ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact
One of the nation’s largest employers of people completely devoid of personality and moral panache has been accused of more dodgy dealings this week.
Earlier this year, consultancy slash accounting slash auditing conglomerate PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) was found to have attempted to sell tax advice based on confidential information it gained while working for the federal government, which was discovered during a Senate inquiry.
A handful of partners were put to the sword, as were a number of middling employees who were implicated in the unearthed emails.
This week, PwC is accused of ‘phoenixing’ government consultancy business by selling it to private equity for a dollar. A move some in the government have labeled a ‘cheap move’ to get back into the lucrative trade of government consultancy work.
In a short interview this morning with a partner at PwC Betoota, The Advocate heard that the act of ‘phoenixing’ has a negative stigma and that it’s actually quite a useful tool in the world of business.
“Construction businesses do it all the time,” said the partner, who asked to remain anonymous.
“You build a block of flats for as little money as possible. You cut corners and find the cheapest contractors. The building is fine for a few years, but it becomes apparent that the building is going to fall over. The residents go to sue the builder and guess what? The builders have long phoenixed the company, and the residents are up shit creek.”
“It’s the same in corporate Australia. This whole thing will blow over, and PwC will go back to consulting the government under a new banner. We might still get mocked at corporate touch, at our corporate watering holes in the French Quarter. Sure, it’s incredibly dishonest and pretty fucking dodgy, but we’re not the Salvation Army. Even they’re pretty dodgy, not fucking dodgy like us. But tell you what, any consultancy company without sin, cast the first stone.”
“If you think we’ve been up to no good, there’s stuff going on at KPMG that’d make your dick fall off. Honestly. You heard it here first, from a PwC partner in the Simpson Desert.”
The Advocate reached out to PwC for further comment but were told they were busy trying to find out who spoke to us so they could spritz them with a nerve agent at some local cafe.
More to come.
