KPMG UK has promoted a historically modest 25 new equity partners this year as it makes greater use of the salaried partner badge which it introduced in 2021.
The firm has promoted 108 new partners in its latest cohort which it announced on 14 October.
KPMG UK has added 210 partners since last year, however, only 25 are equity partners with the rest being salaried partners, a spokesperson confirmed.
The salaried partner role was introduced at the firm last year, in a move that was first reported by Financial News.
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Salaried partners can typically be promoted by partnerships without diluting partner profits since they don’t hold a large equity stake in the firm.
They are instead paid more like employees, with only a limited proportion of their compensation based on the firm’s profitability.
Equity partners, in contrast, take a share in the firm’s profits, so keeping their numbers controlled can help increase the profit they each take home.
The firm was in the past more generous with its equity partner promotions.
In KPMG UK’s 2020 December promotions, the firm promoted 38 equity partners, having promoted 49 at the same point in 2019 and 39 in late 2018.
The firm added 95 partners in April this year and 56 partners in December 2021. It also hired 47 partners across the year.
The firm confirmed that only 25 of the new promotions and hires it made this year are equity partners.
The firm now has 502 equity partners and 279 salaried partners following the latest promotions, KPMG said in its statement.
Partner pay at KPMG UK increased 20% to £688,000 in the year to 30 September 2021, with profit before tax increasing to £436m from £288.
The firm lags its Big Four rivals on partner profits with both Deloitte and PwC posting £1m-plus average partner payouts in their latest results. Boosting partner profits has been a headache for a series of KPMG UK leaders.
A third of the firm’s new partners are women, 19% are from an ethnic minority background and 27% are from a low socioeconomic background, KPMG said.
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KPMG said it had “significantly grown its partnership in the past year, reflecting strong demand from its clients”.
In September 2021, the firm’s partners voted to retain £300m from the sales of its restructuring and pensions businesses to invest in the firm, KPMG said.
“The breadth of our expertise enables our firm to support our clients with their most complex challenges, which is more important than ever in the current economic and geopolitical climate,” chief executive Jon Holt said in a statement.
The firm did not provide a breakdown of which partners among the latest promotions were salaried partners or equity partners.
KPMG UK partner promotions in full
Alison Allen
Carla Kennaugh
Gareth Woods
Gill Hopwood – Bell
Grant Archer
Irene Sellars
Kelly Martin
Mark Wallington
Matthew Campbell
Nayab Kohli
Nikki Davies
Pamela Taylor
Rahim Butt
Richard Pinks
Roger Nixon
Sabira Datoo
Shirley Rogan
Simon Cooper
Slim Gueddana
Tom Smith
Umar Jamil
Adam Rivers
Alejandro Modarelli
Anand Shah
Andrew Burrows
Anne Gosal
Ashley Harris
Charlotte Lo
Christopher Checkley
Douglas Dick
Gareth Woods
Harriet Oram
Heather Sharp
Jo Thomson
John Herring
Jonathan Brown
Jorge Castano
Matthew Rose
Minochehr Vania
Nicholas Mead
Oisin Fouere
Osama Rabbani
Paul Greenan
Robert Bear
Sam Sanders
Sara Forbes
Shreyas Shah
Stella Deakin
Steven Carter
Surbjit Laroya-Annan
Tania Gill
Amy Todd
Oliver Duckett
Caroline Nurse
Chin Harn Leong
David Hill
David Hirst
David Stokoe
Farhaz Magan
George Hay
Guillaume Favier
Gurjit Garcha
Ian Wood
James Dearman
Joe Manning
Katrina Magee
Lizzie Meadowcroft
Matt Willies
Mohannad Hassan
Nenad Simonovic
Peter Westlake
Susan Dunlop
Tom Morris
Wenceslao Serrano Serrano Lopez
Rebecca Townsend
Ian Dunn
Siubhan Clines
Alex Thornton
Alice Killingbeck
Ann Devine
Aron Mayer
Brian O’Neill
Carol Johnson
Damon Lambert
David McKay
Ed Hobern
Gareth Wainwright
Hiten Lad
Isabel Ost
James Thomas
Kaljinder Nijjar
Kathryn Mallett
Mark Cowland
Michael Wilson
Paul Freeman
Phil Roper
Rich Woods
Richard Louden
Serena Bell
Shuchi Chawla
Susanne Dixon
Terri Costello
Narayan Peralta
Wendy Clemenson
John Davies
Paul Rogers
Justine Andrew
Will Hawkley
Corrections and amplifications: An earlier version of this article said KPMG UK had added 25 equity partners in its latest promotions round which was incorrect. The firm has in fact added 25 equity partners across the past year in its various promotions rounds and partner hires.
To contact the author of this story with feedback or news, email James Booth
