PwC to consider draft report as new chief Kevin Burrowes tours under-siege firm

Corporate veteran Ziggy Switkowski’s report into troubled audit and consulting giant PwC was due on Friday, but the firm won’t reveal his findings.

PwC Australia’s senior management has been handed the first draft of a report into the firm’s corporate governance, but partners and clients will be forced to wait at almost a month before the review into the audit and consulting giant is revealed.

Corporate veteran and former Telstra boss Ziggy Switkowski was due to hand the first draft of his findings to a select few members of PwC’s local management on Friday after in May being commissioned to run a review of the governance, accountability and culture.

Mr Switkowski’s review is expected to make several recommendations to address the issues identified at PwC, including whether the firm’s partnership model is fit for purpose.

PwC declined to reveal to The Australian whether it would make sweeping changes based on his findings or recommendations.

A PwC spokeswoman said there would be no comment.

However, a parliamentary source said the committee investigating the tax scandal would question PwC over any revisions made to the initial draft of the report.

Ziggy Switkowski has been brought in to review PwC. Picture: John Feder

PwC does not plan to release Mr Switkowski’s findings to the public until September, and many believe it will wait for another round of parliamentary hearings into the use of consultants to conclude before publishing the report.

Announcing the review in May, PwC pitched it as an independent review to “address issues identified by the Tax Practitioners Board’s investigation into the firm’s use of confidential tax policy information”.

“The independent review will look at the way in which decisions are made and overseen within PwC, including how financial goals, values and strategic objectives are balanced and prioritised,” PwC said at the time.

“It will examine the way in which partners and staff are held accountable for their responsibilities, as well as assess the values and behaviours that exist at all levels within the firm.”

However, the terms of reference of Mr Switkowski’s review, published by PwC after questions from a NSW parliamentary inquiry, made no mention of the tax scandal.

Instead Mr Switkowski has been asked to look at PwC’s governance and the roles and responsibilities of key boards and committees and how decisions are made.

He was also commissioned to review the way in which partners and staff “discharge their roles and responsibilities both on an individual and collective basis, the remuneration and incentive arrangements and their impact on accountabilities, and the application of consequence management”.

The terms of reference note the review may look at “feedback from the Senate inquiry” as well as the Bruce Quiqley review into Pwc’s tax practice.

The Quiqley review failed to identify the key issues of confidentiality breaches that have torpedoed PwC’s reputation, while the Senate inquiry has lashed the firm over its approach to attempts to investigate the tax scandal.

Former PwC partner Peter Collins. Picture: Luis Enrique Ascui

A report published by the Senate Committee on Finance and Public Administration accused PwC of contempt, saying it had “given every appearance of attempting to minimise the seriousness of the issue, hoping that standing down its CEO, (Tom) Seymour, and announcing the Switkowski review of PwC Australia’s culture, governance, and accountability would suffice to assuage public concern”.

The report called on PwC to co-operate with all investigations and inquiries, including a probe by the Australian Taxation Office, as well as a new round of investigations by the Tax Practitioners Board.

PwC also faces an investigation by the Australian Federal Police, after Treasury referred it and its former head of international tax, Peter Collins, over their misuse of confidential information.

As revealed in The Australian, Mr Collins has been seen after several months missing from his Melbourne home.

PwC has declined to reveal why it paid Mr Collins eight months’ salary when he left the business in October last year, or why it gave him access to its generous retirement benefits scheme.

PwC later scrapped Mr Collins’ access to the retirement benefits scheme, but only after several senior members were forced to stand down from their role after being linked to the tax scandal.

PwC’s former chief executive, Tom Seymour, out shopping. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

In response to the scandal, PwC has commissioned two legal investigations.

The local response is being led by King Wood Mallesons, while Linklaters has been reviewing the potential overseas exposures to the scandal.

In a recent call with former partners, PwC chief executive Kevin Burrowes said the international investigation was likely to find a “reasonably clean bill of health” and there were only “one or two small instances” where international partners were involved.

Mr Burrowes, who was brought in by PwC’s global leadership to steady the Australian arm, has just capped off a tour of its offices around the country, conducting 30 listening sessions with staff.

In a LinkedIn post, Mr Burrowes said “meeting with our clients, people and stakeholders is a top priority as I settle into my new role”.

“Nothing is more important to me than hearing from you as we work to re-earn your trust. I wholeheartedly want to listen and learn, and I genuinely welcome your questions here,” he said.

Originally published as PwC to consider draft report as new chief Kevin Burrowes tours under-siege firm