Deloitte Australia’s 1,000 or so partners gathered in Adelaide at the end of August and according to Sydney Morning Herald reporting ahead of the totally-business-and-not-pleasure gathering, it was absolutely in no way whatsoever a party. Per Deloitte themselves.
Consulting giant Deloitte is holding a big partner bash from Thursday, flying in more than 1000 partners and nearly booking out a couple of five-star hotels in town.
But while CBD hears that excited staff are keen to pillage the Barossa wineries on the weekend, Deloitte insists it’s a two-day conference – and definitely not a party.
A spokeswoman told CBD: “This is an annual partner meeting that provides an important opportunity for Deloitte partners to get together and connect in person to discuss our strategic priorities and reinforce the culture and values of the firm.”
A spokesperson, maybe the same one, told The Advertiser two nights of partners’ accommodation was covered by the firm but that “any partners attending are free to participate in additional tourist activities in their own time and at their own expense.”
Fast-forward to a few days ago and SMH had a follow-up:
So what then are we to make of the photos emerging from the get-together showing a bunch of Deloitte types having a wild old time, as disco lights flashed and a janky cover band belted out bangers to a braying crowd of partners?
Brutal. Y’all didn’t have to drag the cover band like that.
There was even a bloke crowd-surfing across what appears for all the world to be a mosh pit, but Deloitte’s official spokespeople wouldn’t comment on all that, saying they had nothing to add to their statement from last week. The “not a party” one.
See: Deloitte partners crowd-surf over mosh pits at Adelaide retreat
Normally this wouldn’t be a big deal, partners work hard and deserve to let their nonexistent hair down from time to time and they’d just announced $2.85 billion in revenue for fiscal ’23, $3.5 million of that going to CEO Adam Powick’s salary (FWIW he told a senate inquiry he didn’t deserve to be paid seven times more than the country’s prime minister). Except Deloitte has been in Aussie papers right next to scandal-plagued PwC for months, you’d think maybe they’d keep a “retreat” on the down-low. See:
Deloitte Just Admitted to Misusing Government Information à la PwC Tax Scandal
Too soon, guys. Too soon.
