But banning political donations or restructuring firms to reduce conflict of interest was not part of recommendations

Big four firms should be banned from providing a client both audit and consultancy services at the same time, and have their number of partners slashed by up to 600, a parliamentary inquiry has recommended.

But it stopped short of calling for a ban on political donations or for the structural separation of consultancy firms to reduce conflicts of interest, as recommended by former competition watchdog chair Allan Fels.