Gazprom To Keep On PWC Despite Errors And Shareholder Pressure

An Gazprom commission has recommended that the world's top natural gas producer continue using PricewaterhouseCoopers to audit its accounts, setting aside shareholder criticism of the world's largest accounting firm. Gazprom's American depositary receipts tumbled 2.9 percent after the decision, the biggest one day drop in a month. Gazprom's board must decide on an auditor this month to propose to the shareholders' annual meeting on June 28th. International auditors face increased scrutiny after the US charged Arthur Andersen with shredding tons of documents to hamper a probe into the collapse of Enron, the collapse was the biggest bankruptcy in history. Gazprom's minority shareholders said that PWC failed to reveal damage from transfers of Gazprom's assets to rivals. “The market is set to be disappointed that Gazprom is shying away from changing its auditor,” said Adam Landes, a London based analyst at Renaissance Capital. “There's a global perception that compulsory rotation of auditors might prevent more collapses.”

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