The Adani Group has hired accountancy firm Grant Thornton for independent audit of some of its companies as it aims to rebut claims by short-seller Hindenburg Research
Grant Thornton has been hired to conduct independent audits of some Adani Group companies, and confirm whether the group’s third-party transactions complied with corporate governance norms
Grant Thornton’s appointment can be seen as Adani Group’s first major effort to defend itself. Gautam Adani and CFO Jugeshinder Singh had previously defended the company in wake of the Hindenburg report
Along with Gautam Adani and the Adani Group, the credibility of their independent auditor Shah Dhandharia also came under scrutiny in the Hindenburg report
The Hindenburg report questioned the auditor and stated that they had 4 partners and 11 employees, and they paid Rs 32,000 in rent. The only other company it audits has a m-cap of $7.8 million
The report stated that an auditor like Shah Dhandharia “hardly seems capable of complex audit work”. To put in context, Adani’s 7 key listed entities have 578 subsidiaries, and engaged in 6,025 third party transactions in 2022
Hindenburg said that the Shah Dhandharia partners who signed off on Adani Enterprises and Total Gas’ audit reports were 24 and 23 years old, indicating that they were freshly out of school
“If we support the development of a small firm to become a proper, good, accounting firm, how is that a bad thing? Is it not our responsibility?” Adani CFO had said