PwC left waiting by Satyam
Shareholder vote in May will decide if PwC will remain as auditor of troubled Indian outsourcing giant
Satyam chairman B Ramalinga Raju
The auditors of troubled Indian outsourcing giant
Satyam are unlikely to
learn if they are to keep the audit until late spring.
Two weeks ago Satyam chairman B Ramalinga Raju admitted an accounting fraud
estimated at $1bn (£722m) had taken place at the company.
PricewaterhouseCoopers in
Hyderabad last week wrote to the Satyam board saying its audits covering June
2000 to September last year could not be relied upon.
Speculation surfaced that PwC would be fired from the audit, but Satyam
sources have said the auditor can only be removed by a shareholder vote at an
AGM and that is unlikely to take place before May.
Satyam would not comment this week but the new government-appointed board is
due to meet again on Saturday and could reveal when restated third quarter
results will be published, which would give some indication of a timetable for
the AGM.
KPMG and Deloitte are working on restatements and Satyam has made it clear
they are not replacing PwC as auditor. PwC declined to comment but UK staff are
understood to be among a ‘handful’ of experts reviewing the audit in Hyderabad.
The firm has been reassuring other Indian audit clients but it is understood
none have decided to jump ship for another audit firm following the Satyam
scandal.
Satyam has appointed new internal audit advisers and is looking for a CFO after
Srinivas Vadlamani
stepped down along with Raju. The board has also created a new audit
committee, to be chaired by TN Manoharan, chairman of the Satyam board and a
former president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.