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☆ PWC Aussie mess is classic do as I say not as I do
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-29 | by ( Antony Currie | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

MELBOURNE, Sept 29 (Reuters Breakingviews) - PWC Australia is likely to need a long time to recover from what is turning out to be a self-inflicted double whammy. Now the independent review sparked by the furore has laid bare another problem: PWC Australia took a do as I say not as I do approach to running its own shop. The report, commissioned by PWCA in May, written by one of the country’s corporate grandees, Ziggy Switkowski, and published on Wednesday, outlines a series of corporate governance failures. What’s worse, and even more ironic, is PWC Australia’s aversion to tapping external advice. Many of the changes will come from applying, “to the extent feasible”, the Australian Securities Exchange’s corporate governance principles and recommendations.

Persons: Tom Seymour, PWCA, Ziggy Switkowski, “, Kevin Burrowes, That’s, Una Galani, Katrina Hamlin Organizations: Reuters, Lehman Brothers, Silicon Valley Bank, Australian Securities, Thomson Locations: MELBOURNE, Australia, Silicon

SYDNEY, July 6 (Reuters) - Two lawmakers on Thursday called on PwC Australia to name all the companies it sought to advise on the basis of leaked government tax plans, after a report linked Google (GOOGL.O) to the national scandal first exposed in January. A cache of 144-pages of PwC emails dating from 2014 to 2017 publicly released by the Tax Practioners Board in May detail how a former tax partner shared with colleagues confidential government tax plans, which they then used to drum up work with companies overseas. One of the released emails dated Jan. 6, 2016 mentioned a "north American project" that had 14 unnamed companies as clients. PwC Australia did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Reporting by Lewis Jackson; Editing by Sonali PaulOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Deborah O'Neill, O'Neill, Barbara Pocock, Pocock, PwC, Tom Seymour, Lewis Jackson, Sonali Paul Organizations: SYDNEY, Reuters, Google, Tax, Board, Labor, Greens, Senate, PwC Australia's, Thomson Locations: Australia

At the time, a number of organisations had called for the government to delay the planned January 2016 start date. The former partner did not tell Google the information was confidential, the source said. Reuters could not establish if Google was a client of PwC Australia at the time, and if it used the information in any way. What sources told Reuters matches information in the letter, which was publicly released with the name of the company that received the confidential information redacted. Tax officials told parliament in May they foiled several attempts by unnamed multinational firms to subvert the multinational anti-avoidance law in early 2016, months after confidential information had leaked.

Persons: PwC, Peter Collins, Collins, Tom Seymour, Lewis Jackson, Emelia Sithole, Sonali Paul Organizations: Google, Reuters, PwC Australia, PwC, Tax, Board, Thomson Locations: Australia, SYDNEY, PwC Australia

☆ Allegro says independent board to oversee PwC Australia's government business
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

SYDNEY, July 4 (Reuters) - Australian investment firm Allegro Funds said on Tuesday it would set up an independent board to oversee PwC Australia's government practice business, which it bought last month, and committed A$100 million ($67 million) for transition costs. PwC Australia on June 25 entered an exclusivity agreement with Allegro to sell its government practice for A$1 as it battles to contain a fallout from a scandal over the leak of confidential government tax documents. Allegro said it had reached a binding term sheet on the sale, with the new business to be called Scyne Advisory and fully independent of PwC. PwC Australia said on Monday that it fired eight partners as part of an internal investigation into the leak. Former CEO Tom Seymour and the other seven partners named by PwC did not respond to requests for comment.

Persons: Allegro, Tom Seymour, PwC, Renju Jose, Matthew Lewis Organizations: SYDNEY, Allegro, Advisory, Federal, of, Scyne Advisory, PwC, Thomson Locations: Australia, of Australia, PwC Australia, Sydney

SYDNEY, July 3 (Reuters) - PwC Australia has fired eight partners including its former chief executive as part of an internal investigation into the leak of confidential government tax plans by a former partner, the firm said on Monday. The investigation found multiple examples where the "misuse of confidential information" breached professional standards and also identified "a failure of leadership and governance" to address the breaches, PwC said in a statement. Seymour and the other seven partners named by PwC did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Three of the partners were singled out for actions that "failed to meet their professional responsibilities". These behaviours are not, and never have been, acceptable under PwC’s standards," said the statement from PwC, one of the world's "big four" accounting firms.

Persons: PwC, Kristin Stubbins, Tom Seymour, Seymour, Lewis Jackson, Sonali Paul Organizations: SYDNEY, PwC, Thomson Locations: Australia, Stubbins

☆ Why PwC is selling part of its business in Australia for less than $1
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-26 | by ( Michelle Toh | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —PwC, one of the world’s big four consulting firms, is selling its government advisory business in Australia for just cents after a scandal left its reputation there in shreds. As a result, PwC will sell its government consultancy practice in Australia to Allegro Funds, a private equity firm, for just 1 Australian dollar ($0.7), PwC said in a statement. The business accounts for about 20% of the firm’s revenue in the country. PwC Australia has taken steps to try to regain trust. The firm also ordered nine partners to go on leave as it carried out an investigation “into who may have shared or misused confidential information,” acting CEO Kristin Stubbins said in an open letter in May.

Persons: CNN —, PwC, Peter Collins, Tom Seymour, Kristin Stubbins, Stubbins, Collins, ”, “ Organizations: CNN, Allegro Funds, Australian Treasury, Australian Senate, Police, PwC, Mr Locations: Australia, PwC, PwC Australia

SYDNEY, May 15 (Reuters) - PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) said the former CEO of its Australia business, who stepped down just last week, will retire from the firm, while the auditor also announced an independent review into a leak of confidential government tax information. Tom Seymour will retire as a partner at the firm on Sept. 30, PwC Australia said in a statement on Monday. According to recent local media reports, another former PwC partner had been banned by Australia's tax practitioners board for sharing government tax plans with other staff at the firm. PwC has confirmed the "unauthorised sharing of confidential tax policy information", but has not named the individuals involved. That includes if the report recommends "exiting" further people and partners from the firm, PwC added.

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