PwC Australia Takes Action to Regain Trust After Leaked Government Information Scandal
Key Highlights :
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Australia is taking action to restore public trust after the firm was embroiled in a scandal over the leak of confidential information about the government’s tax plans. On Monday, PwC announced that nine partners have been directed to stand down pending the outcome of an internal investigation, and that the chairs of the company’s governance board and risk committee have stepped down.
The firm also said it would appoint two independent directors to its governance board and publish in full the outcome of a review into the firm’s culture that was announced earlier this month. Kristin Stubbins, acting chief executive of PwC Australia, said in a statement that the firm is “committed to doing everything it takes to make the wrongs of our past right and to re-earn [the public’s] trust”.
The scandal first emerged when it was revealed that a partner at the firm had used confidential information about the government’s planned tax reforms to drum up business with multinational clients and help them pay less tax. This prompted PwC chief executive Tom Seymour to step down earlier this month. Australian police have since opened a criminal investigation into PwC and its former partner Peter Collins over the “alleged misuse of confidential government information”.
Despite the ongoing investigation, PwC is taking steps to “ringfence” services provided to government agencies and to increase transparency in order to regain public confidence. Stubbins rejected calls for the company to release the names of all the employees who had access to emails related to the leaked information, and insisted that no confidential information was used to allow clients to pay less tax.
PwC is taking several steps to restore public trust and is committed to doing “everything it takes” to make the wrongs of the past right. The firm is taking steps to increase transparency and to ensure that services provided to government agencies are ringfenced. However, PwC has rejected calls for the release of all employee names related to the scandal and insists that no confidential information was used to allow clients to pay less tax.
