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KPMG’s UK partners will receive record pay averaging £816,000 following an 11% increase in pre-tax profits to £404 million.

The Big Four audit, tax and advisory service firm’s cost-cutting measures boosted profits after it recorded revenue growth of just 1% to £2.99bn in the year to September 2024.

To continue building a talent pipeline, the organisation promoted 10% more people than the previous year and created around 1,000 new opportunities for students. The steps taken to improve KPMG UK’s profitability meant the firm was able to increase the year-end bonus pot for staff, excluding partners, by 20%.

Jon Holt, group chief executive and UK senior partner at KPMG said: “This is a good performance in challenging market conditions. Over the past 12 months, our teams have worked incredibly hard to make sure our firm and our clients could adapt, succeed and grow in an uncertain business environment.

“While we’ve focused on managing our costs, we have positioned the business for long-term sustainable growth. We continued to invest in AI and new technologies, audit quality and our communities, and merging with KPMG Switzerland has opened up new markets and new client opportunities, to create more diverse and exciting career paths for our people. We also invested in talent, bringing in around 1,000 new students and promoting 10% more of our people to put the right skills and pipeline in place, as well as increasing our bonus pot by 20%.”

KPMG UK’s tax and legal business saw growth of 9% during 2024 in response to increased client demand for advice on changes to tax law and assessing and implementing advances in AI and new technologies.

Audit revenues grew by 5%, supported by the firm’s investments in audit quality and AI, but was offset by a decrease in advisory sales of 4% against a backdrop of depressed UK and global deals markets.