Joanne Gorton backed by Deloitte board to become next CEO
Joanne Gorton has firmed as the next chief executive of Deloitte in Australia, selected by the board as its preferred candidate to replace Adam Powick.
Deloitte partners will have the opportunity to vote on the recommendation towards the end of November, with Gorton to take over from Powick for an initial four-year term from June next year should her bid be successful.
Prior to that, Gorton will embark on a series of roadshows across the country to present her vision for their firm to its partners according to the AFR, with the publication noting they traditionally vote in line with the board nominee.
A member of the national executive, Gorton joined Deloitte’s Audit & Assurance partnership in 2016 after close to two decades at PwC, including five years as a partner, having started out as a cadet at Coopers & Lybrand back in 1996. She was appointed as Deloitte’s Audit & Assurance national managing partner in 2020, and has since overseen a major transformation of the division.
A series of lucrative contract wins have followed, including for ASX100 clients CSL, Aurizon, and Boral, successes which an internal source of the AFR attributed to the firm’s focus on digitising large parts of the audit process through AI and automation to improve effectiveness andquality. The division contributed around $500 million to Deloitte’s $2.8 billion in revenues last year.
Deloitte has in recent times focused more closely on consulting as compared to its Big Four rivals – a strategy which has seen the firm pull away in revenue terms, both locally and globally – but the proposed shift back to a leader from within its Audit & Assurance division is perhaps indicative of the current market conditions, with news of a further round of job cuts coming just this week.
While incumbent chief Adam Powick brings a background in consulting, leading the practice for the Asia Pacific prior to his elevation to Australia CEO in 2021 (after also receiving the board’s nomination), both Cindy Hook – the first female appointed to the top role among the local Big Four – and her successor Richard Deutsch, were also former Audit & Assurance practice leaders.
Should she be backed by her colleagues, Gorton would become only the second woman elected to lead a local Big Four firm after Hook, who held the position between 2015 and 2018 before going on to oversee Deloitte’s newly-merged Asia Pacific division. Kristin Stubbins meanwhile served as acting CEO of PwC during the early stages of its tax crisis, before then being pushed out.
