NewsBite

Ziggy Switkowski

August

PwC clears itself of misleading ATO on FIRB application

Three current and former PwC Australia CEOs will appear before parliament on Friday to testify about the firm’s tax leaks scandal .

  • Edmund Tadros

June

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton at his nuclear press conference on Wednesday.

Switkowski backs nuclear push, Dutton promises costings

Ziggy Switkowski says nuclear power has a role to play in the zero-emissions energy mix and would deliver a positive return to taxpayers.

  • Phillip Coorey

April

PwC Australia CEO Kevin Burrowes wants to draw a line under the PwC tax leaks scandal.

Burrowes wants everyone to move on from PwC’s tax scandal

“We feel we’re in a good position now to start to turn to a new chapter, look to the future and drive the firm with a new strategy,” the PwC chief executive says.

  • Ronald Mizen and Maxim Shanahan

March

Luke Sayers, former PwC Australia CEO, during a hearing of the Senate inquiry into consulting on Thursday, October 12, 2023.

Sayers evidence on PwC tax leaks ‘implausible’, Senate finds

A Senate committee has called testimony by former PwC Australia chief executive Luke Sayers  “implausible” and questioned the “truthfulness” of aspects of his evidence.

  • Edmund Tadros
PwC global CEO Bob Moritz,

Senators slam PwC global boss for rejecting tax leak request

Bob Moritz has been accused of acting ‘like Dr No’ after refusing to provide the legal report into PwC International’s involvement in the firm’s tax leaks scandal.

  • Updated
  • Edmund Tadros and Maxim Shanahan
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There has been no shortage of turmoil at Optus over the past 20 years.

‘Floptus’, hacks and outages: Optus show eyes next chapter

There has rarely been a dull moment at Optus. Now, a buyout offers a chance to reset.

  • Updated
  • Paul Smith
Kristin Stubbins, former PwC Australia acting CEO, during a hearing with the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services, at Parliament House in Canberra on 5 March 2024.

‘I had a wonderful’ 30 years in auditing, says former PwC CEO

Kristin Stubbins’ surprise parliamentary inquiry appearance was mostly about her wanting to make clear that the tax leaks scandal had nothing to do with the arm she once led.

  • Edmund Tadros

December 2023

“Mining Barbie” Amanda Lacaze accepts her award.

Bonfire of the CEOs: Rear Window’s 2023 year in review

The year ended with a lecture from the mining establishment, but not before a carry-on of CEOs joined the unemployment queue.

  • Myriam Robin and Mark Di Stefano
PwC’s Sue Horlin: “I’m genuinely excited about the challenge we have to learn and be a better firm.”

At PwC, it’s the revenge of the auditors

Long the humbler, more straight-forward and less risky arm of the firm, audit is now expected to be the growth engine and the governance model for the future.

  • Edmund Tadros

November 2023

Former sex discrimination commissioner Elizabeth Broderick.

People over profits: ‘Don’t promote leaders unable to manage, develop staff’

The driving force behind a landmark report into the culture of EY says leaders should not be promoted further if they can’t manage and develop staff – even if they perform well financially for the firm.

  • Edmund Tadros

October 2023

Second Commissioner Jeremy Hirschhorn: “We put rigorous controls around settlements”.

Tax Office halved $1.4m PwC fine for false privilege claims

A confidential settlement also prevents the ATO from taking action against five multinational clients who supported the claims.

  • Neil Chenoweth
“I’ll apologise as many times as I need to,” PwC Australia CEO told the Senate consultants inquiry.

PwC chiefs play pass the parcel

Kevin Burrowes, the new chief executive PwC Australia sent in to fix the firm’s tax leak scandal, has a terminal case of resting bulldog face.

  • Neil Chenoweth
this year despite  the tax scandal.

PwC tax leak scandal has exposed partnerships as regulatory havens

The loopholes that allow large accounting firms that look, act and behave much like corporations without being regulated in the same way should now be closed.

  • Brent Fisse
KPMG Australia CEO Andrew Yates says his firm already has many of the proposed new PwC rules and structures in place.

KPMG, EY and Deloitte: We already have the PwC reforms in place

PwC Australia’s rivals claim to have superior governance structures that mean they don’t need to emulate the sweeping changes at the embattled firm.

  • Edmund Tadros

September 2023

PwC Australia chief executive Kevin Burrowes.

Ex-PwC partners ‘given no chance to respond’ to tax leaks reports

Former personnel say they have not been given the opportunity to challenge any unflattering or critical assertions that might be in Ziggy Switkowski’s findings.

  • Updated
  • Edmund Tadros
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PwC Australia chief executive Kevin Burrowes says the firm is committed to changing its culture.

PwC seeks absolution but can it really change?

The publication of two documents and a video apology for the tax leaks scandal this week was meant to be a circuit breaker. But it won’t be that easy.

  • Edmund Tadros
The seeming mismatch between the loose partnership form and more corporate-style governance is a legitimate issue.

The who, why and what of the PwC tax leak scandal

Finding a way to straighten out the structural issue would be the constructive way for the entire professional services sector to move on from a bad patch.

  • The AFR View
PwC breakaway Scyne has enough partners to get off the ground.

No Australian tax revenue lost in PwC leaks scandal: lawyers

Legal inquiries into PwC Australia’s tax leaks scandal have concluded that it did not lead to a “reduction in tax revenues for Australia”.

  • Edmund Tadros
Tom Seymour at the Financial Review Business Summit in March.

How PwC failed to identify or deal with tax leaks scandal

Three legal inquiries blamed the big four firm’s troubles on a “combination of multiple failings” by individuals and in its governance, culture and accountability.

  • Edmund Tadros
Ziggy Switkowski’s governance review found PwC’s focus has been on being the biggest and most profitable it can be.

Ziggy Switkowski’s guide to making it at PwC

The veteran reviewer’s examination of PwC can be read as a treasure map to consultancy riches.

  • Updated
  • Myriam Robin and Mark Di Stefano

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/person/ziggy-switkowski-5s6