KPMG Australia chair, partners to exit in overhaul amid scandal

SYDNEY: KPMG Australia said chair Martin Sheppard and two other audit partners will leave as part of a broad restructuring, following whistleblower allegations the firm used confidential client information to help win business.

Sheppard will depart shortly and retire from his regional board responsibilities, the firm said in a statement Tuesday. Audit partners Paul Rogers and Eileen Hoggett will also leave the firm, it added.

Efforts to appoint a new chief executive officer were progressing, KPMG said, which would “refresh the executive team and ensure the firm has strong, ethical leadership for the future.”

The senior departures mark a widening list of casualties from the scandal that emerged in March when allegations were first unveiled under parliamentary privilege. That included KPMG staff inappropriately using Lendlease board documents to support bids for business from Dexus, a property company, and Westpac Banking Corp.

Australian lawmakers grilled senior current and former KPMG staff during a parliamentary hearing on Friday, amid calls for tighter regulatory and legal guardrails for the audit and consulting industry.

KPMG said it would pursue “a major governance restructure, including the appointment of its first independent Chair, and additional independent directors,” and also conduct a “lessons-learned review.”