We are shovel ready, they sang
I can't work out if the brilliantly written and performed #UtopiaABC is comedy or documentary. Either way it is spot on genius
I was informed that watching Senate Estimates and Season (five) 5 of #utopiaABC can be claimed as Continuous Professional Development
The next BIG challenge in Australia PR lies ahead for whoever takes over as
head of reputation. Might not be many takers. The company hasn’t tweeted since 10 May. Maybe silence is a safe option … for now. But I’d be getting on the front foot.Rear Window
Tarred PwC partner breaks his silence
Myriam RobinColumnistFour of PwC’s former partners have had a horrible week.
Michael Bersten, Peter Collins, Neil Fuller and Paul McNab were named by PwC’s acting CEO Kristin Stubbins in a now widely cited email to partners as having been “involved in the confidentiality breaches”.
McNab has already slammed PwC’s naming of only former partners (“I had no forewarning or opportunity to respond”), and disputed its characterisation of his own conduct (“I was not involved [and] trusted that the information shared with me ... would comply with any confidentiality agreements”).
Bersten has now done the same, telling us (with his lawyer John Landerer on the line) that he “vehemently” denies the allegations.
“I had no notice that PwC would make the statement on Monday that would be attributed to them in the media,” he said. “I am very concerned about the damage to my reputation that the allegation had and will continue to cause.
“My family and I are finding the whole situation very stressful and unwarranted as I do not feel I have done anything wrong.”
Bersten, for what it’s worth, is an expert on tax audits and legal disputes, rather than multinational tax planning. He’s well known to the Australian Taxation Office, having worked there as deputy chief tax counsel. Since leaving PwC in 2018, he’s been a barrister and widely recognised expert on these issues.
Don’t take our word for it, but that of both the ATO, and the Inspector-General of Taxation and Taxation Ombudsman, to whose employees he presented a three-day program on tax law only last month.
By all accounts, the sessions went very well, Tax Ombudsman Karen Payne taking to Bersten’s LinkedIn to thank him for an engaging and valuable discussion.
“Very important for the IGTO to understand these principles as part of our investigations, but also important for ATO officials making decisions and tax practitioners representing taxpayers,” she wrote.
Both regulators are now left in the awkward situation of having recently paid someone named by PwC to teach their own staff. Bersten, we expect, won’t be doing much work for regulators in the near future.
The ATO has already “postponed” a course he (with the University of NSW) was due to teach soon, with second commissioner Jeremy Hirschhorn telling the Senate on Wednesday it might find someone else to deliver the “very useful” program.
On that program, Bersten told us he had “nothing to hide” and was “proud of my part in providing important training”.
What a mess.
The public relations department of embattled consulting giant PwC has not been a happy place of late. And as the horror show surrounding the firm’s misuse of confidential tax data refuses to go away, the team will now have to manage without its leader.
PwC’s head of reputation Rory Grant told colleagues on Thursday afternoon that he was calling it quits after three years in the role.
The former staffer to federal Liberal ministers Christopher Pyne and Alan Tudge declined to speak publicly about his move, but CBD is reliably informed that Grant told acting chief executive Kristin Stubbins several weeks ago that it was in his and the firm’s best interest for a fresh set of eyes to be looking out for PwC’s rep.
That would have been one of the first conversations Stubbins had after stepping in to fill the void left by Tom Seymour after he stepped down amid the pressure of the scandal. CBD hears she reluctantly agreed with Grant’s decision.
Managing the crisis has been problematic for the firm from the beginning. Disaster management gun-for-hire Sue Cato has been on the case since last week after she was hired by one group of partners at PwC Australia, while former Labor communications minister Stephen Conroy is handling crisis communications and lobbying efforts.
But former Rupert Murdoch spokesman Andrew Butcher and ex-Bill Shortenadviser Andrew Thomas, who’d both been external PR advisers to PwC, are no longer working with the firm.
So, the recruitment effort for Grant’s successor should be an interesting process. No news at this stage on Grant’s next adventure, but we’ll keep you updated.
PARTNER PAUSE
Staying with PwC – because they simply can’t stay out of CBD these days – the consulting giant is now deferring mid-year partner intake, to be reconsidered in December.
“This decision is not at all a reflection of the candidates and we absolutely see these people as leaders of our firm, however, we believe this is a necessary and prudent step in light of the current circumstances,” came the all staff missive from Stubbins on Thursday.
How reliance on consultancy firms like PwC undermines the capacity of governments
Embattled PwC pauses partner promotions
PwC Australia has delayed its main mid-year partner intake, the latest sign of the growing toll the ongoing tax leaks scandal is taking on its operations.
The pause, which most partner candidates were told about on Thursday, comes as a growing number of the firm’s 900 partners seek to leave or retire early from the embattled firm.
In other developments, a third major superannuation fund, HESTA, joined AustralianSuper and Australian Retirement Trust in announcing they would no longer hire PwC. That move follows the Commonwealth last month effectively shutting PwC out of future federal contracts.
Multiple former partners have also confirmed that the firm has continued its aggressive legal approach to ensuring that exiting partners seeking to leave do not share firm secrets or steal existing clients if they go to work at a direct competitor.
