Since January 2017, PricewaterhouseCoopers Ukraine has faced a powerful informational crisis caused by the leadership of the National Bank of Ukraine. According to NBU officials, the audit of PrivatBank, issued in July 2016 by PwC, included false data. As a result, the NBU excluded the Ukrainian company from the list of bank auditors.
The discussion of the auditor with the regulator lasted for a very long time, and was renewed several times throughout the year. In total 717 publications, which had about 3 million contacts with the audience, appeared in the media from January till November of 2017.
Due to the involvement of top speakers in criticizing the auditor, as well as the propensity of the Ukrainian media to spread the news about "treason", the negative statements got much more coverage than the messages of PwC and ex-shareholders of PrivatBank - Ukrainian oligarсhs I. Kolomoisky and G. Bogolyubov. Moreover, the auditor, obviously, looked more attractive as newsmaker comparing to ex-shareholders of the nationalised bank.
Since mass media rarely show interested to the auditor's activity, crisis communication was very noticeable in the annual media portrait of the auditor. It attracted nearly the same attention as the company's research on global issues, such as "Improving the tax climate in Ukraine", published by PwC.
Since the official charges from the NBU appeared on January 18, PwC had not reacted, and only in April declared that Ukrainian office will be re-subordinated. The company did not actually defend itself against the attack, perhaps because it did not want to move it from the national to the global level.
As a result, though almost a year had passed, the subject continues to be discussed, as an informational confrontation between the authorities and ex-shareholders of the bank continues, and the topic of controversial audit still serves as an argument for state representatives.
Download the full version in pdf
