Questions like these are being asked by KPMG insiders crippled by the bittersweet proposition placed in front of them by their employer, purportedly occasioned by the bewildering under-utilisation of the Transaction Services Team. Indeed, at a time when festive cheer should be coming to life inside the firm, insiders at KPMG tell us of hushed water-cooler convos where everyone from senior fee-earner to back-office desk-monkey are engaged in gut-wrenching pre-Christmas deliberations over whether to stay or whether to go. It’s true that the current voluntary redundancy/part-paid leave scheme is targeting KPMG’s Transaction Services Team, but many other staffers are grappling with this most important decision.
For those in the Transaction Services Team itself, the decision seems much easier, but questions abound as to why they, and indeed the wider firm, should have been asked in the first place. We received the following account of life inside the team from an anonymous KPMG spy:
As a current employee of KPMG Transaction Services, I can say that the entire division is a joke. The Sydney practice has 16 Associate Directors, 4 Directors, 7 Partners but only 1 Grad, 5 Senior Analysts. Over the course of this calendar year, 1 Grad and 3 Senior Analysts have left 2 of which were recently made redundant. The turnover amongst the junior ranks is consistently year on year nearly 50% which is higher than audit. The partners of the firm have no f***ing clue how to run the company and should be the ones made redundant. To anyone out there considering KPMG or specifically KPMG TS – avoid at all cost”
Turnover of 50% in junior ranks year on year? Sounds like the incoming juniors shouldn’t have been hired in the first place, in which case they might have accepted an employment offer elsewhere, rather than now facing the imminent prospect of being tarred with the redundancy brush.
To all those senior staffers considering a KPMG exit, we thought we would re-publish the comments of Heidi from Adage:
Given these type of ‘initiatives’ are generally targeted at those who may be tempted by an early exit payment (working mums, mature age) I would recommend individuals give this some serious thought, particularly those over the age of 45. While many employers dismiss the notion of age discrimination, the research doesn’t support this view with those over 45 likely to be unemployed up to 3 times longer than those under 45. So, before you take the cash, understand where the market is and what your intentions are. If you intend to retire and be done with 9-5 then this might be the right choice. If not and you need to get back to work do some research as to how employable you are. Your skill set may not be as “in demand” as you think.
At Adage, we target experienced workers over 45 and connect them with ‘age friendly’ employers and we have seen many jobseekers come to us after struggling to find work after taking a voluntary redundancy.
Will you take the cash and dash? Tell us in the comments!
Send the Firm Spy your news and views!
As a current employee of KPMG Transaction Services, I can say that the entire division is a joke. The Sydney practice has 16 Associate Directors, 4 Directors, 7 Partners but only 1 Grad, 5 Senior Analysts. Over the course of this calendar year, 1 Grad and 3 Senior Analysts have left 2 of which were recently made redundant. The turnover amongst the junior ranks is consistently year on year nearly 50% which is higher than audit. The partners of the firm have no fucking clue how to run the company and should be the ones made redundant. To anyone out there considering KPMG or specifically KPMG TS - avoid at all cost"
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I’m surprised no one had yet reported that KPMG had to delay paying partners by 2 weeks because they ran out of facility.
Yep I heard that as well – due to ‘cash flow issues’ the older partners didn’t get paid on time. Don’t know if the new partners were subjected to that fate…
Cash flow problems at a firm as large as KPMG would seem strange… whilst ‘transactional’ work may be in the pits, it makes up such a small portion of revenue that it shouldn’t really impact the business that much – 50% of the business (Audit) continues to tick along, as would a large part of the Tax division.
Perhaps KPMG should have made a better effort to rebuild its insolvency practice after the separation of McGrathNicol in 2004…
I can confirm all above, worked at KPMG Audit and a friend worked at KPMG TS, funny stories. It all started with the change of leadership at KPMG Transaction Services in 2008. That change resulted in some partners not talking at each other, no vision, absolute lack of direction. In addition, tensions were running high between the new Head of TS and other TS partners. Also tensions between other divisions such as CF and Restructuring on one end and TS on the other end resulted in an absolute slip of any kind of motivation amongst staff.
Some silly cost savings initiatives were implemented, no closing diners (even when clients asked for a closing diner on a project worth at least $0.7m of fees……), no bonus payments even when some staff have worked on large projects such as Asiano or Queensland Asset Sales. Speaking of, I should recommend the Queensland governement to take a close look at the invoices……..I heard staff from all over Australia were “working” on this project, the first 3 weeks people had no idea of what to do and were browsing the WWW instead of doing any relevant work…..still those hours were charged to the project code….nice, and don’t forget airfair tickets, hotel and diners…..tax money well spent….NOT
And do not forget the “voluntary part paid leave scheme”….so staff were on this scheme and the benefits were directly for the benefit of…..partners…..gold, sustainable business model I would think….NOT. Partners should not leverage the risk of bringing in no work to its staff, risk reward…….
The new head of TS even became Head of the total T&R division (so including CF and RS), that decision was a nightmare. Board decided to turn back that appointment after one year, the partner involved went on stress leave for a couple of months, how about that…
I heard that he is still Head of TS, but clearly there is no support for him. Wonder how long it takes before he steps down…
I also remember him bragging about revenues going up in 2008 due to an internal project!!! Internal project, wow, TS was charging internal hours to other divisions for producing lots of scenarios, calculating new strategies etc. etc. Instead of putting effort in our clients we decided to focus on internal stuff bla bla bla.
Charging internal hours…NO CASH……No need to bragg about revenues going up…..
The only partner who still was bringing in some decent work was the Lead Partner on MacBank….that account also slipped in 2009 and 2010. I understand he is on a career break of at least 1 year…..
It is one big mess up there and it all comes back to 1 thing……LEADERSHIP and the abillity to change the current outdated business model (relevant to all BIG-4 accounting firms)
I left KPMG to work for a smaller accounting firm interstate, best decision ever, do not go to KPMG, it is a nightmare!
Gold Stev01. I am exKapers Melbourne….best decision I made was to resign two years ago. Working at PwC in Sydney now and fewer egos like TS at Kapers. The Head of TS at Kapers had a mental breakdown because he had the impossible task of getting a bunch of disfunctional egotists to work together and no one would support him. Management didn’t either and were quick to turn their back on his appointment but no so quick on others…….
Rumour has it TS is not the only disfunctional high turnover team at Kapers…………………..an ex-Kapers friend told me the shared services team in Advisory is a law suit waiting to happen and turnover is high there too. The Training team walked out two years ago because he said they got subjected to bullying and harassment by the female head of shared services and the same management that booted off the TS guy out of the TS job did not raise an eyebrow when the whole team walked out. None of them had jobs to go to either…..and to add insult a long string of others in the same area have walked since for what he says is the same reasons…..
There was excessive dead weight leaders at Kapers when I was there and seems like nothing has changed much since. 50% turnover does seem quite reasonable given what is going on down there.
I left Kapers two years and left the nightmare too.
Cash flow problems, leadership problems, bullying problems, staff turnover problems……… not exactly great things to attract people to want to work there. I heard from a friend at KPMG that there have been a massive increase in theft in the Melbourne building. Tough times means people resort to anything. It is a bit sad that people are stealing from their colleagues though. The partners must not be paying their staff enough.
Why are Kapers bleeding people? Take a look at what’s happening in shared services. If HR Awards are handed out to people who generate massive voluntary exits, empty out the Melbourne office and make sure all the key jobs are in Sydney, especially if you are one of her old cronies, then the Head of People deserves accolades. Best Firm to Work with? Sadly for the good people working here or anyone else for that matter, run a mile is the best form of advice where KPMG is concerned.