Culture

At KPMG we are guided by Our Values and doing great work that matters. We’re building a culture that is open, safe and inclusive, and operates to the highest ethical and quality standards. A culture and environment that is continually listening, learning and evolving.
Jon Holt / Chief Executive and Senior Partner, KPMG in the UK

Our Code of Conduct, which has been reviewed by the Institute of Business Ethics, helps create this shared and consistent culture – a culture based on ethical values and decision making.

The steps we’ve taken to build our culture

We’re committed to creating a culture that enables our people and firm to thrive. We listen to feedback and continually monitor our progress against key areas to identify what’s working and where we need to take further steps to improve. There are five important elements to building our culture:

Using Our Values to guide everything we do

Creating an open, safe and inclusive environment

Demonstrating the highest ethical and quality standards

Listening, learning and evolving

Work that matters

A culture guided by our values

Our values are the foundation of what we do, who we are, what we stand for, how we act, and the decisions we take. They’re a crucial part of embedding a culture at KPMG we can be proud of.

We held our first Values Week in the UK last year to celebrate those values and make sure we all understand how critical they are to delivering our strategy and continuing to embed a culture where our people can thrive.

We shone a spotlight on the colleagues who live and breathe those values, demonstrating them through their impact and the great work they do, by celebrating with The People Awards.

We also invited speakers who exemplify those values to join us and talk about why those values are important to their own work.

In 2023 we built on this, holding Global Values Week - a chance to turn these words into something real that is felt by everyone at KPMG – 265,000 people around the world.

Supporting all colleagues to thrive, no matter their background

In December 2022 we published leading research into the progression rates of people within KPMG, examining 16,500 colleagues over a 5-year period. It’s the most in-depth study of its kind undertaken by a single organisation.

Our research found that social class is the biggest barrier to career progression, compared to any other diversity characteristic. When combined with some other minority characteristics, career advancement is impacted even further.

Recognising the need for more targeted action, we’ve launched a promotion readiness programme called ‘Reach’. It’s aimed at supporting colleagues from low and intermediate socio-economic backgrounds, taking into consideration the impact of other minority characteristics where appropriate.

Zeena, a programme participant, said: “It was a chance to not only think about my achievements, but to also see the promotion in the wider context of KPMG rather than just my area of the business. Reach helped me grow my network and converse with people in a similar position to me with the same excitements and fears.”

In our first cohort, 79% of the 76 colleagues that took part were promoted. We’re now expanding the programme to both managers and senior managers in promotion rounds.

Hearing directly from our people

Central to our culture ambition is listening, learning and evolving. We want to know what’s working well, what could be improved and what topics are top of mind for our people? In addition to our annual engagement survey and pulse surveys, we have a regular programme of face-to-face engagement, including:

Firmwide open forums for colleagues and partners, hosted by our Executive Committee, giving our people the opportunity to ask questions and hear directly from our leadership.
Capability and team-specific listening boards, focusing on more local issues.
Regular regional visits and floor walks by our Board and ExCo to our offices around the country.
An Employee Business Forum formed of elected colleagues who represent the views of their colleagues and feed through to leadership.

Our face-to-face sessions have been very popular with colleagues, particularly the ‘open and honest approach’. 100% of the people who attended an open forum rated the session very good or excellent and would recommend to a friend. And 88% said they felt comfortable sharing questions and comments with leadership.*

*Source: survey of colleagues who took part in an open forum session in FY23. 56 respondents.

Our Values guide everything we do

Our success and reputation depends on our people doing the right thing. Our Code of Conduct helps them understand how we do this and underpins everything we do. Built on the foundation of Our Values. Our Code is our guide to how we build trust through the way that we work and by doing the right thing. It also sets out the professional and personal standards expected of everyone who works at KPMG; this includes our profession’s core conduct standards, as set out by the ICAEW’s Code of Ethics.

Our Values help us make ethical decisions showing our clients, audited entities and stakeholders what we believe in and what matters to us.

Values Week To help build pride in and deepen understanding of Our Values, we held a week-long celebration in November 2022 – Values Week – that focussed on a different value each day.

The week ended with our second People Awards, aimed at recognising people at KPMG who exemplify Our Values.

All colleagues and partners then attended Values Immersion sessions, where teams had meaningful discussion of Our Values and how we can all take greater ownership for living them. Our Executive Committee and Board were the first group to have an Immersion session and shared their reflections with colleagues.

Values Week and the Immersion Sessions were such a success, that the concept was adopted globally, with Global Values Week taking place in November 2023. More than 260,000 KPMG colleagues around the world took part in celebrating our shared values.

We’re continuing meaningful discussion around Our Values with another series of sessions for all colleagues and partners exploring how we put Our Values of Integrity and Courage into action.

90% / of our colleagues feel they know what they need to do to live Our Values in their day-to-day work 2023 Global People Survey¹ (2022: 91%)

96% / of those who attended a Values Week event believe KPMG is committed to building a culture guided by Our Values. 2022 Values Week feedback²

We do what is right

We never stop learning and improving

We think and act boldly

We respect each other and draw strength from our differences

We do what matters

Creating an open, safe and inclusive environment

We are committed to creating an environment where our people feel they can speak up without fear of retaliation. Where our people feel they will be listened to, and their concerns acted on. Where colleagues can thrive and reach their full potential, whatever their identity or background.

An open environment

We have a number of programmes in place where our people have the opportunity to share their thoughts and ideas, both with our Leadership team and fellow colleagues.

To support our Values-led culture, colleagues attended a Values Immersion Session facilitated by their Leader.

Values Week celebrated and deepened understanding of Our Values. 11,800 attended a speaker series event, 5,000 tuned in for the People Awards.

We run an annual Global People Survey, and regular pulse surveys, so that our people can tell us their thoughts on a range of topics related to working at KPMG.

Total number of colleagues participating in a Values Immersion Session / > 15,700 March 2023

Attendees at Values Week speaker series events / 11,800 November 2022

Firmwide engagement score / 70% 2023 Global People Survey¹ (2022: 73%)

A safe environment for our people to speak up

We encourage our people to speak up where they have issues or concerns about unethical working practices or where someone isn’t living Our Values. We have a number of ways in which our people can speak up, including through our network of Ethics Champions and via our Speak Up Hotline.

However, as important as our people having a responsibility to speak up, is our responsibility as a firm to listen. We take this responsibility seriously and provide our people with a number of mechanisms to support our commitment to listening.

Alongside this we’ve invested in our processes and controls to ensure we support our people when they have raised issues, without the fear of retaliation. We have zero-tolerance of retaliation which we have enshrined in policy. We’ve invested in a bespoke tool which allows us to monitor for signs of it and disciplinary action will be taken against anyone who has retaliated in any way against someone who has raised a concern.

We’ve also commissioned independent reviews into our Speak Up processes and how we take action when concerns are raised. This includes a six-monthly report from our independent ombudsman and an independent benchmark of our Speak Up processes by Protect, the leading authority on whistleblowing in the UK, which compared us to industry best-practice in a number of areas.

Ethics Champions We have over 100 Ethics Champions across the firm. Anyone can approach any Ethics Champion, no matter their location or role. As well as helping our people to report or discuss any ethical issues or concerns, they will also help to identify and address any examples of poor ethical practices.

Speak Up Hotline Our Speak Up Hotline is a secure and confidential channel for our colleagues to share what’s on their mind. It is overseen by an independent ombudsman who monitors the operation of the hotline and reports formally to our board on the effectiveness of the firm’s investigations into the reports received. Colleagues can check-in to see the progress of their report at any time.

Other routes to speaking up To guide our colleagues on the best route for raising concerns, information on all routes for speaking up is available on our internal website. We recognise that speaking up takes courage. We remind our colleagues of the wellbeing support available to them to support them in this process, for example, our independent Employee Assistance Programme, and the health helpline Health at Hand.

Number of Ethics Champions / 100+ FY23 (FY22: 100+)

Reports to Speak Up hotline / 50 FY23 (FY22: 45)

Reports to Ethics Champions / 202 FY23 (FY22: 214)

I remain of the opinion that investigations are taken seriously and approached thoughtfully. The healthy dynamic within the team, which encourages discussion and appropriate challenge, continues.
Independent ombudsman report to our UK Board, October 2023

77% / of colleagues felt they could report unethical practices without fear of being negatively impacted. 2023 Global People Survey¹ (2022: 80%)

An inclusive environment

We’re committed to creating a culture where all colleagues thrive and reach their full potential, whatever their identity or background. We are upskilling our colleagues to be active allies in building an inclusive culture and sense of belonging across the firm.

How we’re building an inclusive environment:

In February 2022, we launched our new Inclusion, Diversity & Equity plan Our KPMG: A fairer future for all, which sets out our bold ambitions and long-term targets to 2030.
Black Lives Action Plan – we surpassed the targets set for 2022 to at least doubling our Black Heritage population in leadership positions, and set ambitious 2030 targets for Partner and Director representation as part of our KPMG: A fairer future for all.
In 2022, we introduced firmwide mandatory Inclusion, Diversity and Equity training for colleagues and Partners and in 2023 values in action workshops in our journey to embed behavioural change across the organisation.
In December 2023 we launched the third cohort of our Cross-Company Allyship Programme. The programme has over 1,000 mentors and mentees from 40 organisations across the UK, Netherlands, and Canada. The programme opens up opportunities for KPMG and client mentors and mentees of Black and/or Minority Ethnic heritage to gain experiences and access networks from outside of their own organisations.
Our Inclusive Leadership Board includes external representatives who help to challenge our progress against our commitments, ensuring we create an inclusive environment.
Our 16 Employee Networks are open to all, providing a sense of community and learning experiences for those who want to increase their own diversity awareness or become an ally.

87% / I am treated with dignity and respect at work 2023 Global People Survey¹ (2022: 90%)

78% / I can be myself at work without concern for how I will be accepted 2023 Global People Survey¹ (2022: 81%)

80% / Average % of our colleagues who have disclosed one or more of their protected characteristics 1 Oct 23 (1 Oct 22: 82%)

Highest ethical and quality standards

At KPMG we are committed to acting responsibly and taking accountability for the way we do business, which includes ensuring that the work we carry out is of the highest ethical and quality standards. We have taken a series of steps to transform the way we govern our business to build trust. We’ve also increased Partner accountability.

How we’re transforming the way we govern our business

The money that Partners have invested in the business is at risk if they don’t meet our ethical and conduct standards.
Our Chair and Chief Executive’s performance and remuneration is based on a balance of trust and growth metrics. Their goals are shared with the partnership for transparency.
We’ve launched a new balanced score card for all partners which measures partner performance across four pillars, the first of which is Building Trust
Our refreshed Code of Conduct was reviewed by the Institute of Business Ethics (IBE).
We have designed a rolling ethics programme, taking input from the IBE, including basing it around their framework.
We refreshed our Conflicts of Interest policy in May 2022 and all partners, directors and client facing people now receive annual training on conflicts.
We’re continuing to invest in our programme to deliver a ‘high challenge, high support’ culture in Audit.

85% / of our colleagues felt the people they work for demonstrate honest and ethical behaviour 2023 Global People Survey¹ (2022: 90%)

83% / of our colleagues felt KPMG’s commitment to quality is apparent in what we do on a day-to-day basis 2023 Global People Survey¹ (2022: 85%)

Doing work that matters

Our work matters to our clients, to our people and to the communities in which we operate. We are committed to working with the right clients and to making a positive impact on society. And we want everyone at KPMG to feel inspired and engaged by the work they are doing.

Our employee proposition, Our KPMG, sets out what it means to be part of our firm and the sort of organisation we are aspiring to build together. It’s how we want everyone to experience and contribute to life at KPMG.

Do work that matters

You’ll make a meaningful difference for the businesses, people and communities we serve.

Come as you are

Your unique experiences and perspectives belong here and make us stronger.

Thrive with us

You’ll have the KPMG community at your side, providing the support you need to be at our best

Learn for a lifetime

You’ll be continuously learning and working with the best – gaining advantage for life.

Make your mark

You’ll be recognised for the impact you make, the leadership you show, and the success you create with others.

Listening, learning and evolving

Our Executive Committee are accountable for ensuring that our culture continues to evolve and that our culture ambition is being met, however all of our Partners and colleagues have a part to play in building our culture. We listen to all our stakeholders to learn about what we do well and any areas we need to address.

To understand our people’s views we hold an annual Global People Survey, regular pulse surveys and Open Forum sessions with Executive Committee members throughout the year. Our leadership also regularly engage with our Employee Business Forum, Employee Networks and Ethics Champions to listen to the lived experiences of our colleagues.

Our Culture Steering Group, comprised of Board and Executive Committee Members, meet on a quarterly basis to discuss culture metrics aligned to our culture ambition. Our Chair and Chief Executive’s performance and remuneration is based on a balance of trust and growth metrics. Their goals are shared with the partnership for transparency.

As well as our Board measuring our progress against our culture plan, we’ve continued to work with the Institute of Business Ethics who have looked at how we have executed and can evolve our firm’s ethics programme. Our Public Interest Committee, chaired by Lord Evans of Weardale, provides independent challenge and reviews our progress against our culture ambition, as part of their remit.

¹2023 Global People Survey data is based on 13,434 colleague responses. 2022 Global People Survey data is based on 11,069 responses.

²2022 Values Week feedback is based on 152 responses.