KPMG records strong growth in FY21 in the Middle East & South Asia region

Kuwait, 17 January 2022: KPMG International announced annual aggregated revenues for KPMG firms globally of $32.13 billion for the fiscal year ending 30 September 2021 (FY21). Reporting a 10% increase in US dollar revenues from FY20, this follows an extensive period of investment and focus on priority services and solutions addressing the challenges faced by businesses across the globe. Strong growth was achieved across functions: Advisory growing at 17%, Audit at 4%, and Tax & Legal Services at 8%. 

The aggregate revenue of KPMG member firms in the Middle East & South Asia (MESA[i]) region grew by 7.8% in US dollar terms for FY21, more than doubling the growth rate achieved in the previous year. The positive results demonstrate the deep and impactful investments that KPMG firms in the MESA region have been making in people, technology, solutions, and alliances.

Commenting on the region’s performance, Nader Haffar, Chairman of KPMG MESA said “Throughout the unpredictability of recent months, our priorities have remained steadfast: we are working closely with our global network and strategic alliances, particularly in the technology space, to deliver more composite value-led propositions to our clients and meet their business needs amidst increasing digital disruption. Opportunities lie at the crux of every challenge and we remain laser-focused on leveraging them for our clients.”

He added, “With environmental, social, and governance (ESG) moving upwards on the business agenda, we are making a positive impact on the communities where we operate. The foundation for our future growth is built on our commitment to diversity and inclusion across our firms. As the MESA region enters a new era of growth and progress, we continue to drive transformation across industries, and to deliver quality across all core functions, be it audit, tax or advisory.”

[i] The KPMG MESA region is one of the sub-regions within the KPMG network of member firms. The KPMG MESA region covers more than 25 office locations across 15 countries and territories, including Bahrain, Bangladesh, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Maldives, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, and the United Arab Emirates. 

During FY21, the global organization committed to a more than $1.5 billion investment to focus on a multi-year program to accelerate the delivery of its global ESG plan and solutions. KPMG is in its third year of a $5 billion commitment to digital transformation, focused on purpose-driven technology, people, and innovation. The organization continued to invest significantly as part of its $1 billion investment in Tax and Legal technology to enable solutions like KPMG Digital Gateway. 

Investing in talent is a key area for the KPMG MESA region which expanded its workforce to over 8,250 with more than 2,200 hires this year, including 80 new partners and directors. These were in areas including cloud transformation, cyber security, finance transformation, people & change, ESG, major project advisory, infrastructure advisory, strategy & deals, risk & compliance. New partners have been recruited with experience in the public sector, real estate, and healthcare.

KPMG’s global headcount in FY21 reached more than 236,000 partners and employees, securing its position as a leading employer of choice and being ranked as one of the World’s Most Attractive Employers for business, IT, and engineering students[i].

KPMG firms garnered numerous accolades this year, including leading the Consultancy-me.com rankings of the top consulting firms in the Middle East in six areas of specialization and eight industry categories[ii].

For further information, please refer to: https://home.kpmg/kw/en/home/media/press-releases/2021/12/kpmg-reports-global-revenues-of-usd-32-billion-for-fy21.html

[i] https://universumglobal.com/wmae2021

[ii] https://www.consultancy-me.com/rankings  

Note to editors:

KPMG FY21 member firm revenues (US$ billions)

The financial information set forth represents combined information of the independent KPMG member firms that perform professional services for clients, affiliated with KPMG International Limited. The information is combined here solely for presentation purposes. KPMG International Limited performs no services for clients nor, concomitantly, generates any client revenue.

FY21 revenues and growth rates, throughout this press release, reflect KPMG’s financial year between 1 October 2020 and 30 September 2021 and are expressed in US dollars.

Headcount reported above based on partners and staff employed as at 30 September 2021. KPMG’s average FTE (full-time equivalent) for FY21 was 230,477, increased from the 226,882 reported in FY20.

Legal services may not be offered to SEC registrant audit clients or where otherwise prohibited by law.

Throughout this press release, “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.  

No member firm has any authority to obligate or bind KPMG International or any other member firm vis-à-vis third parties, nor does KPMG International have any such authority to obligate or bind any member firm.