PwC

I just thought I'd start a thread on this pack of muppets as I was surprised that those who rely on fundamental analysis have not done so before now. The first matter which needs addressing is who and what they are. I do know they are a conglomeration of accountants, but rather than go down to my local shopping centre to see if they were filling in tax returns for Mr. and Mrs Shopping-Trolley, I went online.

At PwC Australia, we are a human-led, tech-powered community of solvers coming together in unexpected ways to solve the world's important problems. It all adds up to The New Equation.

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Hmmm. Sounds like a load of cobblers. There are pictures of the broad church that is Australia, a Chinese lady without spectacles, An indigenous lady, An Indian lady, an Anglo-Saxon gentleman with false teeth about to set of on a cruise. a worker in high vi ... I won't go on, but you get the picture. The New Equation, whatever that is. However what do they actually do?

At PwC, our purpose is to build trust in society and solve important problems. In our increasingly complex world, we work with businesses, government and the community to deliver solutions and sustained outcomes. To help Australia continue to thrive and grow.
We’re a network of firms in 152 countries with over 328,000 people. PwC is one of the top 50 brands worldwide and PwC Australia is among LinkedIn’s top companies for where Australians want to work.
We are a team of more than 8,000 people who are committed to delivering quality in assurance, advisory and tax services to more than 5,000 clients across Australia.
We're bold about our commitment to diversity, inclusion, wellbeing and social impact. And we empower our people in upskilling, flexible working and pursuing their passions.
We don’t see change as chaos – but as the chance to do something great.
Our purpose is what drives our community of solvers. Passionate and diverse people who come together in unexpected ways, with human-led, tech-powered ideas to untangle the world’s most important problems.
It all adds up to The New Equation.

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In fact what The New Equation is allegedly, is the provision of information for tax minimisation to large and small companies favoured by PwC from information in confidence garnered from assisting the Australian Treasury aka ATO in drafting future legislation and regulation on taxation. A few emails and text messages, whispered conversations in the executive loos and beds, or beds and then loos, a laugh and an elbow tap over dinner, and all the information needed to minimise tax is given to multi-national companies via PwC associate and executive partners, it is alleged.

They are such muppets that it was given away for a song, for very little fees, around $10m or $20m, I am told. The idea being ingratiation for future business. The downside is that multiple agencies including the ATO and the AFP are crawling through every email ever sent in relation to this kerfuffle and criminal charges may be laid.

It may be worthwhile the fundamentalists on ASF checking if PwC was involved in giving advice to their stock picks, usually in the past a sign of propriety, but alas in this atmosphere it may signify entanglement and investigation.

And this is just the start.


gg

What can you say about these people ?

Roll on the Federal ICAC I say.

I've got a client who is head of their "climate change policy" dept ( yes we argue about that).

It's gonna be an interesting conversation next time I see her.

Heads are starting to roll.
From 26m ago
21.55 EDT

PwC stands down nine partners and apologises to public for betraying trust​

PwC Australia’s acting chief executive, Kristin Stubbins, has apologised on behalf of the company for sharing confidential government tax policy information and “betraying the trust placed in us”.
In an open letter, Stubbins also announced the firm is standing down nine partners:

PwC Australia has directed 9 partners to go on leave, effective immediately, pending the outcome of our ongoing investigation. This includes members of the firm’s Executive Board and Governance Board.

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My colleague Josh Butler will bring you more in a moment.



PwC admits ‘failure of leadership and governance’

Accounting firm PwC has told nine partners to go on leave immediately and other senior employees have resigned, as the scandal around the leak of confidential government information grows. The firm’s acting CEO, Kristin Stubbins, has admitted in an open letter mea culpa “we failed”.

PwC said in a statement this morning that it would set out new processes to “ringfence” its work in government and oversight. The company admitted to “a failure of leadership and governance” in the episode, where it misused information about government tax changes.

Stubbins said “we recognise that our stakeholders want more transparency in order to restore confidence in our firm”.

PwC said it had directed nine partners to go on leave immediately, pending the outcome of its internal investigation, which included those in leadership or governance roles.

In addition, the chairs of the governance board and its designated risk committee have decided to step down from their respective roles.

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PwC admitted it had failed to conduct appropriate investigations after learning of the breach, which it called “a failure of leadership and governance”.

In addition, the company will work to “ringfence the provision of services to federal government departments and agencies to enhance our controls to prevent conflicts of interest.” PwC will establish separate governance and oversight arrangements, which it says will occur by September, which would separate the provision of government services from other businesses inside the company – including processes the company said would enhance confidentiality and conflicts controls.

In an open letter, Stubbins said the company had betrayed the trust placed in it.

She said the company had failed in several ways, including a lack of respect for confidentiality, inadequate processes, and “a culture at the time in our tax business that both allowed inappropriate behaviour and has not, until now, always properly held our leaders and those involved to account.”

More to come.

Upd

I wonder if a significant part of the reason PwC got away with their behaviour was because they were dealing with the previous Morrison Liberal government?

Traditionally the big end of town has been the perceived ally of the Lib-Nats. The previous government was not strong on governance . Maybe PwC thought they could just get away with behaving like an unethical business because they were dealing with an unethical government that, on the quiet, understood how these things worked. After all ScoMo did try to get a gig with them.

Treasury of course would have been apoplectic about the behavior but their political masters may not have been has interested in skewering PwC as publicly as Labour has.

to say it was a failure of leadership and governance is a bit of a crock. They would've had in place rules about sharing information. Confidentiality agreements in their employment contracts, contracts with the department doing work, and likely some form security clearance if the work touched on cabinet or protected information (therefore governance around how to handle sensitive information). All come with a duty that is well established. If they had a professional membership (i.e. legal or accountant), that also comes with a governance framework around disclosure and responsibilities to clients. so yea, find it hard to believe that lack of governance was the cause. multiple checks and balances with clear expectations for what is responsible and what is not. I feel sorry for any person working at PwC right now -- I'd be looking for the door. That name on your resume would be radioactive for a few years at least. and anyone working with them is going to see potential reputational damage for being associated/working with them.

on another note, i was surprised to see criminal referral tbh. was expecting it to be in the news cycle and then fade. though if you don't at least pursue criminal charges it hardly dissuades the next lot.

And as to the 'for very little fees'. You are right, 10m or 20m is a small amount for a company that size. It's likely the managers involved had sales targets linked to end of year bonuses. So small change for the company, but possibly a big end of year bonus for the partners and managers below them?

As for what they do. They're just another big consulting company. Think of an industry and they likely providing some kind of consulting services. The 'big 4' also get used a lot for independent financial audits.

Did you see the front page of the Age today? it gets worse and worse. Worth a read.

From their website... front menu



Abandon ethics, all ye who proceed here.

Garpal Gumnut said:

I just thought I'd start a thread on this pack of muppets as I was surprised that those who rely on fundamental analysis have not done so before now. The first matter which needs addressing is who and what they are. I do know they are a conglomeration of accountants, but rather than go down to my local shopping centre to see if they were filling in tax returns for Mr. and Mrs Shopping-Trolley, I went online.

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They aren’t your usual Mum and Dad tax agents, Pwc are one of the big 4 Global accountants. They definitely do tax work, but also a lot of their business is auditing, and also many other types of consulting and number crunching.

Before there was the big 4 there was the big 6, every now and again one of the big firms dies due to a scandal, Enron scandal killed Arther Anderson for example.

You give'em enough rope and they'll hang themselves.
You go a long way toward discrediting the Union Movement with the example of Norm Gallager and the BLF.

And I'll say thankyou mr Collins for doing to Government Out-sourceing at the fag end of Neo-Liberalism for what Norm did for for the Public perception of of the Broarder union movement.

Mckinnsey and McQuarrie seem to be 'the protected species' yet again..

orr said:

You give'em enough rope and they'll hang themselves.
You go a long way toward discrediting the Union Movement with the example of Norm Gallager and the BLF.

And I'll say thankyou mr Collins for doing to Government Out-sourceing at the fag end of Neo-Liberalism for what Norm did for for the Public perception of of the Broarder union movement.

Mckinnsey and McQuarrie seem to be 'the protected species' yet again..

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I'm surrounded by contractors, and honestly I've never come across Mckinnsey lol.

Warr87 said:

I'm surrounded by contractors, and honestly I've never come across Mckinnsey lol.

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Thanks for that War(r), to me from this point on, you and Dingus Taylor ( one of Mckinsey's finnest) are one.

"Oh what a tangled web we weave/
When first we practice to deceive"

.... front page tonight .. no shortage of shock/horror. ... and that's only today's revelations

PWC went with the tax information to the "Dirty Thirty" to do the deals and 14 of them took up the offer. Love to know who they are. Bet short odds Newscorp and Apple were two of them. We should be told.

I suspect one of the dirty 30 told the government. PWC misjudged them.

Knobby22 said:

PWC went with the tax information to the "Dirty Thirty" to do the deals and 14 of them took up the offer. Love to know who they are. Bet short odds Newscorp and Apple were two of them. We should be told.

I suspect one of the dirty 30 told the government. PWC misjudged them.

PwC is starting to give off royal commission vibes. Here's why

A "bad apple", "new systems" and "nothing to see here": Daniel Ziffer explains why the PwC conflict-of-interest scandal is giving him banking royal commission vibes.

www.abc.net.au

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And the ABC?

JohnDe said:

And the ABC?

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?

There is much hoo haw on the ABC about naming and shaming PwC partners complicit in criminal conspiracy in looting government information in confidence for personal gain.

This may have unintentional consequences.

Quite apart from making convictions more difficult to achieve many private schools, real estate agents and car dealerships will be impacted before the monies can be dispersed among family members and offshore entities.

Charitable organisations, racing clubs, cocaine dealers and other similar dependant third parties may equally suffer.

It is time for restraint from the gutter press.

gg

Indeed, Mr gg. Have they no shame?