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Big four seconded eight staff in 2012-2014
The four biggest accountancy firms in the UK seconded a total of eight people to work for senior policy advisers at HM Treasury between 2012 and 2014.
Following a Freedom of Information (FoI) request earlier this year from an undisclosed party, the government department revealed it had employed the services of three staff members from both Deloitte and PwC, while KPMG and EY each provided one adviser.
The numbers cast doubt on the Public Accounts Committee’s (PAC) assertion that the big four have undue influence on the UK’s tax policy, which they exploit for their own ends.
On the launch of the 2013 report Tax Avoidance: the Role of Large Accountancy Firms, PAC chair Margaret Hodge MP claimed, “The large accountancy firms are in a powerful position in the tax world, and have an unhealthily cosy relationship with government. They second staff to the Treasury to advise on formulating tax legislation.
“When those staff return to their firms, they have the very inside knowledge and insight to be able to identify loopholes in the new legislation and advise their clients on how to take advantage of them.”
The Treasury this week made public its FoI response, in which it says, “As has been the case with successive administrations, the Treasury benefits from secondments into and out of the Treasury from a variety of organisations, including private sector institutions, in order to gain expertise for a period and to allow… officials to benefit from a diverse range of experience by being seconded to other organisations in return.”
Both Deloitte and PwC currently have two workers on secondment at the department, in sections including the business and international tax group and the Office of Tax Simplification.
