In the wake of the PwC Robodebt scandal, the Senate has voted for an inquiry into the four most powerful firms in the world – PwC, KPMG, Deloitte and EY. What’s the scam?
The scam is the Big4 have been revelling in double-digit revenue growth thanks to the gutting of the public service yet there are egregious conflicts of interest between their government consulting, multinational tax avoidance and audit divisions. The Big4 have managed to fashion themselves as both the gatekeepers and the poachers of global commerce.
Evidence to the Robodebt Royal Commission unearthed gross abuses of trust in government consulting by the biggest, PwC, yet the penalty for sharing government tax secrets with multinational clients has been merely a one-man ban and the “punishment” of an in-house inquiry and a pledge to do “integrity training”.
Rex Patrick: put PwC top of blacklist for government procurement payments
KPMG has been busted for the biggest professional cheating scandal in Australian history, yet there have been no reprisals.
Uppercut: KPMG cheating scandal mirrors Big Four rot, business leadership
Deloitte and EY have been exposed for exaggerating fossil fuel taxes and royalties paid by large multinational corporations to the tune of $85bn, again with no reprisals.
Mining lobby tricks government with its big taxpayer fairytale, swaps Deloitte for EY
The four most powerful firms in the world need to be broken up into 12 businesses: audit, tax and consulting. They are beyond regulation, now firmly ensconced in governments. But don’t hold your breath; the last inquiry, a Senate inquiry into the audit profession, was a dismal whitewash, a failure.
Michael West established Michael West Media in 2016 to focus on journalism of high public interest, particularly the rising power of corporations over democracy. West was formerly a journalist and editor with Fairfax newspapers, a columnist for News Corp and even, once, a stockbroker.