Messages mixed on EY tragedy; Andrew Forrest on hunt for missing Mark McInnes

EY chief executive David Larocca. Picture: Jane Dempster

Few things are more contemptible than a corporate entity in damage control during a time of great tragedy, and there is no clearer example of this folly than what’s on display at EY, where an employee died over the ­weekend.

Most galling of all is that the company continues to dispute the official police timeline of events, peddling a set of alternative facts designed to downplay the company’s association with the tragedy.

EY’s initial response was straightforward enough. On Monday it promised to review staff health and safety arrangements, security protocols and workplace social events, owing to the fact the 27-year-old woman – a senior auditor in EYs Assurance division – had been out with colleagues during the afternoon.

From there, however, the company’s response has morphed into a reputational salvage mission. Management has been desperate to minimise further coverage of the incident because it’s all viewed as an unacceptable risk to the company’s talent acquisition prospects, or so goes the concern of CEO David ­Larocca.

This still doesn’t fully explain why EY would be foolish enough to contradict the police and disseminate what amounts to misinformation to a number of journalists at The Australian and other media outlets.

Compiled using statements from colleagues, her husband, CCTV footage and other sources, officers have established that the woman (originally identified as 33 years old) left the EY building at lunchtime on Friday.

She is said to have attended a number of locations and appeared at a work function held at The Ivy precinct, returning to the office alone between 7pm and 7.30pm. On arrival she was captured on CCTV footage entering the building and was later seen moving between a number of floors.

About 8pm she took a phone call with her husband, who was scheduled to board a flight to Sydney from Singapore that evening.

Exactly what transpired in the subsequent hours until she was discovered by passers-by remains a matter of investigation. Police are unequivocal that she remained in the building and this is the version of events they plan to provide to the coroner, Margin Call has established.

Amazingly, EY’s account differs markedly from this narrative. The company says the woman – whom we are not identifying – did not enter the building at 7.30pm but actually left the building at that time, spending hours away, unaccounted for, until she returned sometime after midnight.

We’re not sure how, or why, the company is still clinging to this preposterous claim in the face of the very sober fact-finding conducted by NSW police officers. We asked for clarification but were told by Francesca Boase, EY’s Communications Director, that this is “an ongoing investigation so we can’t comment any further. The matter is with NSW Police”.

That said, we suppose if one’s intention is to soft-pedal EY’s role in the tragedy then hawking such an enormous factual discrepancy does hold promise; it serves to reorient the incident from a professional matter to a personal one, suggesting she did not stay in the office for hours potentially working late into the evening.

Perhaps it’s unnecessary for us to point this out, but when weighing the credibility of two parties – namely a large corporation intent on keeping its name out of the headlines, and a dispassionate police service managing an investigation – we suggest backing the horse with the least self-interest, every time.

Must we also note that EY’s effort to massage the facts amounts to an utterly pointless endeavour? The incident, inescapably, occurred on the company’s premises. This alone has triggered outpourings of discussion within the cloistered industry of professional services, mainly about the mental health of its staff.

Over at PwC on Thursday, partners and directors were summoned to a half-hour session with in-house psychologists convened by Catherine Walsh, its Head of People and Culture, “in light of the recent tragedy at EY”, according to a briefing seen by Margin Call.

We’re told it was to apprise these managers of which services are available for their team members, and was the second such event to be held at PwC this week. EY’s conduct, by comparison, appears malignantly selfish and stupid.

–

Missing McInnes

If billionaire Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest really wants Solly Lew’s former right hand man, Mark McInnes, to run David Jones – which the mining billionaire is eyeing off for purchase – he’ll need to find him first.

McInnes is off on a bucket-list trip to Norfolk Island next week with his 83-year-old mother.

No David Jones stores around there for McInnes to slip into reconnaissance-mode on behalf of Goldman Sachs, which is selling DJs for its South African parent, Woolworths Holdings.

Margin Call revealed on Thursday that McInnes is assisting Goldmans with consideration of prospective buyers.

From Norfolk Island the plan, apparently, is to depart on a campervan trip with his children up the east coast via Ulladulla, Batemans Bay, Nowra, South West Rocks and Burleigh Heads, before ending the road trip in Noosa.

Illustration: Rod Clement

There the McInnes family will spend the September school holidays along with every other middle-class Melbourne family embracing post-lockdown travel.

Woolworths chief executive RoyBagattini is seeking to ­offload the department store operation but retain the listed company’s ownership of the Country Road Group, which includes the Trenery, Politix, Witchery and Mimco brands.

Twiggy already owns iconic Aussie retailer RM Williams via his Perth-based Tattarang investment arm.

It’s run by former National Australia Bank executive and accomplished pianist and composer Andrew Hagger, who left the bank after his turn in the box at the Hayne royal commission.

Tattarang’s chief investment officer is John Hartman, who joined the billionaire in Perth after serving time in jail for insider trading.

The handing out of fresh starts is right out of Twiggy’s playbook – perhaps doing the same at David Jones could fit quite nicely.

McInnes, for his part, is back in town the first week of October.