There are more than 660 PwC employees and partners sitting on various not-for-profit boards, which acting chief executive Kristin Stubbins said are all unpaid positions and not intended in any way to generate work for the firm.
"It's part of, actually, our culture to want to do community service. So most partners like to bring their expertise to boards they are passionate about," Ms Stubbins said.
A NSW parliamentary inquiry on Monday probed a potential conflict of interest in Ms Stubbins' own former position on the board of a local NSW health district, which later hired PwC as a consultant.
Inquiry chair and Greens MP Abigail Boyd questioned whether the postings are as benevolent as the company claims.
"Sure, it's nice to do work in the community but when you sit on a board, especially a government board role, you're clearly gathering information that's going to be useful for you in your career," Ms Boyd said.
The postings are managed through the company's, PwC OnBoard project, which launched in 2015.
"It's not about a business model. This is about giving service. And we believe that's aligned with the PwC purpose," Ms Stubbins told the NSW upper house committee.
Ms Stubbins resigned from the South Eastern Sydney Local Health District Board in August 2015, at which time she was a partner with PwC, due to a potential conflict of interest after the district expressed an interest in hiring the firm.
"I became aware in May 2015 that PwC was to be appointed to do some work. I said, 'I cannot continue on the board and I will need to step down'," Ms Stubbins said.
Ms Boyd pointed to records that showed Ms Stubbins was a listed member of the board until November 2016, by which point PwC had been actively engaged.
Ms Stubbins told the inquiry she was not a member of the board at that time and had always acted with the utmost integrity.
Current board chair Michael Still blamed an "error" in the meeting minutes and said Ms Stubbins was not a board member as late as 2016.
"You must be reading different minutes to me Mr Still," Ms Boyd said.
"At the moment it's looking pretty bad for the board governance and also for Ms Stubbins."
Ms Boyd asked Ms Stubbins if she had used her experience on the board to benefit PwC in gaining work from the health district in any way.
"I really don't think so, I honestly don't," Ms Stubbins said.
