PwC spin-off firm ethics under investigation

Andrew Brown | September 27, 2023

The finance department is yet to confirm if the spin-off company of embattled consultancy firm PwC will be eligible for government contracts.

PwC divested its government consultancy business after the tax advice scandal earlier this year for $1 to Allegro Funds, leading to the creation of the firm Scyne Advisory.

PwC came under fire after staff shared confidential tax information from the Treasury department to drum up new business in the private sector.

A parliamentary inquiry examining the consultancy sector was told the finance department was investigating whether ethical standards were in place at Scyne, in order to prevent a repeat of the tax scandal.

The department’s deputy secretary Andrew Jaggers work was ongoing to determine if Scyne was eligible for government contracts.

“We’ve been working to assess whether Scyne as a new entity has the right sort of governance structures, arrangements in place that deal with the issues in PwC’s that have been identified,” he told the inquiry.

“We’ve been provided the proposed governance structures from Scyne to help us to determine the appropriateness of us contracting with them with respect to ethical soundness.”

Mr Jaggers said the department was investigating whether there were conflicts of interest and if any of the people involved in the tax scandal at PwC had transitioned to the spin-off company.

The parliamentary inquiry comes as a report into PwC’s misconduct by former Telstra head Ziggy Switowski will be publicly released on Wednesday.

The report is expected to recommend changes in the consultancy firm’s corporate structure.

Mr Jaggers said the finance department had received a draft version of the report last week, while he said Scyne had also been given a copy.

However, parliamentary inquiry member, Labor senator Deborah O’Neill, said the body had not been provided with an early copy of the report ahead of the release.

Government bodies such as the Australian Taxation Office and the Tax Practitioners Board had not seen it, she said.

“Contempt continues from PwC for public transparency,” she said.