Overview
- A whistleblower has alleged KPMG partners accessed confidential Lendlease information to win audit work, triggering a standalone inquiry into KPMG and wider complaints that prompted ASIC to launch surveillance of Deloitte, EY and PwC as well.
- The allegations have led to senior departures at KPMG, including its chief executive, national chair and audit partners, raising questions about the firm’s governance and how it handled client data.
- ASIC chair Sarah Court said the regulator will use its existing, limited powers to pursue complaints while engaging with government reforms and urged that whistleblower protections be extended to people reporting on partnerships.
- Under current law ASIC can normally investigate individual registered auditors but not firms as entities, a gap that Treasury’s ongoing consultation on stronger oversight of large accounting and consulting firms aims to address.
- If reforms follow, they could create firm-level liability, stronger safeguards for insiders who report misconduct, and higher sanctions for misuse of confidential client information, with direct effects on clients, firm business models and audit-advisory conflicts of interest.