PwC China has informed its clients it expects a six-month business ban by Chinese authorities as early as September as part of punishment for its audit of collapsed property developer Evergrande, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday.

The ban would prevent it from signing off on financial results and initial public offerings and from conducting other regulated activities, the report stated, citing multiple clients.

A PwC spokesperson declined to comment, saying it is an ongoing regulatory matter.

PwC has been under scrutiny for its role in auditing Evergrande since the troubled property developer was accused in March of a $78-billion fraud, leading to an exodus of clients.

As of March, PwC was the leading auditing firm in China with about 110 companies listed in the country as its clients.

Since then, at least 50 Chinese companies, many of which are state-owned firms or financial institutions, have dropped PwC as its auditor or cancelled the plans to hire it in recent months.

(Reporting by Urvi Dugar and Sameer Manekar in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)