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phoenix finance news according to the financial times, pricewaterhousecoopers (pwc) will parachute senior partner hemione hudson from the uk to manage its china business to deal with the ongoing impact and business challenges caused by the evergrande audit scandal.

unlike traditional multinationals, pwc is a network of independent local partnerships, so appointing an outsider to run a member firm is a highly unusual move.

the financial times reported that pwc has told clients that it expects china to impose a large fine on it and suspend its business for six months as punishment for its evergrande audit failures.

pwc china has been cutting staff to cope with the huge financial impact of the evergrande scandal, and since the beginning of this year, a large number of clients, especially state-owned enterprises, have stopped hiring pwc as their auditor.

the current boss of pwc china is daniel lee, formerly head of audit business. he was elected by the partners at the end of last year for a four-year term, which only started on july 1.

it is not clear what role lee will take after hudson takes over. pwc declined to comment.

hudson, who is chief risk and regulatory officer for pwc’s uk business in addition to being a member of pwc’s global leadership team, was shortlisted for the top three spots to lead the uk firm but lost out in a partner vote in april to marco amitrano, former head of consulting at pwc uk.

she led the uk audit sector for five years at a time of significant regulatory turmoil and political scrutiny for the industry as the country’s watchdog forced the big four to invest more in the quality of their work following a series of scandals.

during her tenure, the company was fined nearly £15 million by britain's accounting regulator, but mostly for audits conducted before she became head of the department. rivals and colleagues consider her a capable communicator.

the firm has endured a turbulent and sometimes fractured 18 months at the top, with leadership changes across its global network and its us, uk and china businesses following scheduled elections earlier this year.