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Let’s Kongratulate KPMG For Getting *This* Close to $30 Billion of Global Revenue In 2019

Coming off the heels of a better-than-expected 2019 financial year at its U.K. firm (revenues, anyway), puffy-chested KPMG announced today that its global revenue increased 6.2% in local currency terms (or 2.7% using actual mathematics) for the year ended Sept. 30.

The three other Big 4 firms posted global revenue of at least $30 billion in 2019. Did KPMG? That’s a negative, Ghost Rider. Its revenue was $29.75 billion.

So close, Klynveldians. So close.

The $29.75 billion in revenue is a one-year record for KPMG, eclipsing last year’s record-setting revenue of $28.96 billion, which eclipsed 2017’s record-setting revenue of $26.4 billion, which eclipsed 2016’s record-setting revenue of $25.42 billion, etc.

The Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMA) region, which includes India, generated the most revenue at nearly $12.9 billion, but that was less than last year’s $12.98 billion in revenue. The Americas region posted positive revenue, up 5.6% from $11.1 billion last year to $11.7 billion this year. The other region, Asia Pacific, increased revenue by 5.3% over last year.

Of KPMG’s core business lines, advisory was the big winner at $11.95 billion, but tax and legal services grew the most by 4.4% over last year. Here’s the breakdown:

  • Advisory: $11.95 billion (4.2%)
  • Audit: $11.18 billion (0.3%)
  • Tax and legal: $6.62 billion (4.4%)

Looking at just the Americas region, audit drove in the most revenue at $4.46 billion, followed by advisory at $4.24 billion and tax and legal at $3.02 billion.

KPMG hired roughly 12,230 people last year, which pushes its global headcount to 219,281. Most of those Klynveldians can be found in the EMA region, which employs 111,937 people. The Americas employs 61,169 KPMGers, and the Asia Pacific region has 46,175.

Of those 219,281 people who root for Phil Mickelson to actually win a U.S. Open one of these days, 52% are male and 48% are female. KPMG boasted that 25% of partners and directors and 30% of new partners promoted and recruited in 2019 were women.

In the introduction to KPMG’s 2019 Annual Report, Global Chairman and CEO Bill Thomas said “2019 has not been without some challenges. We have faced reputational issues in a few of our member firms [*cough* U.S. and U.K. *cough*].”

So let’s take a look back at some of KPMG’s Greatest Hits for FY 2019:

This year has been an eventful one for KPMG, to say the least.