The government is spending millions of pounds employing firms that audit its accounts to also carry out vast swaths of its work, in an arrangement that risks creating conflicts of interest.
The "big four" auditors that dominate the commercial world — KPMG, Deloitte, Ernst and Young and PwC — received nearly £70m from the public purse in the first five months after the election. The vast majority of payments were for management consultancy and large project work, but two of the auditors were also commissioned to simultaneously carry out internal audits for Whitehall departments.
Conflicts of interest? Surely not? Not when there’s a chance to share in the loot from the government gravy train for the already well off. When that’s on offer such a thing’s not possible. Surely?
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The Big 4 advise on how best to avoid taxes. They advise on transfer pricing policies. They advise on many things that are totally incompatible with Government. In my opinion they have a totally amoral approach to their work and should be barred from all Government contracts.
Not a bad return on the £1.4m they donated to the Tories in the run-up to the election, thought is it? 😡
http://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2010/08/19/who-did-the-big-4-fund-before-the-general-election/
“Mr Cameron said that he was also determined to cut the previous government’s £1.5 billion for management consultants.” Taken from the Telegraph.
It was always on the cards that the consultants would return quickly it was just a matter of who had donated to the Tories.