The firms with the most misconduct complaints, and the least
Staff at KPMG and Deloitte are most willing to lodge workplace complaints and least likely at Accenture, misconduct data disclosed by the nation’s five major consulting firms show. EY and PwC sit in the middle of the pack.
Different reporting methods and varying levels of disclosure across the five firms make it difficult directly compare misconduct reporting rates.
The data is so inconsistent that Accenture Australia chief executive Peter Burns said during the Senate inquiry into consulting that his firm would be open to creating a common misconduct reporting standard for the sector.
Andrew Yates, KPMG Australia CEO, during a hearing at Parliament House in Canberra in June. Alex Ellinghausen
KPMG, which publishes the most detailed data, has actively encouraged employees to speak up about issues during the past two years, leading to a jump in complaints raised and substantiated.
Complaints at KPMG increased to 142 in 2022-23, up from 40 in 2020-21, while substantiated cases increased to 84, up from 27 in the same time period. Almost two in three cases were substantiated in financial year 2023.
Almost 90 per cent of the complaints and substantiated cases related to partners or staff breaching the firm’s code of behaviour, while the rest related to sexual harassment complaints. The investigations led to KPMG forcing 21 personnel out of the firm in FY23, up from 11 in each of FY22 and FY21.
“Post our experience around the exam cheating three years ago, we got a global culture firm to come in and review our culture,” KPMG Australia chief executive Andrew Yates told The Australian Financial Review about the firm’s results in mid-August.
He said complaint numbers were “going up, but from our perspective, that’s an indication
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