Bell Potter accuses PwC of fee gouging in AUSTRAC audit
Bell Potter has accused PwC of acting “unethically and unconscionably” and price gouging after the firm was appointed to audit the high-profile local stockbroking house following demands from the financial crime regulator.
PwC was appointed to audit three parts of the broader Bell Financial business last year after the regulator, AUSTRAC, identified “compliance concerns” and suspect breaches of anti-money laundering rules.
AUSTRAC has already been handed the final audits and last Friday said it would take no further action against Bell Financial and its businesses.
PwC Australia has been embroiled in a tax scandal over conflict of interest and confidential breaches of government information. Luis Enrique
In a statement to The Australian Financial Review, Bell Financial alleged the audit and accounting firm had “acted unethically and unconscionably, given PwC was selected for the audit role by AUSTRAC, in that it overcharged its fees for the audit and misled… about how much those fees would be”.
The dispute is now in the NSW courts, with PwC attempting to recover unpaid fees for the audit, described by Bell Potter as “excessive”.
The audit as requested by AUSTRAC took in Bell Financial’s stockbroking arm Bell Potter Securities, a non-bank margin lending and investments business known as Bell Potter Capital, and the technology and clearing services division that operates the Bell Direct online brokerage.
“PwC made statements about the amount of its fees which were untrue, both at the start of the audit and during its course,” Bell Financial’s lawyers told the Financial Review on Wednesday. When the issue was raised, PwC “responded in a manner which was arrogant and dismissive,” they added.
Bell Financial alleges PwC also
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