Former finance minister Mathias Cormann was planning to join the consulting firm founded by ex-PwC boss Luke Sayers after he left the big four firm, the Senate inquiry into consultants has been told.

Mr Sayers also told the inquiry he was fined $180,000 for violating PwC’s independence policies over money he put privately into a company PwC had invested in that was bidding for a billion-dollar federal contract.