In a consultation paper released last week, Australia's Treasury proposed limiting the number of partners in Big Four accountancies and forcing the firms to incorporate their consulting businesses, as reported by the Australian Financial Review.
The Treasury expressed doubts as to whether the accounting firms are capable of governing themselves and argued that the existing model of self-regulation through industry bodies was not fit for purpose. The proposed reforms come as the Australian government announced that it had reduced its spending on consultants by $624 million and was planning to cut another $1 billion in the upcoming federal budget. Both moves were spurred by PwC's tax leaks scandal, in which a partner was found to have shared confidential government information with clients.
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