Australia weighs break-up of Big Four accounting firms after scandals

The Australian government said on Wednesday it was considering breaking up the Big Four accounting firms and bringing them under the corporate regulator's purview following some high-profile scandals in the sector.



The proposals, outlined in a paper from the Treasury department, also include caps on the size of partnerships to 400 from 1,000.



The paper said the recent conduct of the Big Four accounting firms — Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PwC — had exposed gaps in Australia's regulatory framework. It drew comparisons with the way they are regulated in Britain and the United States.



"In recent years, we have seen behaviour from some large accounting, auditing and consulting firms in Australia that is not fair and honest," Assistant Treasurer Daniel Mulino said in a statement.



"This has undermined trust in the firms themselves and raised broader questions about the resilience of the frameworks meant to uphold market integrity."

The potential interventions broadly mirror those recommended by parliamentary inquiries triggered by the PwC tax leaks scandal in 2023, in which confidential government policy was shared to win clients. Most of those recommendations have yet to be implemented.