The Australian-based director of PwC International Limited is safe from being quizzed by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission about the much-discussed Linklaters report.
Finance and public administration references committee chair Richard Colbeck asked the corporate regulator at senate estimates in February if it was within its power to question Paddy Carney about her role as a director of the private company registered in the UK.
PwC International Limited coordinates strategy, brand, and risk management for PwC’s global network of firms.
The London-based entity has refused to hand a copy of the Linklaters report to PwC Australia chief executive officer Kevin Burrowes; PwC’s global chair Bob Moritz told the committee by correspondence last month that the firm was not providing it with a copy of the Linklaters report.
The Moritz missive was followed by a second committee report on March 27 that again characterised the firm as being opaque on aspects of its operations.
This included the depth of the role played by PwC International Limited in the running or supervision of the Australian practice following the revelations about the tax policy confidentiality breach that was revealed on January 23 last year.
In its response to the question on notice, ASIC told Colbeck the law that established the commission gives it powers to compel information, but those powers can only be used if an investigation has commenced.
The commission also said the entity of which Carney was a director was incorporated overseas so her role on that board was outside the scope of ASIC’s regulatory remit.
Carney is also a registered company auditor, the ASIC response to Colbeck’s query said, and that would be the only door open to ASIC if there was any information that provoked the regulator to look at her conduct as an auditor.
“ASIC does not hold any information to suggest that Ms Carney may have contravened any legislation administered by ASIC in connection with her status as a Registered Company Auditor,” ASIC’s response says.
“Therefore, ASIC does not have a basis to commence an investigation and/or use its powers to compel the production of relevant information held by ASIC.”
The commission also told senate estimates that some information sharing is possible with the powerful accounting regulator, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, but that is only about audit inspection matters.
This means that any information that the US-based PCAOB holds on the PwC tax policy confidentiality breach as a result of its recent investigations into the firm could not be handed over to ASIC.
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