KPMG launches 5th annual Integrated Report – demonstrating the firm’s growth in the market

KPMG South Africa today announced the launch of the firm’s 5th annual Integrated Report which highlights key growth in several areas critical to the brand’s market remediation and the firm’s growth, as well as its progress in South Africa.

The 2022 annual report covers the full business impact on the market where, this year, it focuses specifically on five key areas of priority, including:
– The firm’s growth
– Progress on ethics
– The impact plan and commitment to ESG
– The transformation of culture, ethics, and values
– The critical importance of technology in growth

“There is no doubt that South African businesses are facing difficult economic times, with key priorities on sustaining business continuity, while driving innovation. We are proud to present this year’s report, as a testament to how we have managed to do just this – build business resilience, as well as focusing on key areas of growth and development including; leadership, creating purpose, prioritising and promoting inclusivity and working for public interest,” says Ignatius Sehoole, CEO at KPMG South Africa.

Growth of the firm
Like most businesses, KPMG South Africa is focused on profitable growth with an emphasis on ‘sustainable’ growth in line with the firm’s commitment to SDG8: Decent Work and Economic Growth. The goal is to be the most trusted and trustworthy professional services firm and to use that trust to gain market share across each of its markets, and this growth was again highlighted this year.

With the growth in the financial services and corporate sectors, KPMG this year witnessed a 17% year-on-year growth. All three functions were growth positive with Advisory growth just under 20% showing the strongest growth. From an industry lens perspective, the financial services revenue growth of 34% was instrumental in our overall performance.

“We are certainly proud of these figures, in what has been an incredibly tough market. However, what is more noteworthy is the fact that we witnessed a 91% customer satisfaction rating which demonstrates that not only are we growing as a firm, but we are maintaining and growing client satisfaction – which is critical to doing good business,” continues Sehoole.

Shining a light on ethics
KPMG has placed significant focus over the past five years on building an ethical business and ensuring that at every point, ethics is at the heart of the firm.

“This year, we witnessed a 16% growth in audit services which indicates not only that our remediation efforts have been recognised but that, as a firm, we have the right processes and policies in place to drive ethical business into Africa,” states Sehoole.

To support ongoing ethical conduct, this year the firm has placed priority on maintaining open communication on governance issues focused on client care as well as regulator feedback and mandatory audit firm rotation.

“We have worked hard to bring ethics to the forefront of our business and this year we have retained accreditation with all relevant local and international audit regulators, as well as the JSE and the Prudential Authority, which is a testament to our ongoing commitment and progress in this space,” adds Sehoole.

Transforming culture and enabling parity
In 2022, KPMG South Africa placed a strong focus on attracting, retaining, and developing talent, providing opportunities for international experience, prioritising fair remuneration, and creating room for gender parity. Through these efforts, the firm has seen incredible results and has shown resilience and commitment to creating a culture that is defined by the most diverse and ‘fit-for-purpose’ talent, enabled through a values-based, ethical, inclusive, and collaborative approach.

“I am most proud of the fact that we have managed to exceed the industry average benchmark for B-BBEE scores for the first time, a project that has been central to our transformation agenda,” says Sehoole.

KPMG South Africa has also placed a large focus on gender parity and addressing gender-related issues through key gender-based violence (GBV) research with other industry leaders, and where the CEO was voted as an Inclusive Leader in the Gender Mainstreaming Awards. Similarly, we have reconstituted the Transformation Oversight Committee and the Public Interest, Social, and Ethics Committee into the Transformation, Social, and Ethics Committee – enabling the firm to unlock synergies and deal with inclusivity in a more integrated way.

“Today, we can proudly say that 67% of staff are of colour but more so we can stand firm in the fact that 56% are women. This has increased across all levels of the business where we are now also above the industry average. In addition, we appointed the firm’s first-ever female Chief Operations Officer and Head of Audit Quality, which clearly demonstrates the shift in gender equality within the firm,” continues Sehoole.

Further to this, skills development is a critical pillar of people and culture, where the firm has taken in 855 graduate trainees and increased learning hours by 29%. In addition, the firm has launched the KPMG innovation centre which is a powerful collaborative tool using technology to drive the acceleration of ideas and growth within the business.

ESG and KPMG’s impact plan successes
The firm has adopted an Impact Plan based on the World Economic Forum’s Stakeholder Capitalism Metrics and under the four pillars of the metrics, has prioritised certain United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) including goals 2, 5, 7, 8, 9, 13, 16, and 17 where they are able to make the most impact. Each has an important bearing on our capacity to generate shared and sustainable value and they are highly interdependent.

“While commitment to sustainable development and ESG is a business target, we have also placed this onus on our staff – to ensure that collectively we can live with purpose and deliver on this value. Through this focus, we have witnessed R23 million in KPMG staff volunteering time alone. This is an incredible achievement and one that sets the tone for a successful ESG journey into the coming year,” states Sehoole.

Beyond this, some of the key highlights in this year’s report include the success of bilateral and multilateral engagement with institutional platforms to enhance the narrative of responsible business through partnerships such as the Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) where KPMG has championed good governance. Further to this, however, KPMG has witnessed strong tangible results through their ESG targets – linked to SDGs where community-based support has been central.

These include; contributions to the Democracy Works Foundation and the National Business Initiative, capacity building for 11 NGOs, assisted over 15 000 beneficiaries with community development and early childhood development, support for survivors of GBV, helping with HIV/Aids and community-based advocacy; inputs into government policies and fiscal allocations and drafted a GBV policy and established an internal GBV network. Furthermore, the company has committed R7.8 million in bursaries to aid skills development and curb unemployment in SA.

Further to this, the company has implemented shadow carbon pricing and commitment to science-based targets and locally, by the significant investment we are making in building ESG capacity.

Prioritising Technology to grow the firm
As a business that is dependent on information technology solutions (ITS) that support operations and promote a symbiosis between data integration and decision-making, KPMG has driven key technology innovation in the 2022 period. Developments include an incremental second line of defence (2LoD) controls together with the adoption of KPMG’s latest cloud-based audit methodology and technology platform (Clara) which have proven to yield significantly higher and sustainable audit quality outcomes.
Additionally, KPMG South Africa has developed use cases for the metaverse along with the European and ME advisory teams which aim to increase the firm’s ability to achieve full compliance with international auditing standards as well as drive audit automation and digitisation.

“Our focus for the year ahead is to develop the people and culture side of our business even further and to lay an even more solid foundation for growth going forward in all areas, including regional integration and of course, socio-economic development. We look forward to placing focus on these areas in the coming months,” concludes Sehoole.