Big Four Auditors Win New China SOE Business
Chen Yikan
DATE:  Feb 24 2023
/ SOURCE:  Yicai
Big Four Auditors Win New China SOE Business Big Four Auditors Win New China SOE Business

(Yicai Global) Feb. 24 -- The four biggest international accounting firms -- PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst & Young, KPMG and Deloitte -- have secured business to provide auditing services to a number of Chinese state-owned enterprises.

China Tower recently began recruiting for statutory financial statement audit service providers for this year. Following an evaluation process, KPMG Huazhen was recommended as the first selected candidate, and Deloitte Huayong was the second, a staffer at China International Telecommunication Construction, a recruitment agent, told Yicai Global.

China Tower boasts 2.1 million communication towers and assets of more than CNY330 billion (USD48 billion), making it the world’s largest communications infrastructure operator.

According to the official website of China Taiping Insurance Group, it identified auditors for 2023-2027 at the end of January, selecting PricewaterhouseCoopers Zhongtian.

Taiping Insurance is a large state-owned insurer, with total premiums of CNY217.5 billion in 2021, along with total assets exceeding CNY1 trillion (USD144.3 billion), and assets under management of over CNY1.87 trillion. 

In fact, the big four accounting firms are also the auditors for many large Chinese state-owned banks and have the highest share of China’s audit market.

In a 2021 ranking by the Chinese Institute of Certified Public Accountants, PricewaterhouseCoopers Zhongtian was first with revenue of CNY6.8 billion (USD981 million). Ernst & Young Huaming was second with CNY5.5 billion, followed by Deloitte Huayong  at CNY4.2 billion and KPMG Huazhen at CNY4.1 billion.

In 2021, a total of 24 SOEs directly under the Chinese central government were audited by the big four accounting firms, with fees amounting to nearly CNY1 billion.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Peter Thomas

Follow Yicai Global on
Keywords:   accounting firms,KPMG,Deloitte,SOEs