Case Briefs

FGL CASE BRIEF Governance & Internal Controls KPMG Australia: What the Confidential Information Scandal Teaches About Governance, Independence and Oversight Forum / Authority: Australian Parliament, ASIC investigations and related regulatory scrutiny Organisation: KPMG Australia Decision Area: Governance, audit independence, whistleblower handling and confidential information management Jurisdiction: Australia Content Type: FGL Governance Case Brief 1. What Happened? In 2026, KPMG Australia faced significant public scrutiny following allegations that confidential information obtained through audit relationships had been shared internally and used in connection with efforts to secure audit engagements. The matter expanded beyond the original allegations. Questions emerged regarding the handling of whistleblower concerns, the adequacy of internal investigations, leadership accountability and the effectiveness of governance oversight within the firm. The c...

Forum: Uganda Registration Services Bureau Case: Company Petition 54012 of 2026 Decision date: 18 September 2026 Citation: 2026 UGRSB 49 What happened The dispute concerned the removal of a director from Global Outreach Development East Africa Limited and the validity of changes reflected in the company register. The petitioner also sought relief on the basis of oppression. The Registrar first considered whether the petitioner had the legal standing required to pursue that remedy. The decision ultimately separated two questions: whether the petitioner qualified to pursue an oppression claim as a member of the company, and whether the process used to remove the director was legally valid. ULII summarises the decision as finding that the Registrar lacked jurisdiction to entertain the oppression claim because the petitioner lacked the required membership standing. However, the Registrar still found that the director removal had been unlawfully procured and ordere...

Case / Organisation: Uganda Post Limited (Posta Uganda) Country: Uganda Period: FY2024/25, reported December 2025 FGL focus: Governance, Internal Controls, HR Governance, Payroll Risk Case snapshot Payroll discipline is normally a sign of prudent financial management. But what happens when an organisation controls payroll partly by leaving a significant share of its approved structure vacant? That was the governance issue highlighted by Uganda's Auditor General in the FY2024/25 audit of Uganda Post Limited. Of an approved structure of 240 positions, only 157 were filled, leaving 83 vacancies, or 35% of the establishment . The gaps included positions in finance, internal audit and risk management, legal services, security and investigations, estates, marketing and other operational areas. Management explained that the staff review had been completed and the necessary positions approved by the Board, but that vacancies were being filled slo...

Case type: Governance, organisational culture and internal control Organisation: University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (UHB) Jurisdiction: United Kingdom Key review period: 2022–2023 Primary reviews: Patient Safety Review led by Professor Mike Bewick; Independent Organisational Culture Review conducted by thevaluecircle FGL focus: Tone at the top, psychological safety, speaking-up arrangements and board risk intelligence Case snapshot Organisational culture is sometimes treated as separate from internal control. The UHB reviews demonstrate why that distinction can be misleading. In 2023, independent reviews of University Hospitals Birmingham identified significant concerns involving leadership, staff experience, speaking-up arrangements and organisational culture. The central governance issue was not simply whether policies and reporting channels existed, but whether staff trusted those systems enough to use them. Importantly, th...

The workplace-culture reviews of the United States Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) illustrate why "tone at the top" is not merely a leadership concept; it is part of the control environment . Formal values, training and complaint channels can lose credibility when employees fear retaliation, senior leaders are perceived to receive different treatment, or management cannot produce reliable information about complaints and disciplinary outcomes. The case also demonstrates that culture reform requires more than a new policy. Reporting arrangements must be trusted, investigations must be independent, consequences must be consistent, and boards or equivalent oversight bodies must receive enough information to identify patterns that individual cases may conceal. Scope of the case brief This brief examines official reviews published between 2020 and 2025, remediation measures subsequently reported by the FDIC, and the status of relevant Office of Inspector Genera...

Case in brief In 2021, Mazars LLP (now Forvis Mazars LLP) served as the statutory auditor for Studio Retail Group (SRG), a London-listed digital catalogue retailer. The audit engagement partner signed off on the financial statements for the year ending 26 March 2021, issuing an unmodified opinion. The auditor concluded that the directors’ use of the going-concern basis was appropriate and reported that no material uncertainty relating to going concern had been identified. In February 2022, just eight months after the audit report was signed, Studio Retail Group entered administration. The insolvency wiped out shareholder equity and exposed creditors to substantial losses before the business was acquired in a pre-packaged administration sale. Following a regulatory investigation, the UK Financial Reporting Council (FRC) issued a Final Settlement Decision Notice in July 2026. The FRC fined the firm £577,125 (discounted for exceptional cooperation) and the engagement partner £33,412....

An enterprise resource planning (ERP) system is technically "live" when users can successfully log in and process transactions. However, for finance, audit, and governance professionals, an ERP is only successfully implemented if the organisation can reliably reconcile its cash, close its ledgers, preserve access controls, and produce an auditable set of financial statements. Case in brief In 2018, Birmingham City Council approved plans to replace its legacy SAP systems with Oracle for finance, human resources, and procurement. During the design and build phases, the programme departed from its original "Adopt not Adapt" principle, opting instead for extensive software customisations to fit existing legacy workflows. The system went live in April 2022. Post-implementation, core accounting functions were severely impaired. The Council lost the ability to execute timely, accurate bank reconciliations or rely on its management information. This heavily delayed th...