This Friday, senior current and former leaders from major consulting and audit firm KPMG will face a barrage of questions at a parliamentary inquiry in Canberra.

In March this year, Labor Senator Deborah O'Neill revealed a KPMG whistleblower had alleged KPMG partners secretly accessed confidential client information to help them win audit work from other companies.

On Monday, the federal finance department announced it was conducting an independent review of KPMG over the allegations. The Greens have since said that doesn’t go far enough and have referred KPMG to the National Anti-Corruption Commission.

KPMG Australia’s interim chief executive Stan Stavros said on Monday “we acknowledge that individuals in our firm have made mistakes” and pledged to “learn from what has occurred”. His statement did not say exactly what those mistakes had been.

Australia’s four biggest consulting firms – EY, Deloitte, KPMG and PwC – have all earned billions in taxpayer-funded contracts. Part of that work has been for their audit services.

Auditors are meant to protect taxpayers’ and investors’ money, by keeping governments and businesses accountable. Yet just a few years ago, another of those “big four” faced a similar scandal.

What needs to happen to stop history repeating?

What’s this latest inquiry about?

In mid-2024, a KPMG whistleblower alleged some of the firm’s senior auditing partners misused confidential client documents to pitch for and win audit contracts from new clients. KPMG conducted internal and external investigations of these claims. The most recent of these, by law firm Allens, is ongoing.

After waiting for two years to see any serious action taken, the whistleblower went public by contacting Senator........

© The Conversation