PwC tax head, others quit to join KPMG

PricewaterhouseCoopers’ (PwC’s) head of tax practice Dinesh Kanbar, and close to a dozen other senior tax executives, are leaving the firm to join rival KPMG.

In a statement, the consulting firm said that Ketan Dalal and Shyamal Mukherjee would replace Kanbar, who had joined PwC along with nearly two dozen partners after RSM Advisory Services merged nearly three years ago.

When contacted, Kanbar said: “I can confirm that I have left PwC but I cannot discuss my future plans. It will not be fair since I am serving my notice period.” He also said that some other partners had left the firm but refused to disclose the number.

Kanbar is the latest in a series of senior-level management changes, which started in February, a month after the Satyam fraud came to light. Pricewaterhouse was the auditor for the Ramalinga Raju-promoted IT company.

In late February, Sharmila Karve was appointed the new assurance head of PricewaterhouseCoopers after Thomas Mathew stepped down.

The fresh round of departures comes a month after Gautam Banerjee was brought in from Singapore to replace Ramesh Rajan as the chairman of PwC India. The move was seen as a damage control exercise after the Satyam scam.

Executives at PwC, however, said that the exits were “routine and not much should be made of them”.

“There will be a few clients who leave with the partners, if they have a very long association. But PwC is an international firm with international clients who are serviced across countries,” said a senior executive.

PwC said that it had over 1,200 tax professionals, which included 55 executive directors, servicing domestic and international clients.