The chief executive of KPMG Australia has resigned after an investigation into the accounting giant's handling of a whistleblower's allegations.

KPMG chair Martin Sheppard has accepted the resignation of chief executive Andrew Yates effective immediately, the firm announced in a release today.

KPMG's national managing partner audit and assurange Julian McPherson will also stand down from his role effective immediately and will resign after transitioning his client responsibilities.

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The shake-up comes after legal firm Allens was appointed by the company to investigate its prior internal and external investigations, and found that they had fallen short of the rigour required to investigate a whistleblower's claim that client documents were being inappropriately shared internally.

"I have been committed to a speak-up culture in our firm, it is clear that in this case we have let ourselves down and I take accountability," Yates said.

Stan Stavros has been appointed interim chief executive.

KPMG is one of the "big four" global accounting firms, alongside Ernst&Young, Deloitte, and PwC.

"We apologise unreservedly to the whistleblower. We commit to learning from this process to ensure we create an environment where it is safe and easy to surface concerns that will be acted upon," Sheppard said.

"KPMG apologises to the clients whose information was not handled with the care and respect they expect from us. We also apologise to our people – as these matters do not reflect on the contribution they make to KPMG and our clients."

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Sheppard said Allens would continue to investigate the whistleblower's allegations, while KPMG has also engaged leading ethical organisational culture specialist Principia Advisory for a separate review into the firm's policies and processes to support people to speak up.

"KPMG is committed to transparency and will publish the findings of the Principia review. We will move swiftly to act upon their recommendations," Sheppard said.

"We are reinforcing and strengthening the controls that protect client confidentiality, and we will set out for our clients the specific steps we are taking to keep their information protected. For each of our audit clients we will confirm that any conduct matters do not impact the quality of their audits."

Sheppard said he knew KPMG would have to work on rebuilding trust.

"That's why we are not asking anyone to take our word for it, and we are inviting scrutiny and challenge on our remedial actions," he said.

The whistleblower's initial allegations about the inappropriate internal sharing of client information were not substantiated by an initial internal investigation or an external legal review of that investigation.

However, KPMG acknowledged that the initial investigation "was not conducted with the necessary rigour".

The whistleblower then approached several KPMG Australia board members, and "others", which prompted the Allens review.

An elderly New Zealand man with advanced dementia was subjected to what his son later admitted was "torture" inside a locked, blacked-out room while family members systematically stole his life savings.

Norman Lee, a 90-year-old retired mechanical engineer, died at Christchurch Hospital on July 9, 2020, following a regular pattern of severe elder neglect and financial abuse at his Christchurch home.

A newly-released coroner's report has detailed the horrific living conditions uncovered by police during a search warrant on June 23, 2020.

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Officers found Lee locked inside a permanently darkened bedroom from the outside by a deadbolt. A large black sheet was secured over the window, which was taped shut, leaving the room damp, cold, and completely without ventilation.

The light switches were taped into the off position, and Lee was found in the darkness wearing a wetsuit over an adult diaper. The zip-cord of the wetsuit had been removed so he could not take it off himself.

CCTV cameras installed in the room showed that Lee was regularly locked inside for up to 16 hours at a time, frequently from 5pm until 9am or 10am the following morning. Lee, who was incontinent, was filmed knocking on the door and calling out for help for up to an hour, but his cries were ignored by the occupants of the house.

In 2022, his son, David Lee, and his partner, identified only as "C", were convicted of multiple offences, including failing to provide the necessities of life and keeping a vulnerable adult in unhealthy conditions. David Lee was also convicted of assault, forgery, and 32 counts of theft, after stealing $216,000 from his parents.

A sentencing judge found that David Lee's "sole motivation" was to keep his father at home to maintain "uninterrupted access to significant sums of money," which was spent on holidays, new vehicles, and home entertainment systems.

David Lee received a sentence of six years' imprisonment, while C was sentenced to 22 months' imprisonment following an appeal. In June 2024, David Lee conceded to the Parole Board that "torture" was an appropriate description of his father's treatment. 

Investigations by Health New Zealand and the Health and Disability Commissioner (HDC) revealed that a senior social worker, M, visited the home on June 19, 2020, and was shown the cameras and the wetsuit method.

M documented that she felt the couple "had the best intentions to keep Norm safe" and subsequently leaked a confidential plan by Lee's daughter to safely remove her father from the house.

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The HDC concluded M made a "serious error of judgement" that jeopardised the safety plan. M's employment subsequently ended and she has retired.

The HDC was also highly critical of four daily home carers from HealthCare NZ who entered the house but failed to escalate red flags, including the padlock on the door, the wetsuit, and the CCTV cameras. Both health organisations have since implemented systemic updates and safety frameworks.

A forensic pathologist noted that Lee's death was caused by pneumonia and severe cardiovascular disease. While a definitive link could not be drawn, the pathologist stated the neglect and living environment almost certainly increased his frailty, exacerbated his dementia, and elevated his risk of developing pneumonia.

Coroner M Borrowdale ruled that the inquiry would not be resumed, satisfying that the prior criminal and agency investigations had sufficiently established the circumstances of the tragedy.

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This article has been reproduced with permission from Stuff.co.nz.

A series of musicians announced for a concert organised by the Trump administration have pulled out a day after the line-up was revealed.

The Freedom 250 show at Washington's National Mall was set to host a long list of bands and singers as part of the Great American State Fair.

But already several have pulled out of the event.

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Young MC, best known for his 1989 hit Bust A Move, decried the concert.

"The artists were never told about any political involvement with the event," he said.

"I hope to perform in DC in the near future at an event that is not so politically charged."

Motown group The Commodores have also backed out.

"Our music has always been our voice and we choose not to publicly affiliate with any single political party. We support the betterment of all Americans," the group said.

Funk singer Morris Day denied he was ever booked for the gig.

"Contrary to rumour, Morris Day and The Time will not be performing at the 'Great American State Fair'," he said on Instagram.

"It's a no from me."

Country singer Martina McBride also pulled out.

There is also confusion about the inclusion of Milli Vanilli on the line-up. The Grammy-winning duo were revealed as a musical hoax in 1990, lip-syncing songs performed by other people.

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The actual singers have distanced themselves from the concert, claiming they were not invited. The only remaining member of the hoax duo may still perform, but it is not known if he will be singing.

But rapper Freedom Williams of C+C Music Factory gave a profane and bizarre defence of his booking.

In a seven-minute video delivered while sitting on the toilet, Williams explained his position.

"I will vote for fucking f—ing Genghis Khan, Hitler, and motherf—ing Ivan the Terrible before I let you n—s tell me what to motherf—king do," he said.

"You know who 90 per cent of the people was at our shows? White people. You know who 70 per cent of those white people probably voted for? Republicans. So you n—s don't fucking count."

His diatribe took aim at Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and the COVID vaccine.

He also spoke in favour of late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, Donald Trump and Vanilla Ice.

Vanilla Ice has confirmed he will be performing at the gig.

Also on the line-up are Flo Rida and Bret Michaels.

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Officeworks will offshore hundreds of local jobs to India and the Philippines as part of the retailer's $15 million cost-saving restructure, which had been previously flagged after the brand's sluggish half-yearly results.

Parent company Wesfarmers informed dozens of staff at its call centre in Western Sydney this week that their roles were now redundant and announced the team would be replaced with a centre in Manila.

Other office roles based in Sydney and Melbourne will also be moved to Bengaluru in southern India later this year.

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A spokesperson for Officeworks confirmed it had made a "difficult" decision that forms part of a "significant business transformation program, so we can continue to offer customers low prices".

"With rising costs, increasing competition and rapidly changing customer expectations, this transformation is critical to strengthening our growth, resilience and competitiveness in a fast-evolving retail landscape," the spokesperson told nine.com.au.

"As part of this program, some activities currently performed in our Australian support office will transition to a new global centre in Bengaluru to support our stores and support offices."

"This is difficult for affected team members, who will be supported with redundancy entitlements alongside redeployment opportunities and outplacement support where possible."

Officeworks employs over 9000 people in Australia and operates 175 stores.

The retailer delivered underwhelming half-year earnings in February, with a 21.8 per cent drop compared to the corresponding period, which Wesfarmers said was due to the one-off $15 million transition to a "low-cost operating model".

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"Officeworks commenced a significant transformation program during the half, with the business transitioning to a low-cost operating model to support low prices for customers and drive sustainable earnings growth," Wesfarmers said in February.

"The earnings result includes $15 million in costs associated with Officeworks' transformation program.

"These costs largely reflect the impact of restructuring activities and ERP-related costs, which are important initiatives for Officeworks' transition to a low-cost operating model."

Wesfarmers' high-performing flagship brands Kmart and Bunnings, meanwhile, helped buoy the company's overall revenue by 3.1 per cent to $24.212 million.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is understood to be a key factor in the decision to restructure Officeworks and offshore some of its departments.

Wesfarmers said it had accelerated its adoption of AI during the most recently reported earnings period.

Automation will help support team member productivity, driven contact centre efficiency and "enhanced customer experience," the retail giant said.