PwC must flip circuit breaker

News

HomeHome / News / PwC must flip circuit breaker

Jun 07, 2023

PwC must flip circuit breaker

Chanticleer After another torrid week, it’s become clear PwC needs to release

Chanticleer

After another torrid week, it's become clear PwC needs to release the list of partners involved in its tax leak scandal to stem the bleeding.

At the end of another torrid week for professional services giant PwC, it's now crystal clear what the circuit breaker is for the firm as it fights this developing tax leaks scandal: it must produce the list of staff implicated as quickly as possible.

The referral of the scandal to the Australian Federal Police for possible investigation clearly underscores how the consequences of PwC's actions are snowballing. Regardless of whether you see the government's restrictions on PwC's involvement in new contracts as a shadow ban or a real one, the effect is the same.

The PwC scandal shows no sign of going away. Eamon Gallagher

As the government has scrambled to find ways to whack the firm, Labor senator Deborah O’Neill and Greens senator Barbara Pocock spent much of the week repeatedly calling for the release of the names of roughly 50 PwC partners named in emails relating to the firm's tax leaks scandal.

On Friday, Pocock tried to take matters into her own hands, attempting to table the list of names during a Senate estimates hearing – a move that was rapidly shut down by other members of the Finance and Public Administration legislation committee.

But Pocock is right when she says, "the truth and the names of people involved in this event will out".

PwC must know that the hunger for rolling heads simply has too much momentum now. It needs to show the government and the community that it is listening and is ready to act now – not in four months’ time when its internal review of the scandal is complete.

But whatever reason, the firm has clearly been too slow to produce the list.

It's understandable that its preparation would take some time, given different partners would have different levels of culpability, or possibly none at all. There's an important element of due process to be observed here – and no doubt everyone involved has lawyered up.

But at the same time, this scandal has been bubbling away for months; how is it that PwC still apparently hasn't come up with its own version of a list of those who bear responsibility?

It's also possible that the partnership model that the firm operates under has been something of a hindrance; partners may well be hesitant about throwing their fellow business owners under the bus.

But until PwC can name the individuals involved, then the collective partnership must carry the can in some way. The firm might be, for example, telling audit clients that the scandal is contained, but that's a hard argument to make without concrete action.

The best time to release the list of names involved – or most involved – would have been two weeks ago. The next best time is now.

Follow the topics, people and companies that matter to you.

Fetching latest articles

James Thomson