The sound – a mixture of fury, exasperation, pain and exhaustion – has been leaking out of me and across the office as I've watched the televised Senate hearings examining consulting firm PwC.creating and selling a scheme to thwart themPwC Australia only signed up 14 clients, made a paltry $2.5 million in fees , has destroyed the brand and is potentially tanking the 10,000-employee-strong firm's future.
I've been watching impassioned testimony from Treasury officials about probity, governance and being appalled by the alleged conduct. Followed by questions about how it's going, having PwC in the building as Treasury's internal auditor and whether they've brought their own laptops or are using Treasury ones.
Treasury secretary Steven Kennedy said that PwC had been the department's auditor for a period of time " they have a contract with us till the end of this year". “So a company embroiled in a governance scandal is providing advice to Treasury on governance,” Senator Nick McKim put to the secretary.Tough questions too for the Australian Federal Police, charged with investigating the alleged debacle, something they already did and then stopped for reasons to do with "The AFP is investigating PwC. PwC has more than $20 million of contracts, in just the past two years, to do work for and with the AFP.