An Australian senator has delivered a scathing rebuke of the consultancy firm PwC, arguing its misuse of Treasury information was a betrayal of professional ethics and standards while suggesting more resignations may be necessary.
On Monday night, the chief executive of PwC Australia, Tom Seymour, resigned after sustained criticism of the firm allegedly profiting from sharing confidential government tax policy with colleagues.
Seymour was one of dozens of partners who received emails about confidential information obtained by former PwC adviser Peter-John Collins through consultations with Treasury. The Tax Practitioners Board deregistered Collins last year.
The Labor senator Deborah O’Neill used parliamentary privilege to accuse Seymour and Collins of being involved “in the deception of the Australian parliament, the Australian people and a betrayal of the ethical and professional standards they should be upholding”.
“This is a major cancer on the way that information that is vital to the national interest is being undertaken by those at PwC,” O’Neill told the chamber.
“We have had a resignation from Seymour as a chief executive. He remains a partner. There are many more questions than answers and I will not let this go, in the interests of the nation.”
PwC, like many large consultancy firms, is paid by the government to provide policy advice and to access confidential or protected information. At the same time, separate divisions within the firm charge businesses for their insights and specialist knowledge.
O’Neill has not called for a ban on new contracts with PwC, as proposed by the Greens, but has raised concerns that other consultancy firms may have engaged in similar practices without being detected.
Earlier this week, former senior officials and independent experts warned the kinds of potential conflicts of interest that triggered the PwC scandal were “rife” within the consulting industry.
The federal government was also warned consultancy firms may be tailoring their advice to the government to earn more money, instead of giving frank and fearless advice in the best interests of taxpayers.
Bill Browne, who leads progressive thinktank the Australia Institute’s democracy and accountability program, said Seymour’s resignation would not fix structural issues within the industry.
“PwC should donate to charity the $2.5m it took for advice on tax avoidance based on confidential information and the nearly $1m it took for work relating to the robodebt scheme before burying the final report,” Browne said.
“Between PwC’s role in multinational tax avoidance and the shabby way they handled their report into the robodebt scheme, there are serious doubts about whether any work the consulting firm did for government can be relied upon.”
The Greens senator Barbara Pocock also said PwC should donate the $2.5m it received from Treasury and criticised the firm’s response to the scandal.
“This is not about one individual bad apple,” Pocock said.
“The idea that the people who perpetrated a massive betrayal of trust should be allowed to mark their own homework by appointing an independent investigator is ludicrous.”
James Guthrie, an emeritus professor of accounting at Macquarie University, recently told a parliamentary inquiry that consultants were “working both sides of the street”. He said some were writing federal tax legislation while at the same time advising clients on how to sidestep it.
“To fully understand how a consulting firm’s clientele might affect its advice, consultancy contracts should no longer be allowed to operate under a veil of secrecy,” he wrote in a submission.
“Consulting firms that want to work for governments should be made to disclose things such as any clients they advise that could potentially conflict with the public sector work and the advice provided.”
In a statement issued after Seymour’s resignation, the acting chief executive, Kristin Stubbins, said PwC was committed to learning from its mistakes and building a culture of stronger trust and transparency.
