Our purpose and values guide everything we do – from the way we govern our firm, the processes we have in place and the culture we create. They define what it means to work at KPMG, and our individual and collective responsibilities.
Jon Holt / Chief Executive, KPMG in the UK
It started for us over 150 years ago – well before the phrase 'ESG' became synonymous with the ethical practices of companies and their social and environmental consciousness.
William Barclay Peat, our founder, believed in our profession's potential to be a force for good in society as well as the economy. It's a belief we hold to this day.
Peat was an ardent campaigner for women to be admitted into the accounting profession and eventually was successful – Ethel Watts became the first woman to qualify as an accountant by examination to the ICAEW and KPMG's first female hire.
We've continued to lead the way on improving diversity in professional services. For example, when Ruth Anderson joined our UK Board in 1998, she became the first woman on the Board of a big professional services firm. And in 2019 we were incredibly proud to be the first of the Big Four to achieve gender parity on our Board. Today, 56% of our UK Board members are women, 22% are from an ethnic minority background and 22% are from a lower socio-economic background.
