SYDNEY, February 2026 — In a move that observers are calling the “ultimate irony,” a senior partner at accounting titan KPMG Australia has been fined $10,000 AUD (roughly $7,000 USD) for using artificial intelligence to cheat on an internal exam—designed specifically to test AI proficiency.

The breach has sparked a wider conversation about ethics in the age of automation, as the very tools being integrated into corporate workflows are now being used to subvert corporate accountability.

The “AI Catching AI” Irony

The unnamed partner, who also serves as a registered company auditor, reportedly uploaded a training manual from a July program into an AI tool to generate answers for his certification test.

In a poetic twist of technological fate, it was KPMG’s own AI detection software that flagged the submission in August. While the partner has since self-reported the misconduct to Chartered Accountants ANZ, the incident has exposed a systemic issue within the firm’s ranks.

Not a Solo Act: 28 Employees Implicated

The investigation revealed that the senior partner was not an isolated case. KPMG Australia identified 28 staff members who leveraged AI to cheat on internal exams since July.

• The Scale: 27 of those caught were at the manager level or below, highlighting that the temptation to use AI “shortcuts” spans the entire corporate hierarchy.
• The Consequences: While the partner faced a heavy fine and a retake, the firm is now under pressure to prove that its “AI-ready” workforce is actually learning the material.

A Pattern of “Big Four” Misconduct

This scandal is the latest in a series of ethical lapses hitting the world’s largest accounting firms. The industry is currently battling a “cheating culture” that technology has only accelerated:

• EY’s $100M Penalty: In 2022, EY paid a record fine after hundreds of employees cheated on ethics exams.
• Deloitte’s AI Hallucinations: Just last year, Deloitte Australia had to refund government money after an official report was found to contain fabricated AI-generated quotes and research.

The Proficiency Paradox

KPMG CEO Andrew Yates admitted that the firm is “grappling” with a paradox: they are demanding employees integrate AI into their daily work to boost efficiency, yet they must penalize them when that same efficiency is applied to the testing process. With AI proficiency now tied to 2026 performance reviews, the pressure to “appear” AI-literate has never been higher.

Bottom Line

The era of “Work Smarter, Not Harder” has hit a moral wall. When a partner—the very person meant to uphold audit integrity—uses AI to bypass an AI test, it reveals that the “Big Four” have a trust problem that no algorithm can fix. As KPMG moves to disclose cheating cases in its annual results, the message is clear: the line between “leveraging technology” and “digital fraud” is thinner than ever.