Satyam auditor mum on fudging charges

New Delhi: Satyam's auditors PwC, which is under the scanner of the government along with auditing regulator ICAI for its role in the Rs 8,000 crore financial fraud in the IT company, was conspicuous with its non-committal stance on the developments."We have learnt of the disclosure made by the Chairman of Satyam Computer Services and are examining the contents of the statement," a PriceWaterhouseCoopers spokesperson said late this evening in response to flood of queries since morning.The spokesperson said, "We are not commenting further on this subject due to issues of client confidentiality." Earlier in the day, officials in Ministry of Corporate Affairs said that the government would probe the role of PwC in the episode.
Corporate Affairs Minister Prem Chand Gupta told reporters that the misrepresentation of accounts, if genuine, is "shameful" and the ministry has already asked the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) and the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) to look into the role of the auditors and company secretaries in the case.
ICAI President Ved Jain said that any member of the body found guilty in the Satyam fraud would be severely punished and the auditors could even be barred from practicing, for lifetime.Reacting to the developments, another consultancy and auditing major KPMG's Chief Operating Officer Richard Rekhy said that it did not sound possible that internal auditors were not in the know of the financial wrongdoings.Grant Thornton's National Managing Partner Vishesh Chandiok said that it was not necessary that the big auditors were on top in terms of quality also.