KCB Group is reported to this Thursday replace KPMG Kenya with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) as its external auditor, dealing a blow to the consultancy after it lost Absa Kenya job last year.
The changes now hand PwC audit control of Kenya’s top two banks — KCB and Equity Group. Last year, Equity Bank dropped Ernst & Young for PwC in 2017.
KCB audit job has been among the highest payers, with remuneration paid by the lender amounting to Sh55 million in the financial year ended December 2019. Absa Kenya last year also dropped KPMG after two years of auditing its books, dealing it a blow of annual audit fees of between Sh32 million and Sh40 million.
KPMG’s credibility was put to question over work done for controversial Gupta family, which faced corruption investigation in South Africa. Absa Group, the parent firm of the Kenya unit, also dropped it.
Top banks’ audit jobs are the most lucrative and are usually shared among the Big Four auditors — PwC, Deloitte, EY and KPMG.