The Australian head of a top-tier consultancy firm at the centre of data mishandling allegations by a whistleblower has fallen on his sword, forcing the firm to apologise to clients including the federal government.
KPMG, one of the Big Four accounting firms, made the shock announcement on Friday as it was targeted by a federal parliamentary joint committee grilling the corporate regulator.
Australian Securities and Investments Commission officials ended up confirming in real time the regulator had been investigating since April after being pressed by committee chair and Labor senator Deborah O’Neill.
As that happened, KPMG revealed its Australian head Andrew Yates had resigned, along with audit head Julian McPherson.
Yates took the fall over the treatment of a whistleblower, after an internal investigation into their allegations was found to have fallen short of the firm’s expectations.
“I have been committed to a speak-up culture in our firm; it is clear that in this case we have let ourselves down and I take accountability,” Yates said in a statement.
The ongoing internal probe revealed a separate incident in which documents containing client information were inappropriately shared internally.
There were also allegations of an inappropriate remark in a team setting about the sharing of client information.
“Matters have arisen for which I am responsible and I take accountability,” McPherson said.
The three conduct matters were all raised by the whistleblower.
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