Australia's largest pension fund pauses audit contract with auditor

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Australia's largest pension fund pauses audit contract with auditor

SYDNEY Reuters - Australia's largest pension fund will pause use of the domestic unit of auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers PwC as the big four firm reels from a national scandal over its use of secret government tax plans to drum up work with global clients.

Australian Super, an $196.71 billion fund, has frozen new contract agreements with PwC and expressed concerns about the scandal at the highest level, according to a spokeswoman.

An audit contract worth A $1.6 million in 2022 will be reviewed this year, the spokeswoman said. The fund spent A$700,000 on non-audit services last year, according to filings.

Australian Super's move expands the fallout from a scandal over the misuse of government tax plans, and raises the risk that private-sector clients may follow a growing list of government agencies review or pausing their work with the firm.

The Reserve Bank of Australia's future work froze on Wednesday, while the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority and the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority have hinted that the firm is blacklisted.

The scandal concerns a former PwC Australia tax partner who was consulting with the government on laws to prevent corporate tax avoidance and shared confidential drafts with colleagues that were used to pitch U.S. tech firms for work.

In a senate investigation this week, tax officials said that multinational firms had foiled several attempts by multinational firms to subvert new tax avoidance laws.

The AwareSuper said the fund had been working with PwC to determine whether tax advisers who had worked with the fund were involved in the leak. An internal review of external consultants is also under way, a spokeswoman said.