This Month
PwC survives Macquarie audit review
PwC has audited the Millionaires’ Factory since 1993, and it is one of its most lucrative ASX contracts.
- Lucas Baird
- Opinion
- Opinion
Treasury questions the very nature of the big four consulting firms
Get ready for war as they fight back against suggestions they are too big, incapable of governing themselves and have compromised auditing roles.
- Edmund Tadros
April
- Exclusive
- Big four consultants
Former PwC chief executive Kristin Stubbins starts new firm
The advisory giant’s former boss, and its most senior audit partner, is expected to launch the new business next month.
- Aaron Weinman
‘Risk of regulatory capture’: ASIC hits back at audit criticisms
The watchdog is facing calls to regulate financial reports, sustainability reporting and audit quality.
- Ronald Mizen
ASIC’s ex-chief accountant slams its big four audit reprieve
Doug Niven says ASIC’s move to slash audit quality oversight could be viewed as caving in to firms angry about negative publicity.
- Ronald Mizen
ASIC smooths the way for UK auditors to work in Australia
The Australian corporate regulator and the UK’s audit regulator will allow statutory auditors to have their qualification more easily recognised in either jurisdiction.
- Edmund Tadros
Large companies must file climate reports from 2025
Large companies have been given a six-month reprieve on including climate-related information in their financial reports.
- Edmund Tadros
March
Watchdog gives auditors a ‘nudge’ to better identify fraud
International standard setters also want auditors to explicitly say when they agree with management’s assessment that their company is a “going concern”.
- Edmund Tadros
- Updated
- Accounting
Court actions against Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PwC
The big four consulting firms face a range of court actions over their auditing and advisory work. The list was last updated on March 18, 2024.
- Updated
- Edmund Tadros and Hannah Wootton
ASIC delays staff to auditor disciplinary body
The government body responsible for disciplining registered auditors is struggling to fulfil its role because of a three-year delay by ASIC to provide additional resources.
- Edmund Tadros and Maxim Shanahan
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
Downer’s stoush with KPMG a big test for corporate Australia
Cosy relationships between big four audit firms and directors have greased corporate Australia’s wheels for decades. Now they are coming under pressure.
- Anthony Macdonald
December 2023
Samuel’s big four fix: ban firms consulting to audit clients
Former competition watchdog Graeme Samuel also said ASIC should resume naming and shaming firms with poor audit quality.
- Edmund Tadros
- Opinion
- Opinion
Failing corporate reporting system needs complete overhaul
Not only is Australia lagging the world, its corporate reporting system is failing in its core purpose of providing useful information to investors and others.
- Peter Wells
PwC fined $10.5m over exam cheating by China and Hong Kong staff
US regulator says more than 1000 of firm’s workers cheated on tests designed to familiarise them with US standards.
- Stephen Foley
CA ANZ unhappy about accounting merger
The number-crunching body is upset the government has decided to merge the existing standards bodies into a single entity.
- Edmund Tadros
November 2023
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
PwC scandal hangs over audit quality fight, but clients aren’t waiting
While the professional services sector awaits more detail on ASIC’s new audit quality review, clients are voting with their feet.
- James Thomson
ASIC hopes threat of criminal sanction enough to force good audits
The regulator this year slashed the number of audits it reviews in its annual quality inspection regime from 45 to 30, even amid wider scrutiny on the sector.
- Hannah Wootton
- Opinion
- Opinion
The triple merger that could transform accounting
The government will merge Australia’s three accounting standards bodies into one - in the largest reform to the accounting sector in decades. Not everyone’s happy.
- Edmund Tadros
- Exclusive
- Lendlease
KPMG remains on call as Lendlease’s audit Plan B
The ASX-listed developer says KPMG may need to do another year verifying its financial accounts, as its process of selecting a new auditor remains on hold.
- Michael Bleby, Nick Lenaghan and Edmund Tadros
Exclusive Sydney car club faces collapse as it posts $770,000 loss
The warning comes after eight directors resigned this year from the Royal Automobile Club of Australia and its prior auditors, Walker Wayland, quit.
- Lucas Baird
