Accounting‑industry complaints upheld
- Australia's main accounting‑industry body upheld roughly 300 misconduct and related complaints against major firms. - The regulator declined to identify the firms involved, citing ongoing investigations and confidentiality concerns. - The anonymity fuels questions about assurance transparency and audit‑committee reputational exposure (afr.com).
Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand upheld nearly 300 complaints against staff at major accounting firms, then refused to say which firms they worked for. (hcamag.com) The body said 200 members at large firms including Deloitte, EY, KPMG, PwC, BDO and Grant Thornton received formal cautions in the 13 months to December 2025. Almost 100 more received “professional reminders,” and 16 complaints ended with no further action. (hcamag.com) Those large firms accounted for about 60% of 516 resolved complaints even though their staff make up about 12% of CA ANZ’s roughly 140,590-member base. CA ANZ said most cautions and reminders involved “academic misconduct or minor criminal offences.” (hcamag.com) (charteredaccountantsanz.com) CA ANZ told parliament it would not publish firm-level complaint data because that could reveal the progress of Professional Conduct Committee investigations or prejudice proceedings. A spokeswoman also said naming firms could deter voluntary self-reporting by members. (hcamag.com) The dispute lands in a sector already under parliamentary scrutiny. Australia’s Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services opened its inquiry into misconduct at major accounting, audit and consulting firms on June 22, 2023, and tabled its final report on November 7, 2024. (aph.gov.au) CA ANZ regulates individual members, not just firms. Its complaints page says it reviews every complaint about a member and can also handle some “Practice Entity” or firm events, while its public decisions register now lists more than 800 disciplinary outcomes across Australia, New Zealand and international matters. (charteredaccountantsanz.com 1) (charteredaccountantsanz.com 2) The body has already shown it will name a firm in some cases. On November 28, 2023, its disciplinary tribunal censured PwC Australia, imposed the then-maximum $50,000 fine, ordered $45,668 in costs and required review and reporting after the Tax Practitioners Board matter became public. (charteredaccountantsanz.com) Since then, CA ANZ has moved to stiffen its rulebook. It said member-approved changes lifted maximum fines to $100,000 at the Professional Conduct Committee level and $250,000 at the Disciplinary Tribunal level so firm events can be handled more effectively. (charteredaccountantsanz.com 1) (charteredaccountantsanz.com 2) CA ANZ did disclose a few firm-specific matters in its April 2026 parliamentary response. It said it had resolved two complaints tied to former Deloitte personnel over “historical integrity matters” and was also investigating Deloitte over an artificial-intelligence-generated report delivered to government last year. (hcamag.com) For company directors and audit committees, the gap is simple: the profession’s main body says hundreds of complaints were upheld at major firms, but investors and clients still cannot see which brands drew them. CA ANZ says that is the price of protecting due process while investigations continue. (hcamag.com)
