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Australia and New Zealand raise pressure on Big Four accounting firms
Regulators in Australia plan to review audit conduct at PwC, Deloitte, EY and KPMG after separate investigations involving confidential client information and prior misconduct cases.
Australia is considering sweeping changes to the accounting profession after misconduct scandals involving the Big Four, according to CFO.com through Yahoo Finance.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission said it will review internal and whistleblower complaints tied to audit conduct at PwC, Deloitte, EY and KPMG, while it also runs a separate investigation into claims that KPMG Australia employees improperly used confidential client information to pursue new business.
The renewed scrutiny follows earlier fallout including the PwC Australia tax leaks scandal in 2023, when former tax partner Peter-John Collins disclosed confidential government information he obtained while advising Australia’s Treasury on multinational tax avoidance laws, and later internal emails suggested the information had been circulated within PwC before the legislation became public.
In parallel, Deloitte’s latest workforce survey in New Zealand indicates younger professionals are becoming more selective about public accounting careers and the trade-offs they are willing to accept, adding a talent and retention challenge alongside the regulatory rebuild.
The article also cites that KPMG Australia, after announcing major job cuts among staff and partners, disclosed more than two dozen employees, including a partner fined 10,000 Australian dollars, used AI to cheat on internal training exams.