KPMG is cutting roughly 10% of its audit partners in the United States after a long-running effort to encourage more senior partners to retire early did not bring enough exits. According to the Wall Street Journal report, around 100 partners are leaving the Big Four accounting firm. Some of them had agreed to leave through voluntary early retirement, while others are part of the latest cuts.
KPMG cuts about 10% of US audit partners
KPMG, in a statement earlier, said the decision is meant to better match the number of partners with the current size of its audit business. The company said the move is not linked to poor performance by individual partners.
“This action is connected to a multiyear strategy to align the size, shape and skills of our team to the power of our audit platform to best serve our clients and protect the capital markets,” KPMG said in a statement. The firm added that affected partners will receive financial packages as well as placement support.
KPMG’s partners and managing directors in its US audit practice total around 1,400, according to the company’s January audit-quality report. According to the Wall Street Journal, managing directors are not included in the current cuts.
KPMG says audit business is still growing
Even with the cuts, KPMG said its US audit business is still growing. According to an Ideagen Audit Analytics report released in March, KPMG audits around 10% of companies registered with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
That puts it behind some of its biggest rivals. Deloitte audits about 15% of SEC-registered companies, Ernst & Young handles 13%, while PricewaterhouseCoopers audits 12%.
Global markets juggle layoffs, job data, oil spike
Global markets saw a busy and uneasy Thursday, clearly impacted by company job cuts, fresh signals from the US economy, pressure in cryptocurrency markets and a rise in oil prices linked to tensions in the Strait of Hormuz.
Big names such as Meta, Microsoft and KPMG announced workforce changes as companies continue to bet heavily on artificial intelligence. At the same time, US jobless claims rose slightly, Bitcoin slipped, and crude oil surged as fears over global supply routes returned.
Meta Platforms said it will cut around 10% of its workforce, or close to 8,000 employees. The layoffs are set to begin on May 20. The company is also leaving around 6,000 open roles unfilled as it tries to reduce costs and manage rising AI expenses. Meta has also been asking employees to use AI tools more in daily work, including coding and internal tasks.
Microsoft has been increasing its spending on AI infrastructure, including data centres and cloud systems. KPMG, meanwhile, is cutting around 10% of its US audit partners after earlier voluntary retirement plans did not yield sufficient exits.
Meanwhile, Fresh labour market data from the United States showed some softening, but no major warning signs yet. Initial jobless claims rose by 6,000 to 214,000 for the week ended April 18. That was a little higher than expected. Bitcoin fell below the $80,000 mark after briefly touching its highest level since January. It dropped around 1.3% and traded near $77,800.