This just in from Financial Review:
KPMG is preparing to cut hundreds of jobs and reduce partner pay by as much as 20 per cent, as the fallout from the audit leaks scandal hits the big four firm’s bottom line.
Senior leaders at the firm, which has about 9000 staff and 700 partners, are scrutinising client bookings to gauge the scale of the hit to its pipeline of work and are examining ways to offset this by cutting costs.
One of AFR’s sources said the total could reach or exceed 1,000 people. If we include partners in the calculation that’s more than 10% of their workforce.
As you likely know, KPMG is still reeling from a scandal that came to light in March in which the firm used confidential information to bid for audit contracts and dissed the whistleblower who tried to call it out. At the beginning of this month the Australian government released a 56-page paper that strongly suggests they’re looking for a comically oversized hammer with which to beat Big 4 firms into behaving. Safe to say the real punishment is yet to come, for now they are barred from bidding for government contracts through September.
KPMG Australia reported revenue of $2.315 billion AUD ($1.61 billion USD) for 2025, a 3% decline overall from prior year.
