KPMG International reported Thursday the annual aggregated revenues of its member firms around the world grew 10% to $32.13 billion for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2021, despite the pandemic.
The firm attributed the growth to extensive investment and focus on priority services for business clients across the globe. Revenue from KPMG’s advisory practice led the way on growth at 17% to $13.65 billion, while combined tax and legal services increased 8% to $7.02 billion, and audit services went up 4% to $11.46 billion, across KPMG firms globally in fiscal year 2021.
Accounting and consulting firms like KPMG have needed to help clients deal with the impact of the pandemic over the past two years, as they saw their supply chains constrained by shortages and experienced difficulty with hiring and public health concerns.
“2021 was a strong year for KPMG,” said Bill Thomas, global chairman and CEO of KPMG International in a statement. “We achieved outstanding growth in a challenging business climate, unveiled KPMG: Our Impact Plan to help drive sustainable change across our organization, and launched a new global ESG plan to support our clients in achieving their goals of addressing the most existential challenges — while making a difference in the world.”
During fiscal 2021, KPMG committed to a more than $1.5 billion investment around the world to focus on a multiyear program to accelerate the delivery of its global environmental, societal and governance (ESG) plans and solutions. KPMG said its firms have also focused on building an inclusive and diverse culture, increasing female diversity in its leadership ranks to 27% of partners and directors.
In its audit practice KPMG has been investing in a quality management system and rolling out KPMG Clara, global cloud-enabled, Microsoft Azure-powered audit technology.
ESG assurance is being led by KPMG’s audit function and has become a crucial part of KPMG’s global ESG plan. “Audit quality remains our top priority and we are investing heavily in this continuous journey,” said Larry Bradley, global head of audit at KPMG International, in a statement. “Over the past year, we have made significant investments in our system of quality management, global monitoring of audit quality, and enhanced support to all of our audit professionals globally.”
KPMG continued to invest significantly as part of a $1 billion investment in tax and legal technology, including KPMG Digital Gateway cloud technology built around Microsoft Azure. In the ESG area, the firm created KPMG Tax Impact Reporting, a new service that helps clients remain compliant and mitigate their risks.
In FY21, KPMG built a legal service offering around the world through KPMG Law, expanding its footprint to 81 jurisdictions, with over 2,800 lawyers.
Overall KPMG’s global headcount in fiscal 2021 grew to more than 236,000 partners and employees across all its functions and firms.
