People and culture

Inclusion, Diversity and Equity (IDE)

Our strategy to build trust and grow our firm is underpinned by an inclusive culture. Fostering an open, safe and speak-up culture is crucial to promoting diversity, equity, and a sense of belonging. Within Audit we use many culture interventions and activities that promote a psychologically safe environment where colleagues feel confident to speak up and challenge the day-to-day.

This is reflected in our GPS survey which saw a 4 percentage point increase in colleagues believing that they could report unethical practices without fear of negative impacts.

Our leaders are committed to driving change and are held accountable, with set targets and action plans to 2030 for IDE which they’re measured against regularly. We also remain committed to being transparent about our remuneration and pay gaps. In 2021 we became one of the first UK businesses to publish our socio-economic background pay gaps, and we continue to report on our pay gaps against several under-represented characteristics (our current and historical Pay Gap Reports can be found here).

Examples of our commitment to date include:

• Inclusive Leadership Board (ILB) – The ILB started in 2016 and is a collection of internal senior stakeholders and a number of external consultants who meet once a quarter to advise KPMG on our Talent strategy, specifically from an inclusion perspective. In 2024, topics discussed included considerations of international work opportunities for our colleagues, the merger of KPMG Switzerland and KPMG UK, and the use of AI.
• IDE training – Our mandatory training ‘Enhancing our Vision’ was launched in 2022 to all KPMG UK partners and employees and was refreshed for 2024. It is designed to engage colleagues, encouraging them to reflect on how their identities influence their experiences and how other people may experience things differently. The module covers the legal and regulatory landscape with specific reference to the Equality Act 2010 and protected characteristics. It outlines colleagues’ roles and responsibilities in helping the firm meet our obligations under the law and our own policies, including our firm-wide policy on Inclusion, Diversity and Equity. The training includes significant levels of user-generated content to drive engagement.
• Ask Me Anything sessions – These have been rolled out across 23 engagements in Banking Audit to encourage a breaking down of silos and hierarchy as well as building psychological safety within teams. Many topics have been positively discussed, and our people have welcomed the opportunity to ask questions about any topics that are important to them. These sessions continue to be rolled out across the whole of Audit through our Culture Ambassador network.
• Employee networks – In our bid to build an inclusive culture, we have 16 employee networks open to all, providing a sense of community and creating learning experiences for those who want to increase their own diversity awareness or become an ally. They deliver a calendar of events throughout the year to celebrate key moments, where people can voice their own lived experiences and provide vital feedback and insight to leadership.

We are proud to have been recognised externally as a Times Top 50 Employer for Gender Equality; as a Disability Confident Leader; as a top 30 employer in the 2024 Stonewall Workplace Equality Index; and to have ranked in the top five in the Social Mobility Employer Index every year since its inception in 2017.

When considering our talent, we strive to attract people from all backgrounds at every stage of their career and empower them to reach their full potential. To help us access diverse talent pools we have engaged with specialist recruitment agencies such as Auticon who improve the employment prospects of autistic people by helping find high-quality careers for skilled neurodiverse adults. We also work with Gap Talent who help us reach and place Black heritage hires. In addition, we continue to invest in programmes such as Access Accountancy where all our KPMG Discovery work experience places are for candidates from low socio-economic backgrounds. Additionally, we launched our Cross Company Allyship Programme (CCAP) in 2021 which opens up opportunities for KPMG and client mentors and mentees of Black and/or Minority Ethnic heritage to gain experience and access networks from outside of their own organisations (without the need to move on). Since its inception, 45% of our mentees were either promoted or moved laterally and we have grown the programme fivefold.

In addition to the above, a number of other Talent Programmes support colleagues from diverse backgrounds, including:

• Inspire and Elevate which seeks to support our IDE ambition of building an inclusive environment, accountable leaders and equitable experiences. The programme is available to all, with a focus on colleagues from historically under-represented groups.
• The Black Heritage Allyship Programme (BHAP) that has been running annually since July 2020 pairs mentees and mentors across KPMG for the purposes of reciprocal mentoring, coaching and sponsorship. Since 2020, we have successfully run four cohorts with over 1,000 people in KPMG signing up to BHAP and over 300 pairings. The survey feedback from the programme has been very positive, with 32% of Black heritage colleagues from Cohort 1 and 2 being promoted within 12 months of joining the programme.
• IT’s Her Future is a dedicated company-wide initiative at KPMG designed to address and mitigate the various challenges and disparities women face in the technology sector. Driven by a collaborative group of committed people, we drive targeted strategies to attract, recruit, retain and advance women in tech careers.

Wellbeing

Our people are what make our firm a success. We recognise the importance of health and wellbeing in enabling our people to be at their best - so we make it a priority. We provide all our colleagues with extensive access to essential services, guidance and support networks, helping them thrive at work and at home. We have a network of wellbeing ambassadors who promote wellbeing at a local level, and we have successfully piloted Mental Health First Aiders in a Performance Group within Audit. We are providing training to HR Business Partners to expand the network.

We deliver an annual wellbeing week at the beginning of January to help our Audit teams prepare for busy season. This focuses on a number of key topics each year, including creating awareness and providing tips on how to manage burnout, imposter syndrome and stress, and build resilience. We previously launched the winning idea, ‘Focus Time Working’ from our wellbeing innovation challenge as part of our January 2022 wellbeing week which we have reinforced this year with the Viva Insights application from Microsoft which is automatically enabled for every colleague. This tool populates dedicated periods of time within a colleague’s working day to disconnect from all distractions and complete their work. It silences pop ups, notifications and calls and is used at all grades. Positively, we have seen a 6 percentage point increase in our annual GPS survey for colleagues reporting that their workload allows them the time to deliver work of an appropriate quality, indicating that embedding these tools is having a positive impact.

We have also launched specific Leadership wellbeing initiatives to support our leaders, including partnering with an external consultancy to deliver a session on Belonging & Connectivity, which had a focus on loneliness. Key topics included normalising the experience of loneliness and why belonging is important, and then a more practical focus on how to connect in a hybrid working environment including top tips for our leaders and their teams. Feedback from the session was positive and the resources have been embedded into our Leadership Playbook for all leaders and colleagues to reference.

We are in the process of running upskilling sessions for our Performance Leaders and Performance Managers on mental health in the workplace to support them in having conversations with colleagues and enable them to signpost resources available.

We arranged for Bupa to run a session on financial wellbeing over the summer, sharing top tips for colleagues on how they can build and maintain their financial wellbeing, manage financial stress, and use budgeting tools to track their finances.

We are exploring ways in which we can better support our overseas new joiners from a wellbeing perspective. We are currently working with some overseas new joiners to share their experiences and to offer practical advice to other overseas colleagues.

Driving quality through fair opportunity

One of the key drivers of quality is making sure we assign people with the right level of skills and experience to the right engagements. Doing this requires a focus on the recruitment, development, promotion and retention of our people, and the development of robust capacity and resource management processes.

Key considerations include experience, accreditation, training and capacity in view of the size, complexity, industry and risk profile of the engagement and the type of support to be provided. This may include involving local specialists or those from other KPMG member firms.

We know that getting this right also has a huge impact on the opportunities and career development of our people from historically under-represented groups. We ensure that engagements and projects are allocated fairly.

Recruitment

To effectively attract talent and keep our business fit for the future, we ensure our KPMG brand and related external marketing content is relevant and impactful for a diverse, high calibre talent pool. This also helps us attract candidates globally to the UK practice.

To ensure we are identifying the best candidate, they follow a thorough selection process which, depending on the role, includes:

• Application screening.
• Competency & Technical interviews.
• Fit and proper checks.
• Independent Panel Process (Director & Partner).
• Psychometric and ability testing.
• Qualification and reference checks.

In FY24, we introduced a new Core Audit Technical interview guide with updated technical questions relating to audit quality and sector/industry relevant topics, alongside a refreshed competency interview guide.

A revised Audit interview training pathway has also been introduced for our Hiring Managers in Core Audit, available through our Learning platform, Degreed.

Upon joining the firm, qualified joiners take part in an induction programme which includes training in areas such as: ethics and independence, quality and risk management, engagement management and people management procedures, with a particular focus on KPMG’s values and culture.

As part of our Audit people strategy, we have recently made a number of significant improvements to the way we onboard and welcome our qualified joiners, helping set them up for success in their new roles. Our induction programme now gives candidates a truly blended experience, learning new skills in a classroom environment and then immediately applying them through on-the-job experience from week one. New joiners receive dedicated support via an online portal and have access to an onboarding experience lead to help them with any early queries. We also recognise that joining from another country brings with it other challenges and have launched a new pre-boarding portal to support international joiners, with buddies assigned from the moment an offer is accepted to provide additional support.

Accelerated Programme

For student attraction specifically, we have continued to build on our flagship graduate programme by launching our front-loaded Accelerated programme for our Class of 2023, where students study towards the ACA qualification. The programme is structured to invest in and boost our graduates’ technical abilities up front, making them ‘work ready’ more quickly. Those on the programme spend the first of three years learning and gaining the majority of their ACA qualification, with around 70% of this learning being delivered face-to-face. This gives our graduates more time and space to get up to speed before being allocated to an engagement, whilst also offering greater opportunity for them to build their professional networks and learn together.

Alongside the core curriculum covered as part of the ACA qualification, we also upskill on professional development and train new graduates in the big issues facing business, like ESG and technology. As part of the wider programme, graduates have the opportunity to participate in a Corporate Responsibility project as a way of helping KPMG give back to our local communities – three days, during their first year, are dedicated to this.

Practical tools and resources continue to create culture change on the ground

We continue to embed our Culture Ambition by developing practical tools, resources and events that help our colleagues understand and apply it in practice. Our progress in FY24 has included:

• Audit-led activities and resources:
  • 9 culture assessments, including 38 culture focus groups and 95 interviews, to understand cultural and behavioural drivers and identify areas that may require improvement.
  • Quarterly meetings with our Culture Ambassadors to share best practice and seek input into, and feedback on, culture activities and collateral.
  • Regular speaker events to explore our culture theme of accountability. Our KPMG Audit University was centred on Empowering Through Accountability.
• Driving cultural change locally:
  • Our Culture Ambassador network helps to embed our Culture Ambition. Their passion in delivering tangible culture change has resulted in over 230 activities, aligned to our culture plan, being carried out locally.
  • Our coaching materials continue to be used locally and reinforced in quarterly mandatory training. Coaching training is also delivered to newly promoted Managers and experienced hires, and our Partners, Directors and Senior Managers are also encouraged to attend this training.

Management information and how we use it

Continuing to measure our progress is key to success. We baseline and measure our culture on a holistic basis, using a variety of sources of management information including our firm-wide Culture Dashboard, our culture assessments, and through consultation with our Audit Evolution Board.

The sources of management information we use include:

• Our Global People Survey which gives colleagues from KPMG member firms an opportunity to express their views on a range of topics about life at KPMG. We use the responses to gather insight and identify issues that affect colleagues both locally and globally. We regularly update Audit colleagues on the progress we are making against the focus areas in a newsletter called ‘You Said, We Did’.
• Our mid-year Pulse survey which is a temperature check to measure progress against our firm-wide priority areas.
• Our Audit Listening Programme which gathers views from the entities we audit.
• Culture assessments where we provide opportunities to effectively listen to and support audit teams, departments and offices in understanding the level of embeddedness of our values and Culture Ambition.
• Reports to our Speak Up hotline.
• Coaching surveys.
• Audit leaver feedback.
• Root Cause Analysis Outcomes
• We continue to use Culture Amp, an employee experience platform, which provides detailed, real-time analysis of colleague sentiment, enabling us to identify areas of focus and take action sooner than we’ve previously been able to. We have been able to give partners and local leaders direct access to the analysis for their teams so they can make meaningful impact, quickly.

Working with the Root Cause Analysis team, we also continue to measure our culture through focus groups where we deep dive into the behaviours we need to focus on, to understand how well embedded our High Challenge, High Support culture is, and what we need to do to strengthen it. We held over 36 focus groups and 90 interviews in 2024 which were attended by over 200 Audit colleagues. These inputs are helping us target our actions where they will have the greatest impact.

Learning

For experienced colleagues, our This is Leadership blended programme is designed to augment leadership skills that are critical in leading effective audit teams. In addition, all colleagues are supported for lifelong careers within Audit through our new Audit Career Journeys interactive tool, created to map potential paths, required skills and learning solutions to get there. Further, as part of our commitment to inclusion and diversity, a range of highly interactive English Language Resources are in place to support non-native speaker colleagues.

Across the firm, our Milestone programmes support newly promoted Assistant Managers, Managers, Senior Managers and Directors to transition effectively and step up into their new roles. The Milestones are supported by a comprehensive follow-on leadership development curriculum focusing on future-ready leadership skills. We also offer targeted programmes for our Partner promotes and a follow-on curriculum for Established Partners. Alongside our pioneering strategy, we are offering additional development opportunities on ESG, artificial intelligence and more.

Audit Career Journeys

KPMG Audit Career Journeys is a strategic initiative designed to empower individuals to take control of their career development and explore exciting new opportunities within the firm.

Through Audit Career Journeys, individuals can:

• Explore diverse career paths: Discover and explore potential career paths that align with their interests and aspirations.
• Understand skill requirements: Gain insights into the specific skills and qualifications needed for each role, enabling them to identify areas of focus and development.
• Access tailored learning resources: Leverage bespoke learning resources designed to support their development in their current or desired role.
• Take charge of their career: Empower themselves to take ownership of their career journey, explore new opportunities, and reach their full potential at KPMG.

Fostering a culture of continuous learning, Audit Career Journeys is part of KPMG's commitment to employee development and personal growth. It empowers colleagues to shape their own career paths and contribute to the firm's overall success.

Our Audit Evolution Board

As our audit landscape changes and the role of the auditor transforms, it becomes increasingly important for leadership to listen to the views from those closer to audit delivery and impacted by key decisions made across the UK Audit practice. For this reason, the Audit Evolution Board (‘AEB’) was formed in 2020.

The AEB's role is to provide challenge, diversity of thought, new insight and recommendations to matters discussed across our strategic pillars by the Audit Executive and Audit Board, and to play a part in improving the culture of trust and quality within the Audit business. There are 12 members, from trainees to Senior Managers from across the performance groups within our UK Audit practice. By connecting with engagement teams across the Audit business, the AEB brings a wide range of opinions, experience and perspectives to help shape the key decisions made by the Audit Executive and the Audit Board. Monthly meetings are attended by AEB members, the Chair (who is a member of our Audit Executive), and presenters to focus the AEB on key matters aligned to the Audit Executive agenda.

The AEB has impacted multiple pillar initiatives throughout 2024, through attendance and contribution at steering committees including the Audit Quality Council, participation in judging panels including the Spring Audit Quality and Culture Awards, and more specific actions targeted to support the delivery of our audit strategy. This includes recently producing guidance, created from feedback the AEB collated from across the UK Audit practice, on the habits leading to the successful recovery of overruns and scope changes, which is now available on the Pricing Portal.