PwC chief Tom Seymour has resigned following weeks of pressure

After flying to Sydney to face the firm’s leaders, Tom Seymour said he would stand down immediately over claims confidential government tax information was used to win clients.

PwC Australia chief executive Tom Seymour. Picture: Floss Adams

PricewaterhouseCoopers chief executive Tom Seymour has quit the top job of the professional services giant, as the firm bowed to pressure over leaking confidential tax details.

According to a statement issued by PwC late on Monday, Mr Seymour announced he would stand down as CEO “effective immediately”, after flying into Sydney to face the firm’s senior leadership.

PwC also moved to scrap its sponsorship of the parliamentary post-budget dinner on Monday.

This comes as PwC faced pressure after the parliament revealed a cache of emails showing Mr Seymour, among a number of the firm’s partners, had received emails discussing plans to use confidential government tax information to win clients and minimise tax.

“We have appointed our Assurance Leader, Kristin Stubbins, to serve as acting CEO,” a statement from the PwC board of partners said.

Tracey Kennair, PwC Australia’s board’s chair, said the firm had “agreed with Tom that this is in the best interests of the firm and our stakeholders”.

“The independent review previously announced, in addition to the changes already made, will help us meet this objective,” she said.

The firm will elect a new CEO from the firm’s partners in the coming month. PwC acting CEO, Kristin Stubbins, said she was “honoured” to take on the top job “at a critical time for our firm and our 10,000 people”.

“We are committed to learning from our mistakes, listening to our stakeholders and enhancing our culture to build stronger trust and transparency,” she said.

The move by Mr Seymour to bow to pressure comes as heat had been building over the weekend after the parliament released a cache of emails showing 53 figures at PwC were sent correspondence spruiking plans by the firm to advertise measures to dodge new tax laws.

PwC had attempted to head off criticism, announcing an independent review of the firm’s governance, culture, and accountability on Friday.

Mr Seymour, who ran PwC’s tax practice at the time of the leaks, admitted on Friday he was one of the partners sent the emails about “the marketing approach and financial success of the tax advice”.

PwC tax partner Peter Collins was banned by the Tax Practitioners Board after he was found to have used confidential information gained from advising the government to assist customers shape tax minimisation strategies.

Mr Seymour’s ouster, after almost 21 years at PwC and three years as CEO, comes as a parliamentary committee turns up the heat on the use of consultants by the government.

Greens Senator Barbara Pocock said it “has become clearer by the day” that Mr Seymour “had deep involvement in a scandal which was unethical and corrupt”.

“He described it as a perception problem, when clearly it is a leadership and culture problem across PwC,” she said.

“We need to know who else remains in PwC with knowledge of that chapter and involvement in that chapter of using confidential information to assist 14 clients avoid tax.”

PwC was set to spend $80,000 sponsoring the budget night dinner, featuring the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong as speakers, but moved to scrap its association on Monday.

Senator Pocock said the Prime Minister and government ministers “should not associate themselves with PwC on budget night”.

The Senator said the government should ban PwC from “any contracts pending a full review by the government”.

“It is absolutely inappropriate to be associated with the leadership of a company which has denied at each step and had to be pressured at each step to come clean about its involvement,” Ms Pocock said.

Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones said it was “right that Mr Seymour has stood down as CEO” of PwC.

“The government will continue to consider options to respond to PwC’s actions,” he said.

Originally published as PwC chief Tom Seymour has resigned following weeks of pressure