Today’s parliamentary hearing into the ethics and professional accountability of KPMG leadership has reinforced the case for major renovation of the Big 4’s governance, regulation, surveillance and penalties.
It has revealed further evidence of KPMG’s toxic culture of cover-ups, NDAs and large payments for whistleblowers’ silence, and weak accountability for wrongdoing.
KPMG is accused of sharing confidential client information to rig audit tender bids, using AI to cheat on internal exams, breaching audit independence, and mistreating and paying off whistleblowers who raise concerns.
The Greens say KPMG leaders are gold class exemplars of greed trumping ethics at every turn. They have taken advantage of yawning regulatory gaps and revealed broken ‘self-government’ amongst the Big 4.
As stated by Greens finance and public service spokesperson Senator Barbara Pocock:
“The Parliament heard evidence today of a repetitive pattern of unethical behaviour by KPMG leadership. They have misled the parliament and the public, and drip fed us self-congratulatory whitewash and misinformation.
“At the same time, they take taxpayers for mugs and milk us for hundreds of millions of dollars in government contracts.
“KPMG are hiding behind inadequate investigations from their legal friends. Some in the leadership appear to be so far down the rabbit hole of bad behavior and poor culture that too often they fail to understand where they went wrong.
“KPMG leaders have played by their own rules with zero accountability. They have bullied whistleblowers, mistreated confidential information and failed basic tests of transparency and good governance. They buy political pull through donations and make sure they are at every political table of influence.
“Through scandal after scandal, KPMG have shown Australians their lack of integrity, coverups, dishonesty and pursuit of revenue at any cost. They have shown us they are not worthy of taxpayer dollars.
“Australians are outraged. How many more scandals need to happen before Labor acts.
“The Big 4’s governance is a farce. They have lost their social licence and they cannot be trusted. Self regulation has failed. It is time for root and branch structural reform.
“Labor needs to put an end to their special treatment on board rules and regulation, tax, public reporting, professional liability and whistleblower protections.
“The Government must review all contracts with KPMG and ban them from government work. They must break up and regulate the Big 4, and increase penalties for dishonest behaviour and ethical failures.”
Hearing livestream link and program
