Response to the sanction against ChuoAoyama
PricewaterhouseCoopers issued the following statement on 10th May, in response to the sanction announced in Japan against ChuoAoyama PricewaterhouseCoopers:
"PricewaterhouseCoopers regrets the actions of the former ChuoAoyama partners in connection with the Kanebo fraud and will respect fully the requirements and the intent of the order by the Financial Services Agency.
ChuoAoyama is committed to its previously announced reform plan. PricewaterhouseCoopers will continue to assist ChuoAoyama in the implementation of its programme to improve audit quality and will assist ChuoAoyama in managing through this difficult period.
In addition :
* A permanent new and independent audit firm is being created in Japan that will be a member of the PricewaterhouseCoopers global network.
* This new member firm will operate under a new management and governance structure, and will be of a sufficiently large scale to serve its clients. It will adopt international best practices in accounting and auditing to create a new distinctive firm that will meet high standards of audit quality.
* During its development, the new firm will have a high level of oversight by PwC.
PricewaterhouseCoopers expects to be able to provide additional details with respect to this new firm within the next week."