How the direction you set, the decisions you make and the behaviours you model shape quality culture and ethical behaviour.
In May 2024, a KPMG Australia whistleblower raised concerns that senior partners were misusing confidential client information and pursuing what was later described to a parliamentary inquiry as “revenue growth at all costs.”
The concerns were investigated internally, but the allegations were not substantiated at the time. The whistleblower later said work was taken away from him and that he was threatened with termination.
However, the issue did not disappear. After the allegations became public through Parliament in March 2026, further investigation found unacceptable misuse of confidential information. Senior leaders were sanctioned or left the firm, including KPMG Australia’s CEO, chairman and head of audit.
By August 2026, major clients were publicly questioning whether they could continue to trust KPMG.
What does your culture really say when someone does exactly what your values tell them to do?
KPMG publicly talks about integrity and speaking up. But culture is not demonstrated by what is written in a values statement. It is demonstrated by what leaders do when those values become inconvenient.
Culture is like the current in a river. You may not always notice it, but it influences the direction people move. Leaders help set that current through what they reward, what they challenge, what they ignore and what they model themselves.
“It is not enough that top management commit themselves for life to quality and productivity. They must know what it is that they are committed to... Support is not enough: action is required.”
— W. Edwards Deming
Gallup’s article, How to Ensure Employees Speak Up About Ethical Issues, looks at how leaders create the conditions for people to raise concerns and for ethical behaviour to be supported in practice.
Leadership signals check
Leadership culture is shaped through the signals leaders send every day. Those signals start with the direction leaders set, flow through the decisions they make and the behaviours they demonstrate, and ultimately influence the culture people experience.
The model below shows that pathway and the four areas leaders can use to assess whether their actions are supporting quality culture and ethical behaviour.
Direction
Direction is about making quality part of what the organisation is trying to achieve, rather than treating it as something owned by the quality team.
People need to understand how quality connects with priorities, customer outcomes and business results. Leaders also need to show that quality objectives matter when priorities are set and resources are allocated.
Accountability becomes particularly visible when results are not being achieved. If the quality management system is not delivering what was intended, senior leaders need to take ownership of understanding why and deciding what needs to change.
Decisions
What leaders decide often sends a stronger signal than what they say.
Quality needs to be part of normal planning, budgeting, resourcing and operational decision-making. If people are told that quality matters but are repeatedly expected to meet unrealistic deadlines, work without the right information or operate without sufficient resources, the decision is sending a different message.
This also includes how leaders respond when people raise concerns. Listening, asking questions and supporting people to address problems reinforces that raising quality issues is part of doing the job properly.
Behaviour
People watch what leaders do, particularly when there is pressure.
The real test is often what happens when quality, cost and deadlines compete. Do leaders maintain the same expectations, or do ethical and quality boundaries become flexible when the pressure increases?
Leaders also shape behaviour through what they reward, recognise and tolerate. If poor behaviour produces good short-term results and nothing happens, that behaviour has effectively been accepted.
Culture
Culture develops from the accumulation of those signals.
People learn whether it is safe to raise concerns, whether problems should be surfaced early, whether teams are expected to work across process boundaries and whether recurring issues are genuinely investigated.
Leaders can strengthen that culture by encouraging people to look beyond immediate fixes, consider risks and opportunities earlier, understand how their work affects other parts of the organisation and use problems as a source of learning.
Over time, those repeated signals answer a simple question for people: what really matters around here?
Next Steps for You
Notice the signals you are already sending
Look at the direction you set, the decisions you make, the behaviours you model and the culture those signals are creating.
Use the leadership signals tool
Work through the four assessment areas to identify where your leadership is supporting quality culture and ethical behaviour, and where your signals may be sending a different message. Access the Leadership Signals Check.
Choose one signal to change
Pick one practical leadership behaviour or decision you can change now, then watch what effect that has on the people around you.
Lead the Standard
