One in two want government to cut use of big four firms: survey
One in two surveyed Australians want the government to decrease its use of big four consulting firms, and almost one in three have a negative view of them after this year’s PwC tax leaks scandal.
Surveys of more than 1600 people, carried out in November and December by polling company Resolve, found that 27 per cent had a negative view of PwC and only 7 per cent viewed the firm positively. Thirty-one per cent were neutral and 34 per cent were unfamiliar with PwC.
No PwC staff who were involved in the tax confidentiality breach can work with the federal government. Eamon Gallagher
The big four as a group were viewed negatively by 29 per cent of people. PwC rivals Deloitte, EY and KPMG had negative ratings of between 17 per cent and 19 per cent. The data was collected in person and online.
While the survey highlighted scepticism about the value the big four provide and concerns about their ethics, up to 43 per cent of respondents were unfamiliar with them.
The survey was commissioned by Openly, an online platform that aims to help businesses act ethically and which will launch in Australia in early 2024. Founder Nick Booth said the research showed Australians were interested in “how companies conduct themselves when dealing with government”.
Ethical failures ‘destroy value’
Mark Rigotti, CEO of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, which supports the concept behind Openly, said the results showed that “ethical failure consistently destroys value”.
“Directors should be aware of key risks, including non-financial risks, and continually probe how those risks are managed,” Mr Rigotti said.
Recent high-profile governance failings, such as the PwC tax leaks scandal and Qantas’ customer services issues, should “make every board across all sectors stand up and take notice”, he said.
The survey found that 44 per cent of respondents had a negative view of Qantas, compared with 20 per cent who were either positive or neutral.
The PwC tax scandal involved PwC partners using confidential public tax information to help clients sidestep tax laws the firm was helping Treasury to develop.
It resulted in an effective ban on PwC selling work to the government, with the firm selling its public sector consulting division to private equity investor Allegro Group for $1.
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