PwC Australia reorganizes board, suspends nine partners. PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Australia ordered nine partners to take leave and restructured its governance board on Monday after a national crisis over the misuse of sensitive government tax plans.

The “big four” firm is reeling after a former tax partner consulting on new anti-tax avoidance regulations shared sensitive drafts with colleagues to drum up business.

In an open letter, acting chief executive Kristin Stubbins apologized on behalf of the firm for “sharing confidential government tax policy information.” It said nine partners were ordered to take leave.
“This situation was simply inappropriate. “No words can fix it,” she remarked.

Last Thursday, the Australian Treasury requested a criminal probe from the police. A day later, PwC suspended implicated personnel from government work.

The Governance Board chair and risk committee head will resign, and two independent directors will join the board before parliamentary hearings on the affair this week.
The firm revealed intentions to ring-fence its lucrative government contracting sector from other areas to avoid a prohibition on government contracts. Separate board for business.

“It is now clear that when we learned of the confidentiality breach and related issues we failed to conduct an appropriate root cause investigation,” Stubbins said.

“Leadership and governance failed.”

A PwC tax partner exchanged sensitive information with colleagues while advising the government on new tax minimization regulations for international firms.

Hundreds of partially redacted emails between dozens of anonymous PwC personnel from 2014 to 2017 published in parliament this month indicated how private versions of the new standards were exploited to win employment with U.S. technology corporations, among others.
On Monday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese asked for more transparency awaiting the police inquiry.

“I think all of this should become public at the right time… “What happened there is completely unacceptable,” he stated.

On Monday, PwC said colleagues in Australia and worldwide had received confidential information. Still, it would not divulge the names of all staff in the emails since the great majority were not intentionally involved in any confidentiality breach.

The firm stated that no clients had committed illegal or used confidential information to reduce taxes.

Stubbins wrote that officials failed to identify and curb a tax business culture of “aggressive marketing,” prioritizing profit over purpose.