Shell (LSE:SHEL) announced on Friday that it has appointed PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) as its next external auditor, with the firm set to assume the role from 2027 after the conclusion of a formal tender process.
PwC will replace EY, whose audit work at the energy group has come under scrutiny. In December, the UK’s Financial Reporting Council opened an investigation into EY’s audit of Shell’s 2024 accounts, focusing on possible breaches of audit partner rotation requirements.
Shell had already flagged regulatory issues last July, disclosing that rules obliging listed companies to rotate lead audit partners every five to seven years, as well as enforce cooling-off periods before partners can return to the same client, had not been fully complied with.
At the time, the company said it would need to restate its 2023 and 2024 annual reports after EY failed to meet U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission standards on partner rotation. Shell emphasized that the revisions would be technical in nature and would not affect the underlying financial results.
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