A spin-off company of embattled consultancy firm PwC has been given the green light to receive contracts from the federal government.
The Department of Finance has given approval for Scyne Advisory to take on contract work for the Commonwealth following a probe into its ethics and company structure.
PwC sold its government consultancy arm to Allegro Funds for $1 this year following revelations that partners passed on confidential Treasury information to increase private sector business.
Allegro announced the new business, Scyne Advisory, would be run independently from PwC.
The finance department had been carrying out an investigation into Scyne to determine the new company's suitability for government contracts and had no links to anyone from PwC involved in the tax scandal.
"Finance concluded that Scyne has the appropriate governance, accountability and ethical frameworks in place to contract with the Commonwealth," the department said in a letter published on Thursday.
"Commonwealth entities can now consider contracting with Scyne in the same way they consider other tenderers, including considering novation of existing PwC contracts to Scyne."
The department said it would monitor Scyne for at least the next year.
"Finance considers it will be important to monitor whether the implementation and operation of those arrangements deliver the intended outcomes," the department said.
The head of PwC, Kevin Burrowes, has been grilled on Thursday by senators into the company's actions during the tax advice scandal during an inquiry into consultancy firms.
Greens senator Barbara Pocock, who is also a member of the inquiry, said she was concerned about Scyne's approval for government contracts.
"We do not have a clean bill of health for the partners, 117 partners, who have gone straight from PwC across to Scyne," she told reporters.
"How do we know they're not taking the culture, the failures within PwC, into the governance of Scyne?
"We need to have assurances that that culture is not persisting across there and that we're going to get value for money, ethical practice and proper management of money."
