Australia's top corporate cop said its slew of probes into the problematic audit and consulting industry has uncovered hundreds of complaints, as the country grapples with cleaning up a sector mired in scandal in recent years.
Australian Securities and Investments Commission Chair Sarah Court said the scope of its investigation into the misuse of confidential information by KPMG Australia will likely grow. During the parliamentary hearing in Sydney on Friday, she said her teams are also giving more in depth consideration into potential issues involving the duties of directors at KPMG.
ASIC also has surveillance in place on a string of audit conduct complaints, she said. She noted some 551 complaints it has gathered in relation to its surveillance of the so-called Big Four accounting firms.
"We are looking across KPMG, Deloitte, EY and PwC and asking them to provide us with information in relation to internal complaints and potential whistleblower matters," Court told the hearing, adding the surveillance was in its early stages.
Australia's audit industry was thrown into crisis in March when a whistleblower's allegations of misconduct at KPMG were made public in parliament. It came just three years after PwC was rocked by revelations it leaked private government tax information to corporate clients.
ASIC has asked "whether the firms have received complaints relating to misconduct by registered company auditors such as the misuse or sharing of confidential information," Court said. The regulator then used its information gathering powers in relation to a number of those, she added. It was unclear how many of the complaints may lead to formal investigations or enforcement action, Court said.
Court said the regulator is also looking at whether or not certain statements provided by KPMG were false and misleading.
