China gives PwC record £47m fine and six-month ban over Evergrande

PwC’s offices in Beijing. PwC said its work ‘fell unacceptably below the standards we expect of member firms of the PwC network’. Photograph: Andy Wong/AP

The China arm of the accountancy firm PwC has been banned for six months and fined a record 441m yuan (£47m) over its audit of the collapsed property developer Evergrande, according to Chinese authorities.

Beijing’s ministry of finance imposed a six-month business suspension on PwC Zhong Tian, the accounting firm’s main division in mainland China, along with a 116m yuan penalty.