KPMG chair and senior partners to quit firm over audit scandal fallout Big Four KPMG Australia’s chair will leave the Big Four firm in the fallout of a scandal over misusing confidential client data to win audit contracts, along with two senior partners. Martin Sheppard, who has held his position as chairman since 2023, will “shortly” resign from his position at KPMG to be replaced with an independent chair, [...]
City law firm denies ties to KPMG Australia scandal Legal City-headquartered law firm Ashurst has denied its involvement in investigating allegations at KPMG Australia as the Big Four firms’ scandal fallout continues to heat up down under. Ashurst reportedly carried out an investigation from June to August 2025 over allegations made by a whistleblower against an unnamed former executive, following the Big Four firm conducting [...]
Here’s how a levy on assets could work, just don’t call it a wealth tax Opinion Debate around wealth taxes have become a meme, far too ideological and not technocratic enough. But there is a way to raise a levy on assets without distorting the economy, says Tim Sarson Last week I was scanning the list of topics I’d written about for City AM in the last two years and there [...]
More Big Four blues as Deloitte plans to slash UK audit roles June 16, 2026 Big Four giant Deloitte is seeking to cut nearly 200 jobs across its audit business in the UK, the latest in a series of cuts at the accountancy giants. The firm is offering voluntary redundancy packages to a number of employees in response to low levels of staff attrition in its audit practice. A Deloitte [...]
Former KPMG chief joins £10m funding round for AI-powered audit challenger June 16, 2026 A Berlin-based audit AI firm has raised over £10m in a fundraising round, including from Dawn Capital, to expand into the UK market as a solution to the skilled labour shortage in the audit industry. Cortea, founded in 2024 by Valentin Neumann and Philipp Hovelmann, pitches itself as an answer for firms under pressure to [...]
Ditched by clients and Australian government: What is happening down under at KPMG? June 15, 2026 KPMG’s Australian arm has been ditched by the country’s government for audit work until September, following the fallout of allegations that the firm mishandled client information, in the latest nightmare for the Big Four firm down under. The Big Four giant will be unable to bid for any Australian government contracts until September 2026, as [...]
KPMG report on AI found riddled with AI hallucinations June 12, 2026 A new probe into Big Four KPMG’s report on agentic AI found that the majority of its references were flawed, amid the latest news of AI-hallucinated reports published by professional services firms. The investigation, conducted by GPTZero, focused on KPMG’s October 2025 report, ‘Total Experience: Redefining Excellence in the Age of Agentic AI’, which summarises [...]
KPMG’s Summer Friday half-day rollback signals deeper woes for Big Four giants June 11, 2026 Big Four giant KPMG’s removal of its Friday early finish for employees is affecting branding and souring the mood among staff, who may see this as a signal to reconsider a career at the firm. Time spent working at a Big Four giant was once a prized bauble to list on a CV. But with [...]
P&O Ferries to be probed over possible audit failings June 10, 2026 The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has opened a probe into the conduct of an accountant at P&O Ferries over the accuracy of information they provided to auditors. The FRC said it has opened the investigation to assess the financial information provided to the auditor of P&O Ferries Holdings Limited and its subsidiaries between December 2020 [...]
Jobs slump as economy ‘held up by uncertainty’ June 8, 2026 The UK jobs market has been handed another blow as businesses ditch permanent hires as the economy battles against domestic and international uncertainty. The latest jobs report from KPMG and REC, the professional body for recruiters, showed hiring for permanent places dropped to a reading of 44.1 in May, which sits below the neutral 50 [...]