AustralianSuper freezes future contracts with PwC

The country’s biggest superannuation fund, AustralianSuper, has paused any new contracts with PwC due to the tax leak scandal embroiling the accounting and consulting firm.

As fallout from the PwC saga continues, AustralianSuper said on Friday that its leadership had expressed its concerns to the “highest level” of PwC last week. “AustralianSuper is concerned with the ongoing revelations around PwC and as a result has frozen any new contracts with PwC,” a spokesman said.

The super giant’s move, which was first reported by Bloomberg, comes as experts warn PwC’s wider Australian operations could face commercial fallout from the scandal because clients may be wary of doing business with the firm.

While the super fund is not cancelling any current contracts with PwC, the comments show it has paused committing to new work with PwC while its reputation continues to be battered by a scandal in which confidential government tax plans were shared within the firm.

The consulting giant has been under increasing fire after it emerged in January that a former partner, Peter Collins, had been banned by the Tax Practitioners Board (TPB) for leaking confidential government tax plans – which included new rules to stop multinationals avoiding tax – to other staff and partners at the firm.

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AustralianSuper is one of many large players that uses PwC as an auditor, and the fund’s spokesman said it would review its current audit contract with PwC later this year “in line with its annual processes”.

AustralianSuper’s annual report shows it paid PwC $2.3 million last year, which included $1.3 million for audit-related services. It also spent $288,000 on “audit of compliance and other regulatory returns” and $717,000 on other non-audit services.

PwC did not comment on AustralianSuper’s move.