NEW DELHI: It is yet to clear its name from the Satyam scandal, but it's action time at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), one of the world's top professional services firm. Even as it faces multiple inquiries into the Satyam scam, the company is strengthening its audit and other business practices in India and plans to invest $100 million over the next three years and double its headcount from 6000 at present.
Dennis M Nally, chairman of PwC International, admits that the company's business operations were impacted after the Satyam fiasco - that resulted in the arrest of two of its top audit partners, apart from the numerous inquiries. However, he says that the company is moving swiftly to make amends through a series of changes, which includes a new leadership and a renewed focus on quality control and procedures. "The idea is raise our overall quality and we would do anything for this," Nally tells TOI in an interview at the World Economic Forum, he says PwC will expand in India in line with the rapid expansion of the country's economy and its rising status globally.
However, it is the Satyam scam and its after-effects that get the otherwise at-ease Nally in a cautionary mode. "Whenever a situation like this (corporate fraud) happens, there is an immediate tendency to point fingers," he says when asked whether the firm was made a scapegoat in a fraud that appears to be a pure handiwork of the company's promoter Ramalinga Raju. "There is a need to not over-react, and understand things in totality. Unfortunately, in today's 24X7 reporting world, it is unrealistic." Asked whether he supports the idea of action against auditing firms, something that is being considered by Indian regulators post the Satyam scam, Nally says he supports the move, but only in case of systemic failures.
Dennis M Nally, chairman of PwC International, admits that the company's business operations were impacted after the Satyam fiasco - that resulted in the arrest of two of its top audit partners, apart from the numerous inquiries. However, he says that the company is moving swiftly to make amends through a series of changes, which includes a new leadership and a renewed focus on quality control and procedures. "The idea is raise our overall quality and we would do anything for this," Nally tells TOI in an interview at the World Economic Forum, he says PwC will expand in India in line with the rapid expansion of the country's economy and its rising status globally.
However, it is the Satyam scam and its after-effects that get the otherwise at-ease Nally in a cautionary mode. "Whenever a situation like this (corporate fraud) happens, there is an immediate tendency to point fingers," he says when asked whether the firm was made a scapegoat in a fraud that appears to be a pure handiwork of the company's promoter Ramalinga Raju. "There is a need to not over-react, and understand things in totality. Unfortunately, in today's 24X7 reporting world, it is unrealistic." Asked whether he supports the idea of action against auditing firms, something that is being considered by Indian regulators post the Satyam scam, Nally says he supports the move, but only in case of systemic failures.
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