Big Four accounting firm Deloitte has refunded more than A$97,000 (approximately US$63,000) in contract payments to Australia's Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR), a department spokesperson said on Tuesday, with the fee corresponding to a report riddled with AI-generated errors.

According to a notice published on AusTender, Australia's government procurement information system, the contract between DEWR and Deloitte was executed in December 2024, with an original value of approximately A$440,000.

"AusTender is being updated to reflect this refund," the DEWR spokesperson said in an email. Deloitte did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

This incident had previously been viewed by experts as a "wake-up call" in the corporate finance field, with related analysis previously published by CFO Dive.

"Accounting firms need to train employees not only on how to use AI effectively, but also on ethical considerations and quality control, while emphasizing that AI output must be reviewed just like work prepared by interns or new hires," Jack Castonguay, associate professor of accounting at Hofstra University, noted in an email.

According to the Associated Press, a revised version of the report Deloitte Australia prepared for DEWR was released this month, after the original was found to contain errors, including fabricated quotes from federal court rulings and citations of nonexistent academic research papers.

The report reviewed the information technology systems DEWR uses to automate penalties in the welfare system.

"Deloitte conducted an independent assurance review and confirmed that some footnotes and references were incorrect," a DEWR spokesperson previously told CFO Dive. The spokesperson added that the "substance" of the review was retained.