Developments this week raise more questions than answers about how the firm’s tax division was allowed to spin out of control.
undreds of former PwC Australia partners tuned into a much-delayed webinar held on Tuesday at 11am, eager to hear how chief executive Kevin Burrowes was going to fix a firm that before the tax leaks scandal had been the dominant professional services outfit in the country.
. It led directly to PwC global seizing control of the Australian firm by parachuting Burrowes into the top job. “Clearly, the firm has been impacted by recent events,” Burrowes told the retired partners during the webinar. “We finished FY23 below budget, the last two [months of the financial year] falling short given what we discussed. However, overall results were satisfactory.”
They also announced no less than eight new two-year reviews covering areas such as tax promoter penalty laws, the ATO’s information-gathering powers, and rules around legal professional privilege claims. The months between the emails becoming public and the government’s self-declared “decisive action” were like that eerie silence between a large bomb going off and the shockwave finally hitting its victims. That blast will wreak devastation that will last for years and have a radius that includes the entire tax, accounting, legal and consulting professions.
The ATO timeline stated Hirschhorn said it was neither the ATO’s role nor was it “appropriate to comment on election processes”. The second commissioner then told Sayers “the PwC board should ensure that it is fully abreast of the range of concerns the ATO has had with PwC Tax Group’s behaviour”.None of the parties involved have spoken on the record about whether Sayers passed the message on and what, if anything, he said to the governance board.
Sayers, who is now president of the Carlton Football Club and the founder and head of consulting firm Sayers Group, also said he was never made aware of the Collins matter while he was CEO. This argument is supported by PwC evidence before the NSW inquiry into consulting in June and not contradicted by the ATO timeline.
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