The Big Four firm was hired for a A$440,000 (£215,000) report by the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations in Canberra to conduct a review of a targeted compliance framework designed to automate penalties in the welfare system.

Now part of the fee will have to be returned.

The review was published on the department’s website on 4 July. Less than a month later, Deloitte was forced to pull the report after concerns were raised by an academic over citation inaccuracies.

Deloitte then confirmed some footnotes and references were incorrect, and an amended version of the statement of assurance and final report was published on the government website.