Should an accounting and consultancy firm be allowed to advise a government on tax policy and at the same time advise commercial clients on how to get around it? There’s a strong legal consensus it should not, yet that is what PwC is accused of doing in Australia in a scandal that a Labour senator in Canberra tells the FT “is a widespread cultural problem and has spread far beyond Australia”. “Cultural problem” feels like a generous euphemism. PwC’s Australia CEO and two other senior executives have stood down since evidence of playing both sides of Australian tax law emerged in emails obtained by a senate investigation. The firm has flown its chief global counsel and global head of tax to Sydney for damage assessment and control. Questions: have the rest of the big four been doing the same thing? Beyond Australia? If so, how long until they’re all split up to make it harder for the consultants to talk to the accountants?
