The US treasury has announced it has recruited big four firms PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and Ernst & Young (E&Y) to help in the emergency buyouts of toxic assets from struggling financial institutions by providing ‘accounting and internal controls services needed to administer the complex portfolio of troubled assets’, including whole loans and mortgage-backed securities.

The treasury chose the two firms from a pool of 12 and the initial orders for PwC and E&Y are worth $191,469.27 and $492,006.95, respectively.

The contracts were awarded as part of the government's new $700bn Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) to bail out financial companies lumbered with assets degraded by falling US home prices, Agence France Presse reports.

The treasury said PwC would help the department establish a ‘sound internal control posture’ and E&Y would provide general accounting support and expert accounting advice.