New firm guns for PwC money
Part of PwC has been split, “sold” and renamed in an attempt to regain government contracts.
Allegro Funds and PwC have reached an agreement to create a new firm called Scyne Advisory, which will focus on the government consulting sector.
The deal was announced after the sacking of a string of executives was revealed.
With approximately 1,750 employees, Scyne Advisory will take on the potentially difficult task of rebuilding trust with the government sector.
PwC made the decision to spin off its public sector consulting arm, which covers various industries such as health and defence, in the face of public pressure to ban PwC from government contracts due its staff breaching a confidentiality agreement relating to tax legislation.
Allegro and PwC have committed over $100 million to support the new practice.
Scyne staff have agreed to give up any claim to PwC’s retired partners’ payment plan, in an attempt to sever them from any continuing link to the big four firm.
To create the image of independent oversight and ethical practices, an independent board of directors will be appointed.
Notably, former Federal Court judge Andrew Greenwood has agreed to join the board as a non-executive director. He will also chair a board committee responsible for vetting employees joining the advisory practice, focusing on probity, conflicts, and ethics.
Additionally, the board of directors will establish subcommittees for audit and risk, as well as remuneration.
During the transitional phase, Scyne Advisory will initially be guided by the leadership of PwC's Government, Health, Infrastructure and Defence, and Trust and Risk groups.
However, a search for a chief executive officer is already underway to establish a complete firm leadership and board appointments.
Scyne Advisory's partners, Tim Jackson and Ben Neal, who have transitioned from PwC, view the creation of the new practice as a groundbreaking revolution in government advisory within Australia.
They have pledged to restore clients' trust as their top priority while providing expert solutions to complex public sector challenges.