Ignominious end to Tom Seymour’s career at PwC

PwC Australia acting CEO Kristin Stubbins says Tom Seymour and seven other partners are ‘being held accountable for their misconduct’, ending his 21-year career at the firm.

PwC Australia’s former chief executive, Tom Seymour, is abruptly ending a 21-year career at the firm, ignominiously pushed out the door in the wake of the tax leak scandal which continues to take a heavy toll on one of the country’s once respected financial consulting brands.

Only a few months ago, the Brisbane-based Mr Seymour, who has been CEO of PwC Australia for just over three years, was riding high, downplaying reports of the tax leak scandal centring on the firm’s former head of international tax, Peter Collins, as a “perception problem”.

Mr Seymour, who stood down from the role in early May, just ahead of the federal budget, was planning to retire in September after what had outwardly been a successful career rising up the ranks of PwC’s local tax practice, before being elected in 2020 to run the Australian business.

But his career came to an end over the weekend when he and other PwC Australia partners, were given notice of findings against them by PwC’s in-house investigation into the scandal under his successor, acting CEO Kristin Stubbins.

A process is now under way to remove him from the partnership he has worked at since July 2002 when he joined the corporate tax team “focusing on tax consolidation, tax optimisation for capital intense industries, international tax matters (and), tax effective ownership matters structures”, according to his LinkedIn profile.

“Tom Seymour’s recommended exit is earlier than his previously announced retirement date,” was the stark sentence which publicly confirmed he was being pushed out the door, as one of eight partners who have either left or at being removed from the partnership in the wake of the scandal.

Seymour’s tax expertise saw him rise to become managing partner, tax and legal at PwC Australia in July 2012 and promoted to managing partner, financial advisory, and Asia Pacific tax leader in July 2016.

He took over as chief executive from former chief executive Luke Sayers, who was chief executive at the time of the scandal which saw some tax partners move to benefit from the firm’s dealings with the Australian Taxation Office over the proposed Google Tax announced in the 2015 budget.

Labor Senator Deborah O’Neill on Monday called on PwC to provide more information on the role of PwC’s former leadership including, Sayers, in the scandal.

Former PwC Australia boss Tom Seymour. Picture: Jen Dainer

The Monday morning announcement followed an internal investigation by PwC Australia into the handling of confidential information from the Australian Taxation Office, which was used to promote PwC’s services to international clients, mainly in North America.

Mr Seymour was overseeing the firm’s tax operations at the time.

Announcing the eight high level departures, Ms Stubbins said it was clear that the “conduct of a number of partners fell short of what was expected of them.”

“They are now being held accountable for their misconduct,” she said.

The announcements were the latest in a series of actions the firm has taken over the past few weeks to respond to the accusations and investigations into the tax leak scandal.

Ms Stubbins said the investigation and the partner exits were part of the firm’s move to “to take accountability, reshape the firm’s culture, and re-earn trust with its stakeholders.”

But the firm still faces investigations by the Australian Federal Police, two federal parliamentary inquiries, inquiries by the Tax Practitioners’ Board and now a referral to the new Federal anti corruption watchdog by Greens’ Senator Barbara Pocock.

Mr Seymour was named in a story published in The Weekend Australian as being one of several PwC executives or family members who had an investment in Hong Kong based tertiary education provider, Top Education.

Eight PwC executives and family members had an interest in the company, alongside PwC’s own direct 15 per cent stake in the company, a situation which created some concerns within some other members of the firm about perceived conflict of interest.

Seymour quit his role as a director of Top Education last November before the firm’s annual meeting in Sydney.

Monday’s announcement of his unceremonious axing, as the firm’s current leadership seeks to distance itself from the scandal, comes just two months since Seymour was looking forward to the firm being involved in a Budget night dinner in Canberra it was sponsoring, an event PwC hastily exited as the scandal mounted.

Earlier in the year, he was proudly overseeing events including the Global Shine Summit 2023, an event held to coincide with Sydney’s hosting of World Pride, which Seymour said was “an opportunity to bring our people together alongside our global colleagues and clients to celebrate and advance LGBTQ+ inclusion”.

The event saw the attendance of PwC’s global chairman, Bob Moritz, who was only recently forced to intervene in the growing scandal involving the Network’s Australian arm, announcing the installation of Singapore based PwC veteran, Kevin Burrowes, as the next leader of the firm as soon as his visa is approved.

Moritz also delivered a scathing criticism of PwC’s Australian leadership in a statement at the time, saying the firm’s past actions were “not representative of the work and behaviours of PwC around the world.”

“PwC Australia has significant work to do, and I am confident the steps they are taking with the network support will result in a stronger firm,” he said.

Mr Seymour’s potential involvement in the scandal followed the release of a cache of emails in federal parliament earlier this year, naming him among other PwC partners which had received emails discussing plans to use confidential government tax information to win clients and minimise tax.

He stepped down on early May, with the firm “agreeing” with him that it was “in the best interests of the firm and our stakeholders”.

In May, 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.

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

PwC acting CEO Kristin Stubbins and PwC partner Mr Nathan Schlesinger giving evidence at a NSW Parliamentary inquiry. Picture: Jane Dempster/The Australian

Stepping into his shoes, Ms Stubbins vowed that the firm was “committed to learning from our mistakes, listening to our stakeholders and enhancing our culture to build stronger trust and transparency.”

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.

Commenting on his role before his departure as chief executive, 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, before it scrapped its association with the event only days before the budget.

Commenting on the departures of the eight partners on Monday, Ms Stubbins said the firm’s current leadership could not “change the past”, but added “we can control our actions today and in the future.

“Moving forward, the PwC Australia management team will continue to take all appropriate steps to improve the firm’s culture and standards.”

Seymour’s departure also comes as the firm has moved to axe another key member of its former leadership team, Peter Van Dongen, who was chair from July 2018 until 2022.