PwC Tax Leak: Inquiry Report Recommends Transparency And Public Interest Clauses

A senate committee investigating the PwC tax leak scandal demanded the firm to reveal names of officials and their positions who were involved in disclosing confidential data.

The demands were part of a final report by a federal parliamentary committee, which was submitted Wednesday. The report also recommended more scrutiny and inclusion of clauses that require consulting firms to act in the interest of the public, while providing services to the government.

After a 14-months inquiry, the final report included 12 recommendations, ABC News reported.

The leak was exposed in 2023, when a PwC partner hired by Australian Treasury to improve tax laws, was found to be leaking confidential tax plans to PwC. The data, including loopholes on how to avoid paying tax, was shared by PwC with multinationals, including Google.

After the tax leak scandal was exposed, PwC was subject to several investigations.

The report pointed out that Australian government relying heavily on the consulting firms have eroded the capability growth of the Australian Public Service (APS), led to conflict of interest and raised questions on transparency and value for money.

"Australia's spending on consultancy services is proportionally greater than any other country," the report stated.

Four consulting firms (Deloitte, EY, KPMG, and PwC) have been undertaking a bulk of work for the APS.

"In the past two decades the Australian government has relied increasingly on consultants to undertake work for the Australian Public Service (APS), with the bulk of work performed by the Big Four consulting firms (Deloitte, EY, KPMG, and PwC)," the report said. "Increased use of consultants has limited the capability growth of the APS, given rise to occasions of serious conflict of interest, and been accompanied by questions about transparency."

Two interim reports submitted earlier criticized PwC for misusing legal professional privilege to avoid being transparent, The Guardian reported.

Once the scandal came to light, the company divested its government consulting business in Australia, and claimed to have revamped its internal governance structures.

Demanding more reforms, Greens senator Barbara Pocock said annual spending on consultants should be reduced by 15%, so that savings can be used to rebuild public sector capacity. She also asked for ban on PwC for five years.