KPMG

A senator has criticised KPMG for claiming a commitment to transparency while also maintaining legal professional privilege over investigations done by Allens and Ashurst into the alleged misuse of confidential information.

Facing the hotseat over KPMG's treatment of a whisteblower, the accounting giant's former CEO Andrew Yates told a parliamentary committee hearing on Friday he took accountability and was not a "bad apple".

Lendlease chair John Gillam has said the company's board was “deeply discontented” with KPMG’s alleged misuse of its confidential information but was stuck with the accounting firm until the end of the financial year. 

Law firm Allens has told a parliamentary committee that a court should weigh in on whether parliament's powers to compel information overrode KPMG's legal privilege, as the auditor resists orders to produce documents.

Building giant Lendlease has told besieged auditor KPMG it expects to be compensated for the cost of dealing with the fallout of the accounting giant's misuse of its confidential data.

The Law Council says asserting legal professional privilege is not "inherently scandalous", ahead of a parliamentary hearing on KPMG's sharing ofclient information, at which law firms Allens and Ashurst are expected to stay mum.

KPMG has been referred to the national corruption watchdog, with Greens Senator Barbara Pocock calling the federal government's three-month pause on new contracts with the auditor a “slap on the wrist with a stick of limp celery”.

Lendlease has dropped KPMG as its auditor, after it was revealed under parliamentary privilege that the firm misused the developer's confidential client data. 

Partners from Allens and Ashurst and senior executives at Lendlease are among those appearing at next week's parliamentary committee inquiry into KPMG's misuse of client data.

ASIC has told a senate estimates committee that it is now formally investigating KPMG in the wake of allegations the firm misused client data.