Wellington, Dec 22 NZPA - Accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers' insolvency practice, headed by receiver John Waller, has earned more than $6 million in fees from work on finance company receiverships, Companies Office filings show.

That is more than two-thirds of the $9.2 million or so in receivers' fees charged so far on about 30 finance companies that have failed over the past three years, The New Zealand Herald reported today.

The figures do not include hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars more in legal and advisory fees associated with receivers' work.

Mr Waller said his team's charges were in most cases little more than might be expected under a moratorium and often did not fully reflect the amount of work done.

"We often don't charge all the hours and we discount the rate for these jobs because we're conscious of the impact on investors," he said.

Receivers must file reports to the Companies Office every six months containing a receipts and payments statement that is accessible to the public through its website.

Mr Waller said that, apart from the initial stages of a receivership where a company's assets and records were being secured, which can be a costly process, the ongoing costs of receivership were probably on a par with a restructuring or work-out.

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