KPMG partner pay soars to an average of £688,000

Bosses at KPMG have scooped their biggest payday since 2014 after the corporate deal-making boom boosted demand for its advice.

The 571 UK partners’ average pay jumped 20 per cent to £688,000 last year. But that was less than their counterparts at rival Big Four accounting firms, with Deloitte’s top brass getting an average of just over £1million.

KPMG raked in £2.35billion of revenues in 2021, up from £2.14billion a year earlier.

Boom time: Accounting giant KPMG raked in £2.35bn of revenues in 2021, up from £2.14bn a year earlier

Profits jumped from £288million to £436million, even after it was blasted for its role in a string of scandals – it is still embroiled in investigations and lawsuits relating to its audit of bust outsourcer Carillion.

In an ongoing tribunal hearing, KPMG confessed to a ‘disturbing’ case of misconduct as it admitted documents were faked when it was questioned by the industry watchdog over the quality of its Carillion audit. 

And it was fined £13million over a conflict of interest when it advised on the sale of troubled mattress company Silentnight to private equity firm HIG, which left the former’s pensioners worse off than they might otherwise have been.

And it ‘advanced an untruthful defence’ during the probe into Silentnight, a tribunal found. Its UK chairman Bill Michael, who later stepped down, attracted unwanted attention when he told young staff to ‘stop moaning’ about pandemic conditions last year, when many said they were burnt out working at home.

Despite the mishaps, British staff shared in a £100million bonus pool. UK chief executive Jon Holt said: ‘This is a resilient performance delivered against the challenging backdrop of the pandemic. I am immensely proud of our people.’

But, in an acknowledgement that the firm needed to make improvements, KPMG is planning to invest £300million it made from selling its restructuring and pensions businesses into the continuing operations.

Holt – paid £1.7million – said it would be used to make a ‘once in a generation investment’ in areas such as audit and deal advisory. 

He added: ‘I am determined that, as a business, we will deal with and learn from our legacy issues, build trust in our profession and invest to deliver long-term, sustainable, growth.’

In December, KPMG stopped bidding for government work after it was threatened with a ban.