One of the big four consulting organizations, KPMG has reportedly ousted the company’s financial services head, Tim Howarth.

KPMG has released a statement in media stating, “"We hold all of our people to a very high standard and take swift and appropriate action against any individual whose behavior contravenes the firm's values.”

Howarth who has appealed against the decision shared in media "[It] is bizarre as the decision is under appeal. I have not been given the reason for that decision. I had already resigned from the KPMG partnership.” He further said that he do not believe that the process was fair or would lead to a just outcome. There was no complainant and there were no formal allegations pursued by anyone.

Howarth’s dismissal comes as the firm - best known for its accountancy work - tries to restore its reputation following a series of unrelated auditing scandals.

In May, KPMG was fined £5m and "severely reprimanded" after admitting misconduct in its 2009 audit of Co-operative Bank. Again, in April, the company was fined £6m, received another severe reprimand, and was told to undertake an internal review of the way it audited insurance company Syndicate 218 in 2008 and 2009.

Currently, all the big four consulting firms, namely, KPMG, EY, PwC, and Deloitte are currently under review by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which has proposed an internal split between their audit and non-audit businesses to prevent conflicts of interest in audits.

Last year, KPMG said it would no longer do consultancy work for the UK's biggest companies if it was also auditing them, in order to "remove even the perception of a possible conflict" of interest.

Image Credits: KPMG