Jozef Imrich, name worthy of Kafka, has his finger on the pulse of any irony of interest and shares his findings to keep you in-the-know with the savviest trend setters and infomaniacs.
''I want to stay as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can't see from the center.''
-Kurt Vonnegut
Senator Barbara Pocock asked Finance Minister Katy Gallagher if TPB Chair Peter de Cure should recuse himself from deliberations regarding KPMG's conduct,
The Greens say the firm should not train public servants in ethics while questions remain over its conduct and government contracts.
Senator Barbara Pocock has written to the federal government to press for the removal of KPMG as the APS Academy’s ethics trainer of choice.
Pocock has urged Finance Minister Katy Gallagher to discontinue the Big Four firm’s $1.3 million ethics and leadership contract, following revelations the firm had misused confidential client information from Lendlease to help win the audit of Westpac. Pocock has urged Finance Minister Katy Gallagher to discontinue the Big Four firm’s $1.3 million ethics and leadership contract, following revelations the firm had misused confidential client information from Lendlease to help win the audit of Westpac. Pocock wrote to Gallagher asking the government to review the ethics and leadership engagement after the firm was found wanting when it appeared before the corporations and financial services committee.
Senator Barbara Pocock asked Finance Minister Katy Gallagher if TPB Chair Peter de Cure should recuse himself from deliberations regarding KPMG's conduct, given his past partnership with the firm. Gallagher responded that the government expected the Tax Practitioners Board (TPB) to appropriately handle any real or perceived conflicts of interest
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De Cure rejected Pocock's assertion that the board had failed to deal adequately with the issue.
"It's my view that we received a referral from the ATO, and that we dealt with that referral in accordance with the Tax Agents Services Act,
Tax Practitioners Board (TPB) CEO Michael de Cure made this statement during a parliamentary committee hearing regarding the PwC tax leaks scandal. He was responding to questioning by Senator Barbara Pocock regarding how the board handled the regulatory breach involving confidential government tax plans. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
The Context of the Statement
The Referral Source: In response to Senator Pocock's queries, de Cure stated: "It's my view that we received a referral from the ATO, and that we dealt with that referral in accordance with the Tax Agents Services Act," [1]
Regulatory Action: He defended the TPB's handling of the matter, noting that the board imposed the maximum sanctions deemed appropriate under its legislative powers following the Australian Taxation Office referral. [1]
Legislative Limits: Former TPB CEO Michael O'Neill also noted during the hearing that heavier penalties, such as Federal Court fines, could not be applied to the PwC matter due to strict legislative limitations on the board's powers. [1]
For more details on the oversight of advisory firms, you can review the parliamentary proceedings on the Parliament of Australia website.
SYDNEY: Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers said on Tuesday (June 30) a report that two Ernst & Young employees on temporary assignment at Commonwealth Bank of Australia allegedly accessed Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's personal banking details was "incredibly concerning."
The Australian Financial Review (AFR) newspaper reported on Tuesday that EY had sacked two employees who were facing criminal charges after they allegedly accessed Albanese's bank details and those of at least one EY partner.
EY declined to comment on the report, and Albanese's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A CBA spokesperson said "it is not appropriate for us to comment on individual contractor matters."
Chalmers told reporters he would not comment on legal processes under way.
"But I think on the face of it any developments of that kind are incredibly concerning, not just in relation to the PM's details but any Australians' details," Chalmers said.
The media report comes as EY's peer KPMG faces an audit leak scandal, adding pressure on Big Four accounting firms after their new-business revenue from the Australian federal government fell by almost half last year.
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) said it had charged two Sydney men on May 6 with allegedly accessing restricted personal banking data belonging to a federal parliamentarian.
A 21-year-old man was charged with unauthorised access to restricted data and publishing or distributing personal data, and a 25-year-old man was charged with unauthorised access to restricted data, intending to cause the access and knowing it was unauthorised.
The AFP did not name the lawmaker but said both men were granted police bail to appear in a Sydney court on Tuesday.
"As the matter is before the court, no further comment will be made," an AFP spokesperson said by email.
The AFR report, citing unidentified sources, said the two men deployed to CBA would have received a system warning requiring them to confirm they were permitted to access a customer's confidential information.
Once they agreed they were authorised, the system granted access to personal bank details, the report added. - Reuters
Anthony Albanese, Ernst & Young The Nightly Credit: The Nightly
Another big four accounting firm has been plunged into a corruption crisis, with an EY worker facing court on Tuesday after being accused of accessing Anthony Albanese’s private banking details.
Paul Issa, 21, was on secondment at Commonwealth Bank when he allegedly looked up the Prime Minister’s account.
He was charged by the Australian Federal Police, along with his brother, Phillip Issa, 25, who has no link to EY.
The Sydney brothers, whose family home in Marrickville is close to Mr Albanese’s former house, were given bail and appeared at Downing Centre Local Court. At the hearing their bail was continued until their next court appearance on August 25.
Paul Issa faces one count each of unauthorised access/modification of restricted data and using a carriage service to publish personal data to menace or harass. He is accused of spying on a senior EY executive’s accounts, as well as Mr Albanese’s.
Phillip Issa has been charged with a single count of unauthorised access/modification of restricted data.
Phil and Paul Issa. Credit: Little Boomers AU
According to Mr Albanese’s register of interests, the Prime Minister holds a Commonwealth savings account as well as a mortgage for a property on the Central Coast he jointly owns with his wife.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers said any breaches of that kind were “incredibly concerning”.
“Not just in relation to the PM’s details but any Australians’ details,” he said.
EY, formerly known as Ernst & Young, declined to comment.
A spokesperson for Commonwealth Bank said “it is not appropriate for us to comment on individual contractor matters”.
The EY scandal comes as fellow accounting giant KPMG deals with the fallout from its own, much bigger, trust crisis.
KPMG chair Martin Sheppard last week became the latest casualty of a saga which began when a whistleblower complained that company had misused board papers from Lendlease to support bids for audit work.
The whistleblower’s concerns were played down by the company, and it wasn’t until Labor senator Deborah O’Neill aired the concerns under parliamentary privilege in March that KPMG cleaned house.
Mr Sheppard’s resignation followed the departure of chief executive Andrew Yates and audit partners Paul Rogers and Eileen Hoggett.
KPMG has launched an “action plan” that will include the appointment of the firm’s first independent chair, an overhaul of its governance and a review of its whistleblower program.
“We did not meet the standards expected of us, and we recognise the impact this has had on the whistleblower, our people, our clients and the community,” interim chief executive Stan Stavros said.
“Trust will only be rebuilt through sustained action and demonstrable change. We are determined to confront what went wrong, act transparently and ensure these failings are not repeated.”
The unfolding scandal comes three years after PwC was in the gun for misusing Federal Government information.
PwC Australia partner Peter Collins was advising bureaucrats on laws to stop multinational corporations from dodging tax.
Despite signing confidentiality agreements with the Australian Treasury between 2013 and 2018, he shared the information with PwC colleagues, who used the intelligence to help clients structure their operations in a way that avoided the laws Mr Collins was helping design.
Inquiries by Senators in May 2023 revealed that more than 50 PwC staff received the leaked information. The scandal triggered the resignation of PwC Australia chief executive Tom Seymour and sanctions against Mr Collins
