Authoritative Recognition: PwC China ranks first for 19th consecutive year

Beijing, 26 September 2022 – The Chinese Institute of Certified Public Accountants (CICPA) recently released its Top 100 accounting firms in 2021 rankings. PricewaterhouseCoopers Zhong Tian LLP (“PwC ”) once again was in first place. PwC China has been ranked first in the top 100 firms for nineteen consecutive years – since the CICPA released its first rankings in 2003. 

“We are honoured that the CICPA has once again ranked PwC first on its ‘Top 100 accounting firms in 2021’ list. This recognition, for the 19th consecutive year, reaffirms our long term commitment to the China market and our relentless focus on delivering services with the highest quality. Responding to the latest challenges in the modern era, PwC continues to prioritise our human-led and tech-enabled investments to support and contribute to China’s major national strategies to achieve long-lasting growth and development for its economy. We look forward to working hand in hand with the government and corporate clients to help build trust and deliver sustained outcomes,” said Raymund Chao, PwC Asia Pacific and China Chairman.

China continues to perform remarkably well despite ongoing global challenges. PwC will continue to contribute to China’s major national strategies for continued growth and development of the economy. In 2021, PwC unveiled its “The New Equation” strategy. It will extend its services to meet the complex challenges facing businesses and society, prioritising investments in five strategic areas that are critical to every client in today’s dynamic environment – Digital Redesign; Digital Products and Solutions; Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG); Regional Economic Clusters; and Workforce of the Future.

PwC promotes the application of new technologies and the digital transformation of information. The firm attaches great importance to information security and has adopted a series of strong internal control policies and measures to ensure the security of all customer information, including that of state-owned enterprises. In June 2020, PwC took the lead by passing the third-level evaluation of the Ministry of Public Security’s network security level protection 2.0. This is the highest level network security evaluation for domestic non-financial institutions. PwC is the first accounting firm that has passed this certification.

 “PwC has always served the Chinese society with professionalism as its foundation. PwC’s Chinese brand was established in China and has grown consistently over the past 30 years, in line with the country’s economic growth. We always adhere to the principle of localisation: delivering high-quality professional services and the spirit of innovation, we help enterprises to control and prevent risks, improve quality and efficiency, and achieve sustainable goals. We assist social construction with integrity, and help support the high-quality development of China’s economy,” said Daniel Li, Senior Partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers Zhong Tian LLP and Managing Partner - Assurance for PwC Asia Pacific and China.

PricewaterhouseCoopers Zhong Tian is a local accounting firm that has joined the international PwC network, has a professional service team of nearly 10,000 people, and has set up 23 branches in China. The firm has cultivated a large number of outstandingly talented financial professionals for the CPA industry and the broader society over the past 30 years. Over 130 new partners have been promoted in the last five years. 98% of these are local partners and 50% are female. The firm attaches great importance to the construction of its leadership team and strengthening the localisation, diversification and globalisation of people development.

The high-quality audit services provided by PwC in the capital markets have been recognised by the market and by customers. In the past ten years, PwC has assisted Chinese enterprises to raise RMB 1.4 trillion in the A-share, Hong Kong and US capital markets. In the A-share market, the total market value of listed companies audited by PwC is nearly RMB 10 trillion at the end of 2021, accounting for 10% of the total market value of companies listed on the A-share market. In January 2022, PwC helped China Mobile to list on the Shanghai Main Board, making it the largest A-share listing of the past decade. In August 2022, PwC also helped United Imaging to list on the STAR Market, becoming the largest IPO in the STAR Market in 2022. In the Hong Kong and US capital markets, PwC ranked first amongst audit firms in terms of the number of IPOs and the volume of funds raised by Chinese enterprises that it audited. By the end of 2021, the total market value of Chinese enterprises listed in Hong Kong and audited by PwC exceeded HK$26 trillion, accounting for 42% of the total market share of companies listed on Hong Kong's capital market. Similarly, the total market value of Chinese enterprises listed in the United States and audited by PwC is nearly US $ 1 trillion – or 64% of the total market value of Chinese enterprises listed in the US. PwC ranked first in terms of its audit clients’ market value in both capital markets for the listed Chinese enterprises.