HONG KONG (MarketWatch) -- Accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers plans to hire 15,000 graduates and experienced professionals over the next five years in China and Hong Kong, it said Tuesday, as it capitalizes on growing business opportunities in the region, particularly mainland China.

The Big-Four firm said the new hires will be "across all lines of service," adding it hopes to recruit more than 2,000 university graduates in the coming months in Hong Kong and China. The company is conducting campus recruitment in Hong Kong and three mainland Chinese cities this month.

The Big Four--which includes Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, Ernst & Young and KPMG--have been expanding rapidly in China, a market that has become the largest source of new international stock listings as well as mergers activity.

Ratings company Fitch Ratings Inc. said in an earlier report that it believes Chinese firms using auditors from the Big Four should inspire confidence in terms of corporate governance.

Dozens of mostly smaller Chinese entities listed outside China have come under fire in recent months from regulators and investors, as a wave of fraud allegations by short sellers has erased billions of dollars in the Chinese companies' market value and triggered lawsuits and U.S. regulatory probes.