From PwC chief to Whitehall insider?
Once the outrage over the HMRC disk debacle subsides, attention is likely to shift to one of the more interesting aspects of the security breach: the person Alistair Darling has turned to conduct the review. After all PwC supremo Kieran Poynter isn't a natrual Whitehall insider. He has always happily left government negotiations to his colleague Peter Wyman and, before that, Roger Davies.
In terms of senior partners, hot-footing it to the Treasury or DTI (as was) to argue on behalf of the profession usually fell to KPMG's Mike Rake.
So for Poynter to be asked and to accept this role is interesting. Particularly as his term as senior partner comes to an end next summer.
At Accountancy Age we had already begun to discuss who might succeed him.
Richard Collier-Keywood, head of tax, has to be a front-runner with Richard Sexton, head of assurance, and Ian Powell, head of advisory, also likely to be in the frame.
Might Glyn Barker - effectively Poynter's number 2 - fancy a stab on an elder statesman ticket?
Or might the firm's partners go for an outsider, skipping a generation a la Ernst & Young with Mark Otty?
As he is now working on a project for the chancellor, we have to ask a different question. Will Poynter, always more client-facing than government-facing, be ready to become an serial advisor to government?
The next few months should tell him whether it's something that appeals. He has been asked to produce an interim report on HMRC’s security processes and procedures for data handling in December, with a full review - in consultation with the Independent Police Complaints Commission - to be submitted to Alistair Darling and the Information Commissioner in the spring.
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