PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) fashions itself as an independent auditor of choice, but with PWC donating $123,528 to the Liberal Party (‘Big four accounting firms political donations rise’, AFR), independence cannot be assured. This is particularly concerning, as PWC was responsible for the independent audit of the electronic voting system used in the 2015 NSW election.

In its report, PWC claims, “The objective of our engagement was to undertake a Post-Implementation review of iVote to aid NSWEC in meeting its obligations for independent auditing of technology assisted voting, under the ‘Parliamentary Electorates and Elections Act 1912…’”.

The financial relationship between PWC and the winning party in the previous election means that the NSW 2015 Election has not yet been independently audited.