(Yicai) May 31 -- PetroChina, the listed arm of state-owned oil and gas giant China National Petroleum Corporation, has become the latest Chinese listed company to cancel the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers after the auditing giant’s involvement in the China Evergrande Group’s financial fraud scandal.

After consultation with PwC, PetroChina decided to cancel the proposal to appoint PwC as auditor for the year 2024 at its latest annual general meeting of shareholders, the Beijing-based firm announced yesterday.

On March 18, Evergrande’s unit Evergrande Real Estate Group announced it had been administratively punished by the China Securities Regulatory Commission for allegedly releasing false financial information in its 2019 and 2020 earnings reports.

Evergrande, which is now under liquidation, used PwC as its auditor for 14 years between 2009 and January last year, when the pair broke their partnership. Meanwhile, PwC issued unqualified opinions on Evergrande’s annual reports from 2009 to 2020.

Since the financial fraud scandal broke out, over 14 listed companies, including People’s Insurance Company Group of China, China Merchants Bank, and China Railway Group, have terminated their auditing contracts with PwC that involved related fees exceeding CNY100 million (USD13.8 million).

PwC audited a total of 107 companies listed in the Chinese mainland last year, racking in total auditing fees of CNY869 million, according to data from Wind Information.

Editor: Futura Costaglione