Mess of its own making: KPMG sacrifices staff to limit financial damage

August 24, 2026 — 3:25pm

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When a scandal hits an accounting firm, there’s significant lag between the event and its impact. Monday’s KPMG staff purge will be just the start of a multi-year fallout for the business’ earnings, salaries and the tenure of those that remain.

It’s impossible to measure the anger that must be felt by staff who will bear the burden of the failings of a group of senior people whose professional greed or ambition led them to misuse private client documents from Lendlease and Optus to secure lucrative audit contracts with other companies.

This is the rot that has led to axing 5 per cent of staff, who are innocent bystanders.

No large-scale sackings or forced redundancies are pleasant for those involved. They are almost always brutal and usually swift. The 27 partners who will be packing up their desktop family photos and pot plants were........

© The Age