KPMG Australia has appointed long-term partner John Sams as CEO, replacing Andrew Yates, who resigned over the firm’s ongoing audit leaks scandal, as reported by the Australian Financial Review.
“My immediate focus is to provide confidence to our clients and people,” Sams said. “I will provide clear leadership, deliver the action plan in full, make measurable progress on culture, integrity and transparency, and support our people through the change ahead.”
Sams, who has worked at the firm for more than 20 years, has served as CFO since last September and took on the additional role of acting COO in June. Acknowledging the firm’s failings directly, Sams noted that “the challenges are real” and admitted KPMG’s behavior “fell short of the standards rightly expected of us,” pledging to “lead the changes that will make us better, whatever that takes.”
The firm continues to draw bipartisan criticism. Labor Senator Deborah O’Neill called the appointment “the elevation of yet another member of the leadership which oversaw the series of botched investigations and non-action.” Liberal Senator Paul Scarr was equally pointed, arguing that the way in which KPMG has framed the scandal is inadequate. “They didn’t fall short, they committed an egregious breach of trust,” he said.
In a “Weekend Reading” article published earlier this month, Starling Founder & CEO Stephen Scott reflects on the crisis facing KPMG in Australia and elsewhere, arguing that, for an assurance firm, a failure of accountability is existential.
“KPMG sold trust as a service to clients and then treated trust within its own walls as optional,” he writes. “But trust is not a service. Trust is earned through accountability. And when those in the trust business seek to design away accountability, they design away any claim to our trust.” ▸ Read More
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