Former PwC boss suspended, fined by accountants’ peak body over tax leaks scandal

Australia’s peak body for chartered accountants has suspended former PwC chief executive Tom Seymour for four years and fined him $15,000 for his role in the tax leaks scandal.

The decision by Chartered Accountants ANZ follows damning rulings in July by the Tax Practitioners Board, which stripped Mr Seymour of his registration after finding he failed to rein in an unethical culture at PwC that included the sharing of confidential government information by the firm’s partners.

PwC’s chief executive for three years until May 2023, Mr Seymour earlier headed the group’s tax division when a senior partner seconded to Federal Treasury passed on secret information on new tax laws to other PwC partners, who then used it to drum up business with multinational companies.

The scandal blew up in 2023, triggering a ban on Government work by PwC and ultimately forcing the sale of its government consulting arm.

The fallout seriously damaged the reputation of PwC and the broader consulting industry.

Chartered Accountants ANZ noted that Mr Seymour had co-operated with its enquiries and agreed the matter be dealt with by its tribunal on an expedited basis without a hearing. However, he had reiterated that he disagreed with the tax board’s findings, arguing they were incorrectly decided.

As well as the ban and the fine, Chartered Accountants ANZ said in a decision published on its website that Mr Seymour had been stripped of his status as a fellow of the organisation and ordered to pay costs of $9757.

It said the sanctions reflected the seriousness of the Tax Practitioners Board’s findings and Mr Seymour’s oversight of other PwC partners, as well as the need to support “the reputation of CA ANZ and the ... integrity of the profession of accounting”.

CA ANZ was “satisfied that the conduct to which the (tax board) determination related included conduct arising from the member’s professional or business conduct, competence and integrity, being conduct in the course of his role as a senior leader in tax services at PwC”.

The Tax Practitioners Board found Mr Seymour “failed to act with integrity” by failing to recognise, “or otherwise permitted, a business culture to develop and operate” in PwC’s tax and legal services division that “resulted in the practice of sharing confidential information”.

It said his conduct “had caused damage to the reputation of the tax profession and a loss of confidence in the integrity of the broader tax system”.