In the nick of time: Mike Baird’s KPMG exit in focus as whistleblower saga rolls on

The mess spilling out of KPMG Australia’s rolling whistleblower scandal has delivered no shortage of talking points in corporate and political circles, particularly after the saga forced the resignation of the firm’s CEO, Andrew Yates, last week.

So it was only natural that attention would at some point return to the departure of former NSW premier Mike Baird, who stepped down as a non-executive director at KPMG last September without so much as a peep from the firm at the time.

Baird’s departure was the subject of intrigue in April, when he quietly removed mention of the KPMG directorship from his LinkedIn profile, which The Australian Financial Review noted at the time.

More interesting to us, though, were the circumstances of his departure. The former premier, as a director of the accounting giant’s local board, was among those informed of the whistleblower complaint, CBD hears, and was displeased by the way it was handled, even if it wasn’t the driver of his departure.

For those playing along at home: The KPMG whistleblower first made a complaint in 2024 containing dozens of allegations. As this masthead has previously reported, the claims alleged KPMG partners illicitly accessed board papers from a client, the construction giant Lendlease, which were used to win lucrative audit work for other big companies, including Westpac.

KPMG launched an internal investigation, which the firm on Friday admitted failed to be conducted with the “necessary rigour required”, before bringing in the law firm Ashurst to review the investigation. Ashurst greenlit the probe, but the whistleblower wasn’t satisfied.

The whistleblower later wrote to independent directors on the board. KPMG then brought in another law firm, Allens, which the company said on Friday was “continuing to challenge the conclusions” drawn in prior investigations. It also confirmed that confidential client data had been shared and potentially used to win new business. By Monday, KPMG was facing the prospect of losing Lendlease.

But if KPMG’s handling of the allegations wasn’t reason enough for Baird to look for the door, the firm also rejigged the responsibilities of its board to take on greater responsibility in other Asia-Pacific markets.

In response to questions on notice provided to a 2023 Senate Committee, KPMG said the firm’s independent board members are each paid “an annual fee of $160,000”. At that rate, we can understand why the former premier called it a day! We can only guess he’s feeling vindicated now.

It’s been a while since we’ve heard from disgraced former High Court judge