Governance

KPMG is the brand under which the member firms of KPMG International Limited("KPMG International") operate and provide professional services. KPMG's member firms and affiliates operating in the Chinese Mainland, Hong Kong SAR and Macau SAR work together on a collaborative basis, subject to local applicable laws. KPMG China is not a legal entity and does not hold share capital or have shareholders. The legal entities operating under KPMG China include KPMG (a Hong Kong (SAR) partnership), KPMG (a Macau (SAR) partnership), KPMG Advisory (Hong Kong) Limited, KPMG Huazhen LLP, and KPMG Advisory (China) Limited, each of which is a legally distinct and separate entity and describes itself as such. Each KPMG member firm is responsible for its own obligations and liabilities.

KPMG China’s governance bodies comprise our board and our Executive Committee. Our board is a key governing and oversight body, whereas the Executive Committee is the principal management body. Sitting on our board, our Head of ESG oversees our ESG services and solutions for our clients, helps set the tone at the top and brings ESG insights into the board discussions. This helps us make ESG become an integral part of our business decisions and practices.

To ensure smooth planning and execution of OIP strategies, we have set up a formal governance structure for OIP at KPMG China. The OIP department sits under the Corporate Affairs function and periodically reports to the Executive Committee (ExCom) which oversees the strategic development of the OIP.

We aim to be the most trusted and trustworthy professional services firm and always act with a clear purpose. We believe our purpose tells us why we do what we do at KPMG. By inspiring confidence in our people, clients and society, we help empower the change needed to solve the toughest challenges and lead the way forward.

Our Values guide our day-to-day actions and help us choose between right and wrong. Guided by our Values, we continue to drive service quality excellence, not only to meet the requirements of our standards, but also to fulfil our responsibility to serve the public interest.

We recognise the importance of our role in society and the impact of our services on our clients and society. By fulfilling our environmental and social responsibilities, we aspire to make a difference.

Inspire confidence and empower change

• We are a people business.
• We stimulate trust and confidence in business.
• We have a responsibility to build a sustainable future.

Audit quality is fundamental to maintaining public trust. At KPMG, audit quality is about consistent execution across the firm in line with the requirements and intent of professional standards and is supported by a robust system of quality management. All of our related activities are undertaken in an environment of objectivity, independence, ethics and integrity.

To maintain and improve audit quality, we have adopted the Global Quality Framework to better outline how we deliver quality at KPMG and how all KPMG professionals are accountable for its delivery. Globally, KPMG continues to invest significantly in audit quality. There is an ongoing investment in our system of quality management, monitoring of audit quality, enhanced support, and innovative technology and tools, such as KPMG Clara, our smart audit platform.

Our tax services are guided by our Values, governed by our Global Tax Principles and Global Quality Framework, and driven by our purpose to inspire confidence and empower change.

We require all KPMG people to act lawfully and with integrity in dealing with tax authorities and our clients and we aim to be fully compliant with all relevant requirements. Above all, our work must be fully compliant with all applicable legal, regulatory, and professional requirements. We are committed to providing clients with high quality tax advice tailored to their particular circumstances.

KPMG strives to make ESG a watermark running through our organisation, so that we can lead by example and have a positive impact on our key stakeholders, our environment and our society. Announced in 2021, KPMG launched a multi-billion-dollar global investment programme which focuses on our ESG change agenda over a three-year period.

With ESG now being at the top of our leadership agenda, we have an important role to play in driving salient impacts. We provide training to all KPMG professionals so that they can become agents of change, helping our clients transform their businesses across three pillars of opportunity – ESG transformation, ESG reporting and ESG assurance.

Under these three key pillars, we are offering six areas of ESG solutions to our clients.

Launched in May 2022, KPMG China’s Future · ESG Awards aims to recognise companies that are making a significant effort in integrating ESG practices into their organisations, and also to promote ESG insights sharing and collaboration among companies.

This award initiative received a great response in the market, with hundreds of companies across different sectors submitting their applications. An independent judging panel of KPMG partners and external experts made the final selection based on a process that included interviews, information collection, desktop research, surveys, as well as involvement from an independent review committee to ensure the independence and objectivity of the results. The award ceremony, which recognised companies for their ESG leadership and outstanding performance in ESG integration and innovation, was held at the KPMG Climate Change and Sustainability Summit, which took place in Shanghai in January 2023.

At KPMG China, we have an overriding commitment to live our Values in everything that we do and to act lawfully, ethically and in the public interest.

Upholding the highest standards of personal and professional behaviour throughout our firm in everything we do is of paramount importance. Ethics and integrity are embedded into everything we do, representing who we are and why everyone at KPMG is held to this promise of excellence.

Our compliance with applicable laws, regulations, professional and quality standards is fundamental, but our commitments extend beyond compliance to broader obligations to clients, our people and society as a whole.

KPMG China has zero tolerance for bribery and corruption in any form by any party. The Code and comprehensive anti-bribery and corruption requirements are enacted to assure that the highest standards of integrity have been held across the firm. Moreover, requirements and procedures have been well-defined by our China Quality & Risk Management Manual for our people regarding situations where inducements (gifts or entertainment) are provided or received.

Every year, the We Do What is Right: Integrity at KPMG training continues to educate our partners and staff about KPMG’s firm-wide anti-bribery policies, and reiterates the significance of compliance with applicable regulations, professional standards and laws.

At KPMG China, we continue to monitor and evaluate our operational processes to ensure that they are in line with our human rights commitments. As stated in our Code of Conduct, we do not tolerate behaviours that are illegal, unethical or breach human right standards within KPMG, by clients or suppliers, or by public officials with whom we deal.