‘No longer appropriate’: Big four bank dumps scandal-hit KPMG after 57 years

• ANZ has become the latest major player to end its contract with scandal-ridden professional services firm KPMG.
• The bank’s board said the contract – which has been operating for almost six decades – was “no longer appropriate”.
• KPMG has lost a number of major contracts after a whistleblower claimed the company had mishandled sensitive documents.

A big four bank is ending its relationship with its auditor of nearly six decades in the latest fallout from a whistleblower scandal.

KPMG has been ANZ’s auditor since 1969 and while the partners who worked on the audit have regularly rotated, the bank is looking for a new firm.

“A tenure of this length is no longer considered appropriate and has been under consideration by the board for some time,” ANZ said in a statement on Friday.

The tender process would end in April and KPMG won’t be eligible to participate, the bank said.

KPMG earned $21.4 million for auditing and reviewing ANZ’s accounts in 2024/25, with its total fees including non-audit services coming to $29.6 million for that financial year.

KPMG Australia has been under fire after Labor senator Deborah O’Neill in March revealed a whistleblower’s allegations that the accounting firm used confidential documents from audit clients Lendlease and Optus to win audit engagements with Westpac, Dexus and Telstra.

The scandal resulted in the resignations of chief executive Andrew Yates, chairman Martin Sheppard and other partners, as well as the loss of long-term clients Macquarie Group and Lendlease.

The firm cut nearly 400 of its Australian workforce in August amid the loss of clients.

KPMG declined to comment.

The accounting firm has said it is overhauling its governance arrangements and appointed new independent board members in a bid to address its shortcomings.

”Trust will only be rebuilt through sustained action and demonstrable change,” interim chief executive Stan Stavros said in June.

“We are determined to confront what went wrong, act transparently and ensure these failings are not repeated.”

-AAP