ANZ drops KPMG as auditor after almost 60 years

ANZ has dropped KPMG after almost 60 years of the firm holding the lucrative contract to audit the bank’s accounts, in another marker of the growing fallout from the consulting firm’s whistleblower scandal.

The anonymous KPMG whistleblower warned the firm of a raft of serious allegations, including that senior partners had misused confidential information to win work, but was given short shrift until Senator Deborah O’Neill went public with the man’s allegations earlier this year.

That has led to companies including Macquarie Bank ditching KPMG as their auditors in a series of blows that escalated on Friday when ANZ announced its board had also decided to open up its contract for tender.

“ANZ’s external audit service has been provided by KPMG since 1969,” a spokesman said. He attributed the bank’s decision to the length of time KPMG had worked with the bank, and did not mention the whistleblower scandal that has led to numerous senior staff leaving and mass layoffs.

The spokesman said the tender process would be done by the end of April 2027, with the new auditor in place by the 2029 financial year. KPMG will not be eligible to participate in the tender.

“The board considered that this timing of the tender process to be appropriate given the significant transformation agenda under way and the planned integration of Suncorp Bank,” the spokesman said.

Auditing underpins trust in Australia’s financial sector, and companies must have faith that they can disclose their most sensitive information to their audit firm for the process to work.