KPMG updates Action Plan outlining further commitment to prevent serious misconduct
KPMG Australia will be appointing a new Whistleblower Protection Officer and strengthening financial consequences for serious misconduct under an updated version of its Action Plan.
KPMG said the updated plan, released last week, reflects recommendations and suggestions from third-party reviews and its progress to date.
"We have made meaningful progress since our Action Plan was first released in June 2026 – although we recognise that there is still a lot of work to do," said KPMG CEO John Sams and Independent Chair Michael Ebeid in the plan's foreword.
"Several immediate actions have been implemented, a number of important third-party reviews have been completed, and our actions have been updated to address the recommendations and suggestions from these reviews."
Among the changes in the updated Action Plan is the appointment of a Whistleblower Protection Officer to oversee the company's whistleblower programme.
"The Whistleblower Protection Officer will have a reporting line to the Independent Chair and/or an appropriate Board subcommittee, and the role will be designed to address the third-party review findings and recommendations," the plan read.
KPMG will also be updating its whistleblower policies and procedures to provide clear guidance and requirements for how disclosures must be identified, escalated, and managed.
"This will include a comprehensive update of our entire whistleblower programme to address the third-party review findings and recommendations, including redesign of the end-to-end whistleblowing and speak-up framework and review of our investigation processes (including the appointment and use of external investigators)," it said.
"As part of this, we will seek to clarify who are eligible recipients on behalf of KPMG. We will publish the updated whistleblower programme."
Firm-wide training will also be implemented to help employees understand whistleblower legislation and KPMG's policies, according to the plan.
"Targeted training will support Partners, eligible recipients and others with whistleblower programme responsibilities, including to help differentiate between ethical and other whistleblower matters and workplace issues," it said.
Stronger financial consequences
KPMG is also planning to enhance financial consequences for serious misconduct in a bid to discourage it.
"We will review and strengthen our conduct and consequences framework to further discourage misconduct and ensure that appropriate sanctions and other consequences are applied if misconduct occurs," its updated plan read.
"This will include strengthening financial consequences for serious misconduct and increased oversight by the Board of the consequences framework's application to address the findings and recommendations of the third-party reviews."
It added that it will consider opportunities to improve transparency of consequences for misconduct and share insights and lessons from ethical conduct matters through leadership communications and training.
"If necessary, we will seek to make changes to our Partnership Agreement to affect these changes," it said.
Controversy at KPMG Australia
The updated Action Plan comes after KPMG Australia became embroiled in a public scandal after a whistleblower came out accusing the Big Four firm of misusing confidential client documents.
The company received backlash for the allegations and has become the subject of multiple independent reviews, with the controversy leading to the departure of several high-level executives, including former CEO Andrew Yates.
KPMG has since taken several immediate actions in a bid to correct the exposed issues and is committing to making further changes.
"We remain committed to full and transparent implementation of our Action Plan and will continue to update it with our progress and as new information comes to light," Sams and Ebeid said.
