The Australian government is weighing structural splits of the Big Four consulting firms after KPMG withdrew a widely circulated AI report that contained fabricated case studies and false claims.
Assistant Treasurer Daniel Mulino confirmed the government is considering separating consulting services from audit functions at KPMG, EY, Deloitte, and PwC. Caps on partner numbers are also under discussion. The four firms generated combined global revenue of $219B in 2025.
"What we've seen was behaviour by large firms that simply isn't good enough," Mulino told ABC Radio. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was more direct: "The behaviour of some of these big accounting firms has been completely unacceptable and they need to be held to account."
The KPMG scandal follows a pattern. Three of the Big Four have been caught up in major controversies including Thomas Cook and 1MDB. The AI report withdrawal has already cost at least one KPMG executive their role.
What This Means for Sales Teams
A forced split between audit and consulting would reshape how these firms go to market. Consulting arms currently cross-sell audit clients and vice versa. That stops if they are separated.
The Big Four employ thousands across ANZ in consulting, with KPMG operating through 46 firms across 145 countries as of December 2024. Entry level consulting roles at these firms typically sit at $65K-$75K base in Sydney and Melbourne, with enterprise consulting sales roles reaching $120K-$150K OTE depending on vertical and book of business.
Partner number caps would likely slow expansion plans and hiring. Fewer partners means fewer teams, which means slower headcount growth in sales and delivery roles.
Worth noting: this is consideration, not legislation. Timeline unknown. But when governments start talking about breaking up oligopolies, even the possibility changes hiring and comp planning.
The irony: firms that audit everyone else are now under audit themselves.