After Tabby Kinder of the Financial Times broke the story on Sept. 30 about KPMG U.K. taking back all the mobile phones that it had issued to hundreds of employees to cut costs, she shared a text on Twitter she got from an accountant that I found humorous because the accountant found the topic of her article humorous.
An accountant texts me to say… https://t.co/QpUBBGMIPq pic.twitter.com/c4JyiPCYvS
— Tabby Kinder (@Tabby_Kinder) September 30, 2019
So what’s this person talking about? Apparently KPMG threw a fancy shindig for its employees in late September 2014.
The Evening Standard reported:
The Big Four accountancy firms have come in for heavy criticism in recent years for overcharging clients, giving bad advice and promoting dozens of tax avoidance schemes.
So what did KPMG do to allay fears that its bean-counters get too much money? Why, throw a multi-million-pound party for its 12,000 employees, of course.
For the event, billed as a “team-building” experience, partners had a whip round and hired the O2 Arena in Greenwich.
Staff were entertained by Tinie Tempah, Madness and Florence and the Machine, given motivational talks by Jamie Oliver, 7/7 survivor and Paralympian Martine Wright, former South African leader FW de Klerk and Sir Bob Geldof.
Madness??? Really? Why, because Simon Collins is a rude boy?
Five years later, no more free phones for everyone. No truth to the rumor that KPMG hired Morrissey to provide the depressing soundtrack as KPMG employees handed in their work phones.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgraGDApOQk
