Former Telstra CEO Ziggy Switkowski's internal review into PwC following the tax leaks scandal is unlikely to stop further scrutiny of the big four accounting giant and other consulting firms.
Since the scandal erupted, the company's Australian CEO has quit, nine senior partners have been stood down, and the man at the centre of the scandal, Peter Collins, is being investigated by the Australian Federal Police. The PwC controversy has also reignited a global debate about whether accounting firms need to split their lucrative consulting services from their audit functions.
In 2021, the global consulting services market was valued at between $US700 billion and $US900 billion . And the body's chief executive, Michael O'Neill, said the TPB was continuing with preliminary inquiries into other current and former PwC partners and into PwC itself. Senator Barbara Pocock, questioning Hirschhorn during the committee hearing, said it was "absolutely implausible" that Sayers had no knowledge of confidentiality breaches.
The ATO then concealed the deal with PwC from the TPB, only disclosing it to the Senate Committee on Finance and Public Administration References Committee in late July. "What damage is made to tax administration by revealing the level of discount or payment by a large multinational in its tax avoidance strategies? Where's the damage?" Pocock asked.
But at the inquiry, the firm refused to give details on executive salaries, and questions were raised about whether taxpayers were getting good value for money. In addition, the UK's auditing and accounting regulator, the Financial Reporting Council , in 2020 established a June 2024 deadline for the big four firms to split their audit and consulting businesses to improve corporate reporting.