PwC boss ‘incorrectly’ listed as at meetings after government hired her firm

Acting PwC chief executive Kristin Stubbins has batted away questions about meeting minutes that incorrectly showed she was a member of a government board after her employer began charging the department for work. 

Stubbins fronted a NSW parliamentary inquiry on Monday, her first public appearance since her predecessor Tom Seymour resigned over the alleged leaking of government tax plans. The inquiry is looking at the state government’s use of consultants, and began with a pair of hearings focused on NSW Health.

The inquiry heard Stubbins stepped down from an unpaid role on the South Eastern Sydney Local Health District Board in August 2015, when she was a partner with the financial services giant. “I became aware in May 2015 that PwC was to be appointed to do some work, at which time I said, ‘I cannot continue on the board and I will need to step down’,” Stubbins said.

Inquiry chair and Greens MP Abigail Boyd pointed to records that showed Stubbins was a listed member of the board until November 2016, constituting a possible conflict of interest. Stubbins said she was not a member of the board at that time and had always acted with the utmost integrity: “This included recusing myself and stepping down where appropriate.”

Minutes from a June 2014 meeting of the board, seen by Crikey, note on the first page: “Ms Kristin Stubbins did not attend this meeting due to a possible conflict of interest.

“Ms Stubbins’ employer PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Australia has been commissioned by SESLHD to undertake a body of work. Ms Stubbins will not be participating in any board activities, including her role as the chair of the finance and performance committee. The board chair will discuss the governance of her continuing attending board meetings … with the ministry of health.” 

Similar notes were attached to several other records of minutes from that year. 

However, there were several meetings in 2015 where the minutes said Stubbins was a “member”. And corporate governance attestation statements by the South Eastern Sydney Local Health District from 2016 and 2017 continued to list Stubbins as a member of the finance and performance committee.

One such attestation, covering the 2016-17 financial year and signed in September 2017, said Stubbins continued to sit on the committee until November 2016. Current board chair Michael Still blamed an “error” in the meeting minutes and said Stubbins was not a board member as late as 2016.

“You must be reading different minutes to me, Mr Still,” Boyd said. “At the moment it’s looking pretty bad for the board governance and also for Ms Stubbins.”

Asked if she had used her experience on the board to benefit PwC in gaining work from the health district in any way, Stubbins replied: “I really don’t think so, I honestly don’t.” 

She said it was up to the health district to explain the incorrect minutes.

Melbourne University social procurement lecturer Warren Staples told Crikey it was possible the local health district’s board may not have the same type of resources available to it that would be expected of a larger corporate board. 

“It’s obviously not ideal, and I’m not excusing it, but [the mistake] may be perhaps understandable, given I imagine they won’t be as hugely resourced as a corporate board,” he said. 

“The requirement of of timely disclosures of potential conflicts of interest is important, and the fact that her business then won work from the organisation has to lead you to question whether that was why she was engaged there in the first place.” 

Boyd told Crikey Monday’s testimony had been “extraordinary”: “What we’re looking at is a series of errors not only in the minutes of the meetings, but in the attestation statements that the board has given to NSW Health. It’s either gross incompetence in board management, or something very suspicious.”

The inquiry heard PwC had approximately 600 employees and partners sitting on various not-for-profit boards across Australia. Stubbins said are all unpaid positions and not intended in any way to generate work for PwC.

“It’s part of actually our culture to want to do community service. So most partners like to bring their expertise to boards they are passionate about,” she said.

In a separate development, PwC announced on Sunday it had appointed the firm’s global clients and industries leader Kevin Burrowes to be the new chief executive, replacing Stubbins. 

“He will become a partner in PwC Australia and relocate to Sydney upon completion of the Australian immigration process,” a company statement said.

PwC declined to comment further on Monday’s evidence.

— With additional reporting by AAP.