ASIC told a federal parliamentary hearing in Sydney today that it had asked the firms for details of internal complaints dating from July 1, 2023. Chris Savundra, ASIC's executive director of enforcement and compliance, confirmed the watchdog had received 551 reports so far.
ASIC chair Sarah Court clarified that the regulator had requested information on complaints relating to misconduct by registered company auditors, including the misuse or sharing of confidential information. She said ASIC had used compulsory information-gathering powers to obtain the material and was reviewing each complaint to determine whether further investigation or enforcement action was warranted.
"I don't want to suggest that there's 550 serious whistleblower issues," Court said. "We don't know and there's a lot of work for us, clearly, to be looking through those complaints, getting more information as we need it."
The hearing comes after whistleblower revelations that confidential board papers from Lendlease were used to support bids for major audit tenders for Westpac and Dexus.
Senator Barbara Pocock asked whether the 551 complaints were spread evenly across the four firms. Court then suggested the hearing move off-camera to provide further details to the committee investigating the audit leaks scandal.
Pocock also called on ASIC to broaden the period of its investigation, arguing that limiting it to three years excluded historical complaints. She questioned whether KPMG had truly "turned over a new leaf," noting the firm's leadership — including CEO John Sams and chairman Michael Obeid — had told the committee that a new culture was in place. KPMG has argued that certain documents relating to the scandal should not be released publicly due to legal professional privilege.