Committee probes accounting standards regime

Mike Taylor

Managing Editor/Publisher, Financial Newswire

19 March 2026

Australia’s major accounting groups have been asked to provide a key Parliamentary Committee with updated complaints and investigations data relating to the large accounting consultancy firms in the context of their professional standards regimes.

CPA Australia, CA-ANZ and the Institute of Public Accountants (IPA) have all provided submissions to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services responding to a formal committee request for data around the operation of their professional standards regimes in the context of the big five accounting groups – PwC, KPMG, EY, Deloitte, BDO and Grant Thornton.

The committee’s formal request represents a follow-on from the committee’s 2023 inquiry initiated in the wake of the scandal around PwC.

The submissions will form the basis of a committee hearing later this week.

The Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CA-ANZ) submission provides data for complaints received by its Professional Conduct Committee, noting that of 308 complaints received by the PCC in 2025, 286 were self-reported, 7 were generated by CA-ANZ and 15 were generated by third parties.

However, the accounting firms made clear that they are not going to be in the business of providing the committee with firm level investigation and complaints data

CA-ANZ said the publication of firm level investigation and complaints data for some firms might disclose the progress of the Professional Conduct Committee’s investigations.

“Given the resource intensive nature of investigations, we are concerned to keep confidential any information which may undermine those investigations, the availability of evidence or which could prejudice proceedings or provide grounds for members to challenge disciplinary decisions in the courts,” the CA-ANZ submission said.

“On that basis, we provide aggregated data, which evidences the significant scale of activity undertaken by the Professional Conduct Committee in relation to members employed or in partnership in the Australian practices of the Large Firms, and provide details of whether the action resulted from a self-report, third party complaint or on information (that is, material referred by CA ANZ, including through Practice Quality Review, or other information in the public domain),” it said.