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Edmund Tadros

Yesterday

Former prime minister Paul Keating.

ATO waived Paul Keating’s $1m tax bill: ABC’s Four Corners

Tax authorities wrote off the penalty owed by the former prime minister via one of his companies in 2015, according to Four Corners.

This Month

The KPMG head office in Barangaroo, Sydney. The firm is chasing big audit contracts including at Macquarie.

From Seek to Wesfarmers, major audits up for grabs as firms circle

Some of the market’s most lucrative and long-held contracts are being fought over as professional services rivals try to nab millions of dollars in new work.

PwC Australia sells restructuring arm to Teneo for millions

The New York-based firm will create a new local financial services advisory business led by outgoing PwC partner Stephen Longley.

Former KPMG partners hired by FTI Consulting as senior managing directors (L-R): Natalie Faulkner, Nathan Schlesinger and Warren Dunn.

The advisory firms thriving on the big four talent exodus

With more than half their senior ranks coming from the big four consulting firms, FTI and Alvarez & Marsal are growing rapidly by targeting rainmakers.

The KPMG head office in Barangaroo, Sydney. The firm has seen the value of contracts with the government slump by two-thirds.

KPMG feels the burn of $200m in public service consulting cuts

The firm once counted $500 million in revenues from government agencies. While it and its peers have fallen out of favour, one rival has doubled its business.

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Aylin Cunsolo

‘Generational challenge’: Energy transition powers legal sector

Ashurst partner Aylin Cunsolo says Australia is at a critical point where ageing fossil fuel generators are being retired and need to be replaced.

Hannah Fas

Why more artificial intelligence also means more lawyers

Artificial intelligence tools can accelerate the careers of savvy lawyers who know how to make careful use of the technology.

The Macquarie headquarters in Sydney. A role auditing the company is one of the most coveted for major professional services firms.

KPMG, EY frontrunners to snatch coveted Macquarie audit role from PwC

Working on the investment and banking giant’s books is one of the most complex jobs for an accounting firm, but one that promises a significant windfall.

Emma Reilly

The simple secrets to this law firm’s gender parity

The 120-partner Moray & Agnew has more than doubled the number of women in its partnership.

What I learnt in 3 months as an MBA student at a top US school

It takes two years and costs $400,000-plus, and on top of the study requires role playing, “crop circles” and speed networking. Students say it’s worth it for a starting salary of nearly $300,000.

Clockwise from top left: EY Australia CEO David Larocca, and Alvarez & Marsal managing directors (and former EY partners) Sean Keegan, Andrew Sharp, Jagmohan Singh, Adam Woodward and Edward Consett.

Judge references Oliver Twist, Goldilocks in EY win over defections

The firm won the right for a trove of documents over the defection of partners to a rival in a case likened to the expression “Please, sir, I want some more”.

Explore the Law Partnership Survey results for the first half of 2025

Firms are performing strongly, thanks to demand for advice around corporate disputes, energy transition and infrastructure deals.

Law firm leaders (l-r) Kristin Stammer, Paul Jenkins and Emma Covacevich.

Revealed: The law firms that have grown (and shrunk) the most

Strong demand for corporate dispute, energy transition and infrastructure legal advice has created a two-speed legal market.

Ian Silk will work for KPMG for one or two days a week.

Ian Silk appointed chairman of rebranded Sayers Group

The former AustralianSuper head will oversee the consulting firm founded by the ex-PwC partner, which has been rebranded Tenet after a lewd photo scandal.

The PwC offices in Melbourne. The use of confidential government information by the firm has led to a broad overhaul of how the sector is governed.

Treasury prepares to crack down on audit firms, with or without ASIC

Officials are considering handing the corporate regulator the power to punish major accounting and consulting firms for the first time, among other options.

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June

The partnerships of the big four are shrinking.

Consulting downturn bites as big four partner exits speed up

Australian partner numbers across Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PwC are down 500, to almost 2900 partners, since the 2023 peak.

MinterEllison lawyer Kiara Morris uses AI to speed up her work, while Cornwalls partner Paul Agnew is wary of using the technology for core legal work.

Law firms take more graduates even as AI does the grunt work

Using generative AI for junior-level work is now standard across the country’s largest law firms, but the overriding need for accuracy in legal work means graduates remain in high demand.

Emma Hawthorne who is a new partner at EY. Photographed in Sydney on June 23, 2025. Photo: Dominic Lorrimer

The new EY partner who’s not afraid to make a ‘captain’s call’

The new partner handles service delivery issues, connects her clients to global EY services and makes the “captain’s call” on what is pitched to clients.

PwC Australia chief executive Kevin Burrowes says the audited report is a ‘milestone’ for the firm.

PwC Australia’s profit slumps 17pc, inaugural audited accounts show

The firm is the first big four accounting group to publish an audited financial report, part of its reform process following the tax leaks scandal.

KPMG Australia has appointed 67 new partners.

KPMG appoints 67 new partners, while almost 90 head for exit

The move means the consultancy group’s Australian partnership is projected to be 657-strong as of July 1, down from 676 a year earlier.

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/by/edmund-tadros-j7gem