Structural risks
These risks apply to every PwC product. They are legal obligations and corporate
practices that individual products cannot override. A subsidiary cannot opt out of an
FTC consent decree. A company cannot selectively ignore its home country's intelligence
law for one product. These risks set a grade floor of
F — no PwC product
can score better than this, regardless of its own privacy settings.
critical
Record $62.2M fine and 6-month ban for Evergrande audit
2024-09-13
China fined PwC $62.2M and banned it for 6 months for auditing failures at collapsed developer Evergrande. Regulators found PwC "turned a blind eye" and "even condoned" Evergrande's fraud. PwC audited Evergrande for 14 years without detecting that claimed completed properties were empty land. Led to client exodus and layoffs at PwC China.
critical
India: 2-year audit ban for Satyam fraud
2018-01-23
PwC audited Satyam, whose chairman admitted inflating profits with fictitious assets. SEBI banned PwC from auditing listed companies in India for 2 years. SEC sanctioned five PwC India affiliates, finding failures "were not limited to Satyam but were indicative of a much larger quality control failure."
critical
Australia: leaked confidential Treasury tax plans to corporate clients
2023-01-01
PwC's head of international tax leaked confidential Treasury briefings on anti-avoidance laws to 143 partners, who used them to help multinationals (Google, Uber, Facebook) dodge the new laws. CEO resigned. 12 partners forced out. AFP criminal investigation. PwC sold government consulting arm for $1 (became Scyne Advisory). Revenue fell 26%.
high
PCAOB fined PwC US $2.75M for independence violations
2024-03-01
PCAOB found PwC US failed to implement robust quality control for auditor independence. Fined $2.75M. Separately, PwC Singapore sanctioned for understating compliance failure rates -- Independence Office staff developed methods to misclassify failures.
high
Australia: paid ~$1M to suppress Robodebt review
2017-06-01
DHS Secretary directed PwC partner that report "was not to be finalised." PwC delivered an 8-page PowerPoint instead of a contracted 70-page report and billed the government for the full amount (~$1M). The illegal Robodebt scheme continued for 2 more years. Royal Commission investigated. NACC Operation Myrtleford.