KPMG Australia’s chair will leave the Big Four firm in the fallout of a scandal over misusing confidential client data to win audit contracts along with two senior partners.

Losing the trust of a client of 68 years in Lendlease was bad for KPMG’s leadership, but doing the same with its own partners is worse.

The move comes after a difficult parliamentary hearing which grilled several people connected to a growing scandal over the misuse of confidential client files.