What's Spooking Auditors?

Fear of being banned for failing to keep an eagle eye on company books has prompted a spate of resignations from top audit firms

- Pooja Sarkar

ON JUNE 12, 45 MINUTES AFTER midnight, Reliance Home Finance (RHF) announced on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) that one of its auditors, Price Waterhouse & Co Chartered Consultants LLP (PwC), had resigned. Two minutes later, Reliance Capital (RCAP), another company of the Reliance ADA Group, said PwC had resigned from its firm. At 11 am earlier that day, group chairman Anil Ambani had taken to a conference call to elaborate his plans to service the `35,000 crore debt of the conglomerate.

In filings submitted by RCAP and RHF to the BSE, PwC stated that as part of an ongoing audit for 201819, it noted certain observations/ transactions that in its assessment, if not resolved satisfactorily, might be significant or material to the financial statements, and that it did not receive satisfactory responses to its queries.

As per the filings, PwC had sent out queries on April 24, which RCAP disputed. On May 14, PwC issued another letter and said RCAP did not convene an audit committee meeting within the expected time. RCAP also stated that it might initiate legal proceedings against the auditor.

A company spokesperson for RCAP tells