KPMG Australia has continued to progress a purpose-led growth strategy in FY22, with the firm today releasing its second annual impact report as part of a commitment to greater transparency, improved accountability and enhanced performance.
The report outlines the impact of the firm’s operations and supply chain, focused on environmental and social impacts alongside governance and leadership.
It comes after KPMG Australia unveiled our FY22 financial results, with revenue lifting to $2.341 billion for the 12 months through 30 June, up 16 percent on the prior period; the number of people employed by the firm rising by 25 percent to 12,238; and tax paid by the firm of $690 million (up 14.2 percent).
“Our impact report acknowledges KPMG’s achievements in the past financial year, and highlights areas for improvement. The key to advancing in these areas will be honesty, rigour, and holding ourselves to account,” said CEO, Andrew Yates.
“I’m very proud of the progress we have made in the past year. The firm has delivered strong results for our clients, our planet, our people and communities, and we look forward to continuing that momentum in the year ahead.”
Chairman Alison Kitchen said: “This year's report matures our sustainability reporting from last year. It contains new metrics - including how fathers are using the new flexible parental leave; and the number of people who completed our Arrilla Digital Indigenous Cultural Awareness training.
“It also reports some new measures and initiatives. For example, in a first for professional services in Australia, we estimated for each dollar of our revenue the carbon emissions intensity of our client portfolio. Having this baseline means we can better develop strategies for future growth aligned with our Climate Action Plan, as well as Australia’s decarbonisation targets.”
Highlights from the 2022 impact report include:
Planet
- New KPMG Nature Positive Challenge launched to encourage innovation in nature and biodiversity.
- Carbon neutrality maintained and internal carbon price implemented, and now sourcing 100 percent renewable energy for all our offices.
- In a first for professional services in Australia, we estimated that for every dollar of revenue we generate, 0.106kg of carbon emissions are emitted through our client portfolio. This baseline enhances our understanding of the work we do for our client portfolio and, over time, will enable us to monitor how our work aligns with our own Climate Action Plan and Australia’s climate commitments, as well as how we support our clients reduce their carbon intensity.
People
- Improved our gender pay gap for employees (reduced by 2.3 percent) and partners (reduced by 4.1 percent); and maintained gender pay equity (less than 1 percent gap on a like-for-like comparison)
- ‘Work from Anywhere’ policy introduced, allowing employees to spend time with loved ones overseas.
- Flexible 26-week parental leave policy introduced, with a 20 percent increase of men using it since implementation (249 men in FY22, up from 208 in FY21).
Prosperity
- Increased economic contribution to Australia, with revenue growth of 16 percent to $2.341 billion for the period; 12,238 people employed (up 25 percent); and taxes paid of $690 million (up 14.2 percent)
- Completed 26 submissions to Government and Parliamentary Inquiries, advocating on issues that matter.
- Launched third ‘Elevate’ Reconciliation Action Plan.
Governance
- No notifiable data breaches were incurred.
- Training-related misconduct investigations concluded and ethical culture program underway.
- New Respect@Work policies introduced.
- Gender equality achieved in leadership, with a majority of both the Board and National Executive Committee now women.
We reduced gross absolute emissions by 37 percent from last year, driven by lower occupancy in our offices and lower levels of business travel during the pandemic. After signing a new supply agreement with a windfarm in South Australia, KPMG Australia is now sourcing 100 percent renewable energy for all our offices, further cementing the firm’s commitment to being a net zero emissions organisation by 2030.
Gender pay equity was maintained (less than 1 percent on a like-for-like basis); and gender pay gaps were improved by 2.3 percent among employees (down to 11.4 percent) and 4.1 percent among partners (down to 12.46 percent) in the 2022 financial year. A 26-week flexible parental leave policy was introduced, with a 20 percent increase in parental leave uptake by men (249 men in FY22, up from 208 in FY21). A ‘Work from Anywhere’ policy was introduced in December 2021, allowing people to spend time with loved ones overseas, with at least 200 people accessing the policy.
Meanwhile headcount grew 25 percent year on year with the firm employing 12,238 people as of 30 June. The firm’s partnership increased to 673 partners, up from 604 in the previous year. Forty-two per cent of partner appointments were women, increasing their representation on the firm’s partnership to 33.4 percent. The appointments see KPMG well on track to realise its ambition of 40 percent women partners by 2025. A record 749 graduates were hired, up from 593 the prior period.
In the 2022 financial year, KPMG continued to strengthen its existing governance processes with the appointment of a Chief Purpose Officer; and piloted a new Ethical Decision Making Framework which will be operationalised in FY23. There were no notifiable data breaches during the period; and an ethical culture program is underway.
About this report
Prepared in accordance with the WEF IBC Stakeholder Capitalism Metrics and with reference to the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards, KPMG Australia’s ‘Our Impact Plan FY22’ reports how well the firm is performing against four pillars – Planet, People, Prosperity and Governance. We also detail our progress against our long-standing commitment to the UN Global Compact Principles. This reporting helps describe how we continue to deliver against the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) most relevant to us.
