Australian big consultancy firms fired dozens of staff and partners because of misconduct

In the wake of the tax scandal, it was revealed by PwC Australia that former chief executive Tom Seymour was the highest-paid partner at the firm, as he took home $4.6 million in 2021-22, local media outlets reported.

During the enquiry, it was also revealed that the firm received dozens of misconduct complaints against partners during the past five years.

Not just PwC, reports have said that dozens of partners and staff at Australia's biggest consulting firms have been fired because of conduct breaches including integrity failures, dishonesty, bullying and sexual harassment over the past two years.

The resignations were revealed to a Senate probe into the activities of government consulting firms, which was led by PwC's misuse of classified tax policy information.

Australian Greens senator Barbara Pocock asked PwC about the issue. The firm replied that it had received 88 internal complaints about staff conduct last financial year, with 38 substantiated.

It said that the majority of these were classed as "code of conduct breaches" or bullying. According to the reports, eleven people were sacked and others were warned of facing pay cuts.

As quoted, KPMG's Senate submission said, "We will continue to empower our people to speak up about any unethical or inappropriate behaviour in the workplace, especially to their leaders. For that reason, we view any increase in reporting in the immediate term as a sign of progress."

The Senate was told that eight partners at EY Australia have been sacked in the past two years for failing to meet the company's values.

It is mentioned that the reasons for sacking included sexual harassment, bullying, dishonesty and "not acting with integrity in relation to a workplace investigation".

Meanwhile, Deloitte said that there were 121 incidents of misbehaviour in the previous fiscal year, 13 of which involved partners, four of whom were fired.

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