PwC partners' arrest worries more firms

HYDERABAD: A Mumbai International Airport Pvt Ltd official said the company had decided to go in for a joint auditor along with PwC to ensure it was prepared with another auditor in case PwC ran into problems with the ICAI.

Some other firms being audited by PwC too said they were worried about the arrest of the global auditing firm���s partners, S Gopalakrishnan and Srinivas Talluri, on Saturday.

The two have their signatures on the balance sheets of various firms that are now wondering whether investor concerns would require them to add more auditors as disengaging from PwC is an option they cannot exercise easily.

The company���s act stipulates that a firm cannot remove its auditor without following proper procedures, which are fairly elaborate. ���Either they will have to withdraw or be barred by the ICAI,������ said an official of a firm audited by PwC.

Among the firms audited by PwC in Hyderabad are Infotech, Lanco, GMR, OCV Reinforcements (formerly Saint Gobain) and Global Hospitals. Senior officials of Global Hospitals said the arrests were a ���major cause for concern������.

PwC partner P Rama Krishna, who is not named in the Satyam scam, signs the hospital���s balance sheet. ���It (our course of action) will be decided in our board meeting,������ a senior official said.