Deloitte Suspended and Fined a Record $30.8 Million Over Huarong

(Bloomberg) — China suspended the operations of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Ltd.’s Beijing office for three months and imposed an unprecedented fine over lapses in its auditing work of bad-debt manager China Huarong Asset Management Co.

After several on-site inspections, personnel interviews, a review of paperwork and a hearing, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) found that Deloitte had “serious audit deficiencies” in its work with Huarong between 2014 and 2019, according to a statement. The firm was fined 212 million yuan ($30.8 million), or more than 25 times the combined fines the ministry meted to accounting firms during inspections last year.