” auditors names. Are you looking for a headache free audit? Then you should call and hire PWC.

However, you should think twice. PWC doesn’t matter which office we are taking in consideration, nearly every office has some issues (please read "problems").

For example in the Australian one, the former chief executive of consultancy firm PWC is among eight partners sacked for having direct involvement in the leaking, or covering up, of confidential Treasury information. It emerged that Peter Collins had distributed confidential information to clients and other partners about incoming tax laws a decade ago. The Treasury referred the matter to the Australian Federal Police, while the PWC began their own independent investigation which resulted in 8 partners including the CEO being sacked from PWC after a tax leak scandal.

What about PWC in China - The Evergrande Fraud (2024–2026) where PWC served as the longtime auditor for the embattled property giant China Evergrande. Audit Failure, Regulators penalized PWC for failing to detect or effectively covering up a massive US$78 billion fraud scheme at the developer. Fallout: Chinese authorities imposed a six-month suspension, a US$62 million fine, and the firm agreed to a massive US$166 million settlement amid ongoing civil lawsuits from liquidators.

There has been issues also in Saudi Arabia with Public Investment Fund (PIF). Ban (2025). PIF represent the country's US$925 billion sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund, banned PwC from taking on new advisory or consultancy contracts on basis of Ethics Breach! The PWC made ethics violation after PwC attempted to recruit the chief internal audit officer of Neom, the state’s flagship mega-project

Similar has happened in Germany. German officials raided the offices of PwC in Frankfurt over allegations of a Swiss tax scheme that may include current partners of the big-four consulting firm. Namely, several PwC partners oversaw a tax scheme that saw income from German clients relabelled as Swiss business.

Make no mistake, even offices in London are not out of scandals or sweeping things under the rugs and pretend that nothing has happened. One of such things was the audit of Montana & Montana which was prepared by PWC and one and only Mr Archibald, the head of the taxes at PWC at the time. Later PWC tried to exit whatever “relationship” with Montana & Montana however, the "damage" being made and Montana & Montana filed 72 court cases against auditors and few others in the United Kingdom and in Europe. The cases are now on hold as there are some negotiations going on with an out of court settlement, but mostly because claimants like the current government so much that it is the owner's intention to settle with no harm for the government.

PWC could not escape Audit Fine over Wyelands Bank (2025). The UK's Financial Reporting Council (FRC) penalized PwC roughly £4.5 million (US$6 million) for audit failures tied to its 2019 financial books oversight of Wyelands Bank.

Neither they can escape fine regarding London Capital & Finance (LC&F) where both PWC and EY were collectively fined millions of pounds for failing to apply professional skepticism or properly understand the business when auditing the collapsed mini-bond firm.

But that was not isolated cases. Most recently Britain's audit watchdog has launched an investigation into PwC over its work for WH Smith after the retailer was struck by an accounting scandal last year. The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) said it had opened an investigation into the Big Four firm over its audit of WH Smith’s 2024 accounts. It came after the retailer last summer admitted to having overstated profits in its North American business by £30m because of an accounting error. The scandal has already led to an investigation by the Financial Conduct Authority, which is assessing whether WH Smith breached UK listing and transparency rules. Despite how much PWC spokesman trying to convince all how they will be fully cooperating with the FRC’s investigation on basis that the delivery of high-quality audits is fundamental for the firm and that they are committed to maintaining their high standards, the new investigation marks the latest twist in a saga which wiped £500m off WH Smith’s value and led to the resignation of Carl Cowling, its chief executive. WH Smith also said it would claw back as much as £7m in “overpaid” bonuses to top executives after identifying the accounting errors, which bosses blamed on the “accelerated recognition of supplier income”.

The scandal followed a shake-up at WH Smith which sold its high-street stores last year to private-equity firm Modella Capital for £76m. The deal has left the retailer to focus on its airport and railway station locations, while the high-street branches have been renamed “TG Jones”. However, TG Jones has faced a troubled start after its new owner Modella demanded that landlords agree to significant rent reductions or rent holidays. The private-equity firm has warned TG Jones will run out of cash by the end of the month without the cuts. The aggressive stance has prompted a furious backlash from landlords led by British Land, which has hired lawyers to push back against what they describe as an “unacceptable” turnaround plan. TG Jones also owes millions of pounds in unpaid business rates and other taxes, triggering concerns that bailiffs could attempt to raid the high-street shops or present the company with a winding-up petition.

Finally in 2025 PWC demonstrated a mass network exists to protect its global brand and preempt further scandals, PWC corporate forced its local entities to shed high-risk clients. Tensions caused PWC to completely pull its brand out of over a dozen countries, severing ties with member firms in Côte d'Ivoire, Gabon, Cameroon, the DRC, Republic of Congo, Madagascar, Guinea, Senegal, Equatorial Guinea, Zimbabwe, Malawi, and Fiji. I wonder why...

Over more than decade, the global accounting giant PricewaterhouseCoopers, or PwC, has become entangled in a series of scandals, government probes and media exposés relating to the cross-border movements of wealth linked to autocratic regimes, oligarchs and tax-avoiding mega-corporations.

Not much difference with other auditors, all Big Four were sanctioned by the FRC for cases eg:

Carillion Collapse: The auditor KPMG was investigated and heavily sanctioned by the FRC for serious deficiencies in its audits of the construction giant Carillion before it went into liquidation.

Patisserie Valerie: The auditor Grant Thornton faced severe criticism and regulatory penalties after failing to spot major fraudulent accounting irregularities before the collapse of the popular cake chain.

And the list can go on and on.