The Anthony Albanese government in Australia is reviewing all KPMG contracts across the federal public service as a whistleblower-driven data misuse scandal forces regulators, states, and senators to act.
The federal government holds dozens of active audit contracts with KPMG worth a combined $27.4 million across multiple departments, according to the government’s own AusTender procurement portal.
Among those contracts is a $6.4 million arrangement with the Australian National Audit Office, the agency responsible for overseeing public expenditure.
Beyond the audit contracts, the federal government will put more than $270 million in total KPMG contracts under scrutiny as a growing data-misuse scandal threatens to engulf the professional services industry. The Department of Finance has formally declared the crisis a “significant event.”
The crisis erupted after a whistleblower alleged KPMG partners misused confidential Lendlease board papers to secure lucrative corporate audits for Westpac, Dexus, and Macquarie Group.
KPMG Australia has now confirmed that its treatment of the whistleblower and internal investigations into those allegations “fell short.” The firm stated: “We apologise unreservedly to the whistleblower. We commit to learning from this process to ensure we create an...
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