Inquiry into recent allegations of and responses to misconduct in the Australian operations of the major accounting, audit, and consultancy firms (including but not exclusive to the ‘Big Four’), via a detailed investigation and analysis of regulatory, technical, and legal settings, and broader cultural factors, including:
- the global and national firm structures, including:
- the legal basis for partnership, corporate, hybrid, and other structures;
- issues arising from cross border structures and operations; and
- the impact of such structures on confidence in the advisory and audit assurance market for regulatory supervision and accountability to public and corporate sector clients;
- The extent to which governance obligations applying to a professional services firm may vary depending on the structure adopted, such as a partnership, a company, a trust, or other structure. Consideration of any gaps and international best practice in areas such as:
- entity reporting and transparency;
- executive accountability and remuneration;
- fit and proper person requirements;
- the structure of contracts and the fiduciary responsibility to public and corporate sector clients;
- prevailing cultural practices;
- consumer and client protection;
- duties of care;
- management of conflicts of interest; and
- access to whistle-blower protections.
- Mechanisms available to governments, government departments, statutory authorities, professional standards bodies, regulators, and non-government clients to monitor and sanction misconduct and poor performance, including any gaps and overlaps across service and entity types for:
- accountability frameworks for governance obligations;
- coverage of disciplinary bodies;
- self-reporting policies and practice;
- whistle-blower policies and established pathways to report;
- interaction with and self-referral to regulatory bodies;
- interaction between regulatory bodies; and
- competition in the audit market; and
- any other related matters.