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Thursday, August 01, 2024

Ex-PwC chief Tom Seymour forced from the shadows




The multi-million dollar PwC’s Indigenous Consulting — the nation’s “largest Indigenous consulting business” — is now owned by just one Indigenous person, after the second owner exited his stake.


PwC Australia says an internal review found no evidence the firm had misled the Tax Office about a foreign investment application that reportedly prompted a Treasury review of cases involving aggressive tax minimisation structures.
In a new round of answers to questions on notice to a parliamentary committee, the firm said it was limited by tax secrecy laws and client confidentiality about what information it could give about a Foreign Investment Review Board application that the ATO raised with then-PwC chief executive Luke Sayers on 29 August, 2019.

But PwC said the matter “was prioritised internally and was subject to a detailed internal review” in September 2019 which “did not identify any evidence that the ATO had been misled”.

The results of the review were shared with the ATO by Tom Seymour, PwC’s then head of financial advisory services and later Mr Sayers’ successor as CEO, in October 2019 and the firm from then on “had understood that PwC had addressed the ATO’s concerns.”

The Sydney Morning Herald reported in early July that Treasury had launched a review of an unknown number of foreign takeovers involving PwC after the ATO raised concerns about an application that, while legal, may have had the effect of misleading the Tax Office about the intended use of aggressive tax structures.

The answers were posted late on Thursday, hours before senior PwC figures past and present – including three CEOs – were due to testify about the firm’s tax leaks scandal at what shaped as a blockbuster day of hearings before a parliamentary committee.

Current CEO Kevin Burrowes and three senior partners of the firm have been asked to appear both in the morning and the afternoon, with the firm’s former general counsel, Meredith Beattie, Ziggy Switkowski – who was commissioned by PwC to investigate the firm’s governance – and former chiefs Luke Sayers and Tom Seymour testifying in between.

It is the first time since the extent of the scandal was revealed by The Australian Financial Review in May last year that Mr Seymour and Ms Beattie will speak publicly about the tax leaks matter.

The hearing of the joint parliamentary inquiry into the structure of the big four consulting firms, chaired by Labor senator Deborah O’Neill, is scheduled to run from 8am until 5.45pm in Parliament House.

New PwC Australia chairman

Senator O’Neill said it was appropriate the executives had agreed to appear and stressed the committee’s focus was on “the ethical dimension of this scandal, what that means for the future of professional accountability, and how that can shape the future of the consulting sector”.

Separately, PwC Australia on Thursday announced the appointment of former Macquarie Group executive director and thriller writer John M. Green as its inaugural independent chairman.

The firm also appointed boutique law firm Webb Henderson, supported by former NSW Supreme Court chief justice Tom Bathurst KC, as an independent monitor to check its progress on improving governance and operations.

The tax leaks scandal involved a former partner, Peter Collins, sharing confidential tax information with PwC personnel. The firm’s tax advisers then developed structures to help clients sidestep tax laws the firm was helping Treasury to develop.

During the past year, parliamentarians have been reluctant to call Mr Seymour and other past leaders at the firm because Australian Federal Police are investigating the tax leaks matter. That investigation, along with nine inquiries by the Tax Practitioners Board, is ongoing.

Mr Burrowes is likely to be the subject of the most torrid questions over his pay and the decision by PwC International to withhold a legal report into the overseas aspects of the tax leaks scandal.

PwC International payment

On his pay, Mr Burrowes will have to explain why he didn’t tell parliament he was being paid an additional $1.2 million by PwC International for the extra role of leading a firm in remediation.

That revelation in June came after he told Senator O’Neill in a February hearing of the now-finished Senate inquiry into consulting firms that he was earning $2.4 million (later revised upwards to $2.8 million) for his role as PwC Australia’s boss.

The additional role also shines new light upon Mr Burrowes’ earlier insistence to parliament he could not produce the report by international law firm Linklaters into the actions of overseas partners relating to the tax leaks matter because he had “rescinded his role with PwC International Limited”.

The firm has been accused of engaging in an ongoing cover-up over its refusal to release the report. PwC International, which has only released a brief summary of the report, disciplined six of the firm’s international operatives for not inquiring about the nature of what turned out to be leaked data.

First time testifying for Seymour, Beattie

Mr Seymour, who is scheduled to appear for two hours alongside Mr Sayers, is likely to be asked when he first knew about the leaks and his response to the crisis.

Mr Sayers led the tax practice between 2008 and 2012, while Mr Seymour led the practice from 2012 to 2016 before becoming the head of Financial Advisory (where tax and legal used to sit), and then Asia Pacific Americas Tax Leader between 2016 and 2020.

Mr Seymour was one of eight partners who were asked to exit the firm in July 2023. At the time, PwC said he had been one of three partners asked to leave early because they had failed to “adequately exercise their expected leadership or governance responsibilities to prevent these actions or to address the deficiencies in culture at the firm or hold others accountable for their behaviours”. 


Ex-PwC chief Tom Seymour forced from the shadows
Myriam RobinRear Window editor 
 Aug 1, 2024

When Senator Deborah O’Neill last year forced the parliamentary tabling of the PwC emails that revealed the firm’s breaches of government confidentiality provisions, then-chief Tom Seymour wasn’t too fussed. The other people on the emails? 

The other people on the emails? Not involved, he insisted. The whole thing involved one ex-partner and the firm, to his mind, suffered from a “perception issue”. Or so he told our colleagueJennifer Hewett on stage at the Australian Financial Review Business Summit in May 


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With ex-PwC CEO Luke Sayers set to face parliament tomorrow, it's worth remembering he gave secret equity in his private company to Mathias Cormann immediately after Cormann left parliament. Cormann now boss of the OECD & massive questions remain (ICYMI):

Firm secretly owned by OECD boss given taxpayer millions



The Secretary-General of the OECD, former Australian Finance Minister Mathias Cormann, stands to have made substantial gains from secretive share dealings with the man who was CEO of PwC Australia for the entire tax leaks affair.

Investigations show the private company Luke Sayers founded in 2020 after departing as PwC Australia CEO has been given over $10 million in Australian Government contracts — around $9m of which while Cormann was a secret co-owner.

Between December 2020, and November last year, when Sayers said Cormann had “recently”, “rescinded” his equity, Sayers Group was awarded at least 23 Federal Government tenders worth $9.18m, investigations by The Klaxon reveal.

The true value is likely higher, as only contracts of a certain size and type are required to be published on government contracting register AusTender.


PwC Australia CEO Kevin Burrowes paid to advise global arm on local tax scandals; new leadership revealed

DAVID ROSS

  PwC Australia CEO Kevin Burrowes is paid $1.2m by the international arm of the firm to advise the global consulting giant on its response to the tax scandal hanging over the local business.

In a response to a question on notice from the parliament, PwC revealed Mr Burrowes, who took on the top job in June last year, was being paid extra “to ensure that any program of remediation work … operated within the compliance expectations of the PwC Network and was appropriately completed”. 


PwC also told the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services that Mr Burrowes was counselling the firm’s global leadership teams “regarding matters arising in other territories around the PwC Network where the experience of PwC Australia may be instructive”. 
The British consultant was also revealed to be receiving the funds after “collaborating with the PwC Network’s global functions and providing substantive inputs on enhancements to the standards and regulations of the PwC Network concerning governance, leadership and related matters”. 
The revelations come as the joint parliamentary committee seeks to focus on the connections between PwC’s local firm and its international operations, after at least six partners were found to have received confidential information from the Australian operation. 
PwC’s former head of international tax, Peter Collins, was banned by the Tax Practitioners Board after he was found to have misused confidential Australian government tax briefings, sharing them within the firm to allow it to frontrun new laws. 
In an earlier appearance before a senate committee, Mr Burrowes said he had not seen a report into the international links, prepared by law firm Linklaters, noting “it has not been shared with anyone in PwC Australia” and that he “cannot tell you the names or the countries where those partners reside” or if they were still with the firm.



In its response to the inquiry, PwC said Mr Burrowes “does not have access to the legal advice provided by Linklaters” but the CEO had made two written requests for access in October 2023 and March 2024 to no avail. 
Mr Burrowes’ links to the international firm were only revealed after he disclosed to the committee on June 28 that he was paid $4m a year, more than the $2.8m he told a senate committee in February. This came at the same time Mr Burrowes revealed to partners in the firm he was enjoying a healthier pay packet. 
When The Australian raised rumours that Mr Burrowes was being paid more than he had disclosed, PwC’s head of media relations Patrick Lane issued “a friendly caution on proceeding with that one”. 
Mr Burrowes is expected to face questions over his pay and links to the international arm of the firm when he appears before the joint parliamentary committee on Friday. 
He will be joined by chief risk and ethics leader Jan McCahey, general counsel Kylie Gray, the firm’s tax and legal leader Chris Morris and PwC global board member Paddy Carney. 
PwC’s former general counsel Meredith Beattie will also appear, as will former CEOs Luke Sayers and Tom Seymour. 
Mr Seymour left the firm after regulators revealed the misuse of confidential information at PwC. 
The two men are set to appear in the wake of evidence from the Australian Taxation Office that high-ranking tax officials were concerned PwC had sought to mislead the Foreign Investment Review Board during their tenure. As revealed in The Australian, the ATO uncovered thousands of emails, after a search of PwC systems, that appeared to India the firm had been coaching clients on how to mislead FIRB.

PwC told the committee it was “deeply concerned” with the ATO’s suggestion, noting it had investigated the matter and conveyed its findings to the tax office. 
The firm said the FIRB issues were raised with Mr Sayers on August 2019, with Mr Seymour sharing the findings with the ATO in October the same year. 
“Treasury is currently examining its records and working with the ATO to identify whether any FIRB applications where PwC was involved were based on false or misleading information,” PwC said. 
“PwC has written to Treasury on July 11, 2024, highlighting its willingness to co-operate fully with any review Treasury may undertake.” 
PwC unveiled a new chair and director at the firm on Thursday, also announcing plans for law firm Webb Henderson and a former judge to run a review of the audit and consulting giant’s “commitments to change”. 
In a note to staff on Thursday PwC said it would appoint two new independent directors to the firm’s governing board, with current chair Justin Carroll set to step down in August. 
John Green, former Macquarie investment banker and executive director, will take on the chair role. Mr Green joins the firm as the first of three independent directors slated for PwC’s governing board. 
PwC said Mr Green would “strengthen the independence and oversight powers of PwC Australia’s Governance Board”.
Mr Carroll said Mr Green was an “exceptional addition” to the board. “He will be able to draw from his decades of experience to bring an outside-in perspective, hold management to account and deliver a new level of oversight,” he said.
PwC has also announced Lisa Chung will join the governance board on September 1 as an independent director. 
The board shake-up comes after former Telstra boss Ziggy Switkowski handed down his review into PwC’s governance, culture, and accountability in May last year. Mr Switkowski will also appear before the parliamentary committee on Friday.
His review came after PwC was revealed to have misused confidential government tax briefings to construct strategies for clients ahead of the 2016 introduction of new tax laws. 
PwC said it was “well progressed” on appointing a third independent director. 
The firm also told staff it would bring in lawyers from Webb Henderson, supported by former legal luminary and former NSW Supreme Court Justice Tom Bathurst, to “verify progress made on its Action Plan”. 
PwC released its action plan in September, noting 35 of the 47 matters raised had been addressed and were prepared for independent verification. 
“The remaining 12 actions have staggered timelines and are progressing,” PwC said. “(Webb Henderson and Mr Bathurst) will begin reviewing PwC Australia’s progress immediately.”