ASIC paid $240,000 for corporate coaching for execs to improve ‘effectiveness’
The professional development course aimed to raise standards among the watchdog’s top staff.
The corporate regulator signed a $240,000 deal to coach its executives with global leadership advisory firm Egon Zehnder, documents released under Freedom of Information reveal.
The professional development course was aimed to raise standards among the top echelons of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.
The leadership consulting deal was in place for more than a year before ASIC chairman James Shipton and his deputy were tripped up in parliamentary committee.
The deal, inked between ASIC and the firm, in August 2019 saw commissioners provided “structured guidance and recommendations … to improve the overall effectiveness of the Commission team”.
It was aimed at “assess the strengths and areas of development of individual team members in relation to their role on the team” and “assess the decision-making practices of the full Commission”.
However, whether issues that marooned Mr Shipton or his deputy Daniel Crennan were identified in reviews by Egon Zehnder has not been revealed.
Mr Shipton stood aside when it was revealed KPMG was paid $118,557 for tax advice he received, however said in October that he had “acted properly”.
Mr Crennan received $70,000 in subsidy as part of his relocation costs from Melbourne to Sydney in 2019.
Egon Zehnder, which operates across more than 40 countries, is one of the world’s leading advisory firms.
It has played a significant role in the recruitment of many high flyers in the Australian corporate landscape.
The regulator has remained largely mute on reports from Egon Zehnder to its heads, denying parliament access to feedback reports in a committee hearing last year.
ASIC declined to release the details of Egon Zehnder’s report provided to the regulator’s leadership team in December 2019.
In a response to a question on notice in November 2020 ASIC said the findings of the exec coaching program had been provided “verbally in a full-day workshop with Commissioners on 12 December 2019”
“Individual feedback reports were provided prior to that workshop to respective commissioners,” it said.
“Those reports are of a nature … not requiring production to the Committee because they related to individual performance feedback.”
Verbal reports cannot be the subject of an FOI.
The terms of the deal with Egon Zehnder allowed ASIC to place more of its executives into the leadership guidance scheme.
Each additional executive would cost $24,000.
The leadership advisory business, which often acts as a high powered corporate recruiter, was required to attend regular meetings on fortnightly and an ad hoc basis with the regulator.
The contract stipulates if a meeting were cancelled or rescheduled with less than three days notice Egon Zehnder may charge an additional $7000.
Extraneous work would cost an additional $10,000.
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