Westpac to dump PwC as its auditor
Westpac is preparing to remove PwC as its external auditor and put the work up for tender in a move that will reshape the audit landscape for the critical financial services sector.
The major bank told the ASX on Wednesday morning it had commenced a search for its external audit services and that PwC, the current provider, “has not been invited to participate in the tender”.
The bank said the decision to tender the audit role “reflects best practice for audit firm rotation”. Will Willitts
The bank said the decision to tender the audit role “reflects best practice for audit firm rotation”, and that not inviting PwC was “due to their tenure as the group’s external auditor”.
The short ASX release did not mention the tax scandal that has engulfed PwC this year.
Under emerging corporate governance principles, boards are being encouraged to put their audit to tender every five years, breaking the cosy relationship that can develop between auditor and company.
PricewaterhouseCoopers was appointed by Westpac shareholders as auditor in 2002, and individual accountants, who were partners of PwC or its antecedent firms, have been the external auditors since 1968, the bank said.
Over the last five years, PwC has been the biggest recipient of audit and non-audit work from the major banks, raking in $700 million since the 2017 financial year.
PwC’s take of audit and non-audit work from the five largest banks rose from $98.4 million in the 2017 financial year to $136.6 million in 2022, mainly through big auditing contracts with Commonwealth Bank, Westpac and Macquarie.
The move to exclude PwC from re-tendering for its audit services comes ahead of Westpac’s annual general meeting on December 14.
Commonwealth Bank, which also uses PwC
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