It’s been a rough couple of years for Australia’s big four consultancy firms if negative news headlines are anything to go by, with a series of scandals rocking the lucrative sector.

The government has unveiled wide-ranging plans to crack down on major accounting firms by giving ASIC the power to police and fine firms for the first time.

Accounting firms could be asked to split their lucrative consulting services from their audit functions and individual firm partners could face far greater scrutiny and penalties…