Consulting firm KPMG has been rocked by two senior resignations in the wake of a scandal over how it handed a whistleblower’s complaints.KPMG Australia chief executive Andrew Yates will leave effective immediately, while national managing partner audit and assurances Julian McPherson will stand down from his role effective immediately and resign after an orderly transition of his client responsibilities.“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,” Mr Yates said in a statement issued through KPMG.The scandal pertains to how KPMG treated allegations raised by a whistleblower about client data misuse. The allegations were dismissed at first after an internal investigation and the findings backed by external legal review, the firm said.It was later felt this inquiry was “not conducted with the necessary rigour”.The dismissal of the allegations led to the whistleblower raising the matter with members of the KPMG Australia board, with law firm Allens “continuing to challenge the conclusions reached in prior investigations”.The whistleblower alleged KMPG partners misused board papers from long-time client Lendlease to win external audits. The two senior staffers’ resignations were made simultaneously with a parliamentary inquiry on Friday that discussed the whistleblower’s complaint. During the inquiry, Labor senator Deborah O’Neill referred to a letter received by Lendlease chief executive Tony Lombardo that the KMPG team used to inform their tender for a Westpac audit. “Lendlease described these actions as ‘not acceptable’,” Senator O’Neill said.The KPMG board said it had “fallen short” in how the whistleblower and their concerns were handled, how the investigations were carried out and how leadership reacted to the allegations.KPMG chairman Martin Sheppard said the firm apologised 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,” he 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.”KPMG says it is investigating the matter. More to come