The news: KPMG Australia has announced chair Martin Sheppard and two senior audit partners will resign after a scandal embroiled the firm over its misuse of sensitive client information.

“National chairman Martin Sheppard supports the need for a change in governance, including an independent chair and has announced that he will leave the firm shortly. A short transition period will assist a smooth handover. He will also retire from his regional board responsibilities,” KPMG said in a statement.

Two audit partners, former chief operating officer Eileen Hoggett and Paul Rogers, are also leaving. A process is underway to find a new CEO while an independent third party has been hired to review the saga that was ignited by a KPMG whistleblower.

It comes as part of a KPMG Australia action plan to overhaul governance at the firm, including appointing an independent chair and independent members to the Australian board.

Those independent board members will be granted oversight over key subcommittees including audit quality, ethics, whistleblower oversight and other “matters of public interest”.

A separate “lessons-learned” review will be conducted into KPMG’s whistleblowing processes, including new measures to discourage misconduct and clear guidelines for how to manage and escalate whistleblower disclosures.

Controls will be implemented to prevent further misconduct and breaches of client confidentiality, and strengthen ethical conduct, the firm said, noting some areas remained...

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