We are a people business and being able to connect the dots, bringing the right people — together with the right technology — to the table is our greatest asset. In a rapidly changing environment, strong relationships and connectivity are needed now more than ever.
At KPMG, we’re committed to creating a caring, inclusive, and purpose-led, values-driven culture, and providing our people with opportunities to grow — while tapping into their passion to do work that matters.
As we reimagine the future of work, KPMG has worked across regions to develop a set of globally consistent principles that offer flexibility and guide our teams as we adopt hybrid ways of working.
Upskilling our talent
All of our people will receive ESG training that is aligned to a learning framework developed in partnership with the University of Cambridge Judge Business School.
Empowering the next generation
One of the ways we empower our people to make their mark is through our Next Generation Council (NGC) — a future leaders’ program. The NGC of emerging leaders from across the globe, works with KPMG’s global leadership team to challenge and inform business decisions — providing perspectives and candid insights gained from on-the-ground experience. The council is a key source of innovative ideas and bold solutions that help KPMG professionals drive change and remain agile.
Developing the leaders of tomorrow
KPMG is committed to doing work that matters and making a positive, lasting impact in our communities. Our culture is one of collaboration and inclusion, where our people can come together to openly express their feelings and challenges. We are incredibly proud to be ranked by Universum as one of the World’s Most Attractive Employers for business, IT and engineering students.
Through meaningful programs like the KPMG Ideation Challenge, we provide students with coaching and mentorship opportunities to learn from KPMG professionals. Students take real issues that affect business and society today, and use advanced technologies to co-create solutions and prototypes, bringing them to life with the chance to take them to market.
Uplifting students and providing them with the tools they need to thrive, helps KPMG firms attract and develop the future generation of business and technology leaders.
Accelerating inclusion, diversity and equity (IDE)
We believe that IDE is fundamental to driving future success. To continue accelerating the IDE agenda, in FY21, KPMG developed the IDE Collective Action Plan with five measurable goals for delivery. We also built a Global IDE Center of Excellence and rolled out a new global IDE policy to ensure that all our people feel safe and empowered at work, so that they can perform to the best of their ability in an open and supportive environment.
Building an inclusive culture that values diversity leads to better decision-making, drives greater creativity and innovation, helps us better meet the needs of our clients, and motivates our people.
To drive accountability and consistency, we’ve established a clear governance process through our Global IDE Council to push the goals of our IDE Collective Action Plan forward and have developed and embedded new Global IDE goals for all our people that they can access through our performance development systems.
Recognizing our global position and working with clients large and small around the world, come with an opportunity and responsibility to achieve more and push for a fairer, more equitable society.
This year, we are also proud to become a signatory to the Valuable 500 and make the commitment that we will continue to identify areas where we can be more inclusive and supportive. We’re focused on scaling up and implementing programs that accelerate inclusion and diversity, while making adjustments to KPMG offices, processes, policies and practices to drive equity in the recruitment, retention and development of people living with disabilities.
Fostering an environment of authenticity
Courageous Conversations started as a 72-hour collaboration session across the global organization, with over 17,000 KPMG people across six continents. This resulted in our people investing over 11,000 hours in a conversation about their lived experiences, thoughts and ideas, followed by insights and actions. The dialogue led to the development of the IDE Collective Action Plan and has now grown to be a key part of the broader conversation we’re having across the organization — through our global summits and training materials.
We’ve benefited greatly from fostering an environment of authenticity, driving allyship and sharing our lived experiences — truly encouraging KPMG people to come as they are.
Our people taking action
“I wanted to be able to sit with organizations and public policy makers to discuss pragmatic issues so we could make some real changes.”
Read this story from Josh Hasdell, Manager, ESG Strategy & Impact Services, KPMG in Canada, as he shares his career journey, fulfilling his passion in ocean conservation and making real change in the world working with global organizations.
Have you ever heard of a marine biologist turned accountant and advisor? That’s my story.
I’ve always had an innate passion for ocean conservation and environmental stewardship. When I started my career in marine biology, I realized I wanted to have more impact in the global sustainability field than working in research, conservation or the NGO space could provide. I wanted to be able to sit with organizations and public policy makers to discuss these pragmatic issues so we could make some real changes.
So, I made the switch from the sciences to getting my CPA designation to understand how the finance function of organizations work and how environmental aspects can be integrated within.
This led me to an accountancy and advisory role, first with the KPMG in the UK, and currently as a manager in ESG Strategy & Impact Services at KPMG in Canada based in Vancouver, BC.
KPMG was one of the only organizations with a seat at the table and an organization akin to my own personal values of purpose, drive and resiliency. I also saw KPMG globally as having those values instilled in its culture and that was very closely aligned to how I was conducting my life, ambitions and career.
I saw the opportunity to make a difference and advance the ESG agenda at KPMG in Canada, building on what I had learned with the UK firm. The pandemic has put a laser focus on ESG and doing the right thing for investors, employees and all Canadians. It’s moved society to hold both individuals and corporations to account in order to make Canada and the world a better, kinder, greener and bluer place.
Watch a recording of my interview here.
“Unlocking the potential of digitization and innovation is an essential part of my mission.”
Read this story from Christian Rast, Global Head of Technology & Knowledge, KPMG International as he gets personal on climate change, and why technology can be the catalyst to net zero. He shares how his community experienced a once-in-a-generation climate catastrophe, and why he is on a mission to unlock the potential of innovation and digitization to build digital solutions and services that help achieve the ESG agenda.
14 July 2021 was a beautiful day on the shores of the Baltic Sea, where I was spending the summer holidays with my family.
Back home, close to the Ahr region of Germany, the weather looked very different. That night, after four consecutive days of rain, small streams turned into raging rivers and swept away everything in their path: trees, cars, cattle, and entire houses.
We anxiously followed the news and called on our friends to see if they were safe. But nothing could prepare us for the devastation we witnessed upon our return home.
Great parts of the region were destroyed. Almost 200 lives were lost in what is said to be the worst natural disaster in my country in decades. The damages are estimated to reach more than €10 billion. And no insurance policy or governmental recovery program can possibly cover the heartbreak of those who've lost their loved ones, their homes, or their livelihoods.
I felt a sense of pride, though, when I saw how KPMG as a firm, as well as hundreds of our people, came together to help the residents of the region and especially those KPMG colleagues who were impacted by the catastrophe.
I'm penning this story as the UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties — or COP26 for short — is underway in Glasgow. This summit brings together representatives from more than 200 countries to accelerate action towards the goals of the Paris Agreement to limit the global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels.
My firsthand experience with the impact of climate change is growing ever more common for people around the world. It's a global issue that demands immediate action, and I'm pleased to see that KPMG is committed to spend more than US$1.5 billion over the next three years specifically to focus on ESG issues. To be clear: I do believe that innovation is the key to solve the climate change challenge.
Technology can be the catalyst, and the Global Technology & Knowledge function, which I have the privilege to lead, is already making an impact. One example is our digital workplace, through which we're connecting more than 236,000 KPMG professionals virtually. Last year, we enabled more than half a billion (that's right!) audio and video calls through Microsoft Teams. That's half a billion opportunities to forgo travel for client work, cross-border training, and meetings. And half a billion incremental steps to bring us closer to our goal of becoming a net-zero carbon organization by 2030.
While I'm convinced that in-person connections — both among our people and with our clients — remain fundamental to our future success, we do need to ensure that these moments deliver measurable value.
There is much more work to do. We can only be successful in achieving our own ESG agenda — and helping our clients to achieve theirs — when we unlock the full potential of innovation, digitization and the use of data, analytics and artificial intelligence to build world-class digital solutions and services.
This is an essential part of my mission, and I'm rallying my colleagues to join me on this journey.
“My first instinct was to reply with the usual, “I’m great!” but I was not great. In fact, I was full of uncertainty about the pandemic, mourning lost loved ones and navigating new laws and lockdowns.”
Read this story from Simren Samra, Apprentice, KPMG in the UK, who chose the braver route of speaking up instead of hiding her feelings. And because of that she created an initiative that empowers apprentices to bring their whole selves to work.
I logged onto my laptop and received the kind of well-meaning question all of us see dozens of times a week: How are you?
My first instinct was to reply with the usual, "I'm great!" but I was not great. In fact, I was full of uncertainty about the pandemic, mourning lost loved ones and navigating new laws and lockdowns.
Being one of the youngest colleagues at KPMG in the UK, it can be difficult to share those inner voices of uncertainty. I knew that with everything moving to a virtual way of working, those feelings and thoughts would be easier to hide behind a screen, leaving my peers to feel isolated and alone.
At KPMG, we don't take the easy route. Instead, I formed the Apprentice Social and Wellbeing Initiatives. In doing so, I found a community of like-minded apprentices interested in creating virtual support networks and a space to talk about well-being at work. These forums allow apprentices to build long-lasting relationships and help them feel confident in bringing their whole selves to work.
The organization listened and helped us grow the community to more than 700 apprentices in the UK firm. That's what I love about KPMG — it responds not with an empty wish for the best, but with determination and courage to make real, lasting change.
Now, when someone says "I'm not doing great," we can reply with confidence, "look, today might not be a great day, but I know tomorrow will be better."
“Discovering that I could be good at something gave me confidence. Learning changed my life. In fact, I was the first and only among my brothers to have a university degree and I see all the opportunities it brought to my life.”
Read this story from Eliane Momesso, Senior Manager, Citizenship, Inclusion & Diversity, KPMG in Brazil, who reveals her struggles growing up and how she embraced learning to achieve things that have not only given her pride, but also a sense of purpose.
I was a quiet and shy girl, very content to be unnoticed among four noisy brothers. But there was a tipping point in my life when I was 15 and my parents decided to move to the countryside.
Suddenly I was no longer invisible. I was in a classroom where the teachers knew each student's family, and my grades were far behind.
I was so ashamed, and I decided to change what I could. I studied hard until my grades were among the best in the class. And discovering that I could be good at something gave me confidence. Learning changed my life. In fact, I was the first and only among my brothers to have a university degree and I see all the opportunities it brought to my life.
One of those opportunities was to be accepted at KPMG in Brazil 21 years ago. Another one was to be part of the team that implemented corporate citizenship in Brazil, where I've been working since 2008.
And I'm deeply passionate about what we do because every time I go with our volunteers to the communities to run our learning programs, I see a little bit of me in each young girl and boy we help. And I'm so glad that we can say to them, "you can have dreams, you have potential, be confident and go for it!" Change your life.
Corporate highlights
2021 Transparency Report & Our Impact Plan
Throughout this webpage, “we”, “KPMG”, “us” and “our” refers to the global organization or to one or more of the member firms of KPMG International Limited (“KPMG International”), each of which is a separate legal entity.