Automatic collection of personal information

In some instances, KPMG and its service providers use cookies, web beacons, pixels and other technologies to automatically collect certain types of information when you visit us online, as well as through emails or other communications that we may exchange. The collection of this information allows us to customize your online experience, improve the performance, usability and effectiveness of KPMG’s online presence, and to measure the effectiveness of our marketing activities.

1          IP addresses

An IP address is a number assigned to your computer whenever you access the internet. It allows computers and servers to recognize and communicate with one another. IP addresses from which visitors appear to originate will be recorded for IT security and system diagnostic purposes. This information will also typically be used in aggregate form to conduct web site trend and performance analysis.

2          Cookies

Cookies will typically be placed on your computer or internet-enabled device whenever you visit us online. This allows the site to remember your computer or device and serve a number of purposes.

On all of our web sites, a notification banner will appear allowing you to manage your consent to collect cookies (“cookie settings banner”). Below is a summary of the categories of cookies collected on our websites, and how your consent may impact your experience of certain features as you navigate those websites, however detailed descriptions for the individual sites can be found in the cookie settings accessed via the “cookie settings banner”:

  • Strictly necessary cookies: Strictly necessary cookies are essential in order to enable users to move around the website and use its features, such as accessing secure areas of the website. These cookies must be enabled or the site will not function,and cannot be blocked. By navigating our websites you acknowledge cookies being placed on your computer or internet enabled device. 
  • Performance cookies: Performance cookies are cookies used to gather data to enhance the performance of a website. You can manage your consent for performance cookies using the cookie settings banner, or by updating your browser’s settings (often found in your browser’s Tools or Preferences menu) to not accept cookies.
  • Functionality cookies: Functionality cookies are used to remember customer selections that change the way the site behaves or looks. You may opt-out of these cookies, but it will impact your experience on the website, and you may need to repeat certain selections each time you visit. You can manage your consent for functionality cookies using the cookie settings banner, or by updating your browser’s settings (often found in your browser’s Tools or Preferences menu) to not accept cookies.
  • Targeting cookies or advertising cookies: Targeting cookies  are used to deliver content relevant to your interests. They are also used to limit the number of times you see certain marketing materials, as well as help measure the effectiveness of those marketing materials. If you do not provide consent for targeting cookies, your computer or internet-enabled device will not receive targeted marketing-related activities. You can manage your consent for targeting cookies using the cookie settings banner, or by updating your browser’s settings (often found in your browser’s Tools or Preferences menu) to not accept cookies. If you wish to revoke your selection, you may do so by clearing your browser’s cookies, or by updating your preferences in the cookie banner.

Further information about managing cookies can be found in your browser’s help file or through sites such as www.allaboutcookies.org.

Below is a list of the types of cookies used on our web sites:

Purpose

Description

Type & Expiry

Performance (i.e., User’s Browser)

Our web sites are built using common internet platforms. These have built-in cookies which help compatibility issues (e.g., to identify your browser type) and improve performance (e.g., quicker loading of content).

Session, deleted upon closing the browser, or persistent.

Security Cookies

If you register for access to a restricted area, our cookies ensure that your device is logged for the duration of your visit. You will need your username and password to access the restricted areas.

Session, deleted upon closing the browser, or persistent.

Site Preferences

Our cookies may also remember your site preferences (e.g., language) or seek to enhance your experience (e.g., by personalizing a greeting or content). This will apply to areas where you have registered specifically for access or create an account. 

Session, deleted upon closing the browser, or persistent.

Analytical 

We use several third-party analytics tools to help us understand how site visitors use our web site. This allows us to improve the quality and content on kpmg.com for our visitors. The aggregated statistical data cover items such as total visits or page views, and referrers to our web sites. For further details on our use of Analytics, see below.

Persistent, but will delete automatically after two years if you no longer visit kpmg.com

Social sharing

We use third party social media widgets or buttons to provide you with additional functionality to share content from our web pages to social media web sites and email. Use of these widgets or buttons may place a cookie on your device to make their service easier to use, ensure your interaction is displayed on our web pages (e.g. the social share count cache is updated) and log information about your activities across the Internet and on our web sites. We encourage you to review each provider’s privacy information before using any such service. For further details on our use of social media widgets and applications, see below.

Persistent, but will be deleted automatically after two years if you no longer visit kpmg.com

Other third-party tools and widgets will be used on our individual web pages from time to time to provide additional functionality. Depending on how you set your preferences in your browser and/or the cookie settings banner, use of these tools or widgets may place a cookie on your device to make their service easier to use, and ensure your interaction is displayed on our webpages properly.

Cookies by themselves do not tell us your email address or otherwise identify you personally. In our analytical reports, we will obtain other identifiers including IP addresses, but this is for the purpose of identifying the number of unique visitors to our web sites and geographic origin of visitor trends, and not to identify individual visitors.

3          Analytics

KPMG uses Google and Adobe Analytics.

To provide web site visitors with more choice on how their data is collected by Google Analytics, Google have developed the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on. The add-on communicates with the Google Analytics JavaScript (ga.js) to indicate that information about the web site visit should not be sent to Google Analytics. The Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on does not prevent information from being sent to the web site itself or to other web analytics services.

4          Web beacons (Pixels)

A web beacon is a small image file on a web page that can be used to collect certain information from your computer, such as an IP address, the time the content was viewed, a browser type, and the existence of cookies previously set by the same server. KPMG only uses web beacons in accordance with applicable laws.

KPMG or its service providers will use web beacons to track the effectiveness of third-party web sites that provide us with recruiting or marketing services or to gather aggregate visitor statistics and manage cookies.

You have the option to render some web beacons unusable by rejecting their associated cookies. The web beacon may still record an anonymous visit from your IP address, but cookie information will not be recorded.

In some of our newsletters and other communications, we will monitor recipient actions such as email open rates through embedded links within the messages. We collect this information to gauge user interest and to enhance future user experiences.

5          Location-based tools

KPMG will collect and use the geographical location of your computer or mobile device. This location data is collected for the purpose of providing you with information regarding services which we believe may be of interest to you based on your geographic location, and to improve our location-based products and services.

 6         Social media widgets and applications

KPMG web sites will typically include functionality to enable sharing via third party social media applications, such as the Facebook Like button and X widget. These social media applications will collect and use information regarding your use of KPMG websites (see details on ‘Social Sharing’ cookies above). Any personal information that you provide via such social media applications will often be collected and used by other members of that social media application and such interactions are governed by the privacy notices/policies of the companies that provide the application. We do not have control over, or responsibility for, those companies or their use of your information.

In addition, KPMG websites may host blogs, forums, crowd-sourcing and other applications or services (collectively “social media features”). The purpose of social media features is to facilitate the sharing of knowledge and content. Any personal information that you provide on any KPMG social media feature will typically be shared with other users of that social media feature (unless otherwise stated at the point of collection), over whom we often have limited or no control/