KPMG records strong growth in Middle East & South Asia region

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

KPMG International announced annual aggregated revenues for KPMG firms globally of $32.13 billion for the fiscal year ending 30 September 2021 (FY21).

Reporting a 10% increase in US dollar revenues from FY20, this follows an extensive period of investment and focus on priority services and solutions addressing the challenges faced by businesses across the globe.

Strong growth was achieved across functions: Advisory growing at 17%, Audit at 4% and Tax & Legal Services at 8%. 

The aggregate revenue of KPMG member firms in the Middle East & South Asia (MESA) region grew by 7.8% in US dollar terms for FY21, more than doubling the growth rate achieved in the previous year.

The positive results demonstrate the deep and impactful investments that KPMG firms in the MESA region have been making in people, technology, solutions, and alliances.

Commenting on the region’s performance, Nader Haffar, Chairman of KPMG MESA, said, “Throughout the unpredictability of recent months, our priorities have remained steadfast: we are working closely with our global network and strategic alliances, particularly in the technology space, to deliver more composite value-led propositions to our clients and meet their business needs amidst increasing digital disruption..”

KPMG in Bahrain’s Managing Partner, Jamal Fakhro, also stated: “The post-Covid-19 era requires businesses to cater, more than ever before, for the changing customers’ experience; also, the value-added tax (VAT) increase in Bahrain will require companies to review their infrastructure and contracts to ensure ongoing compliance.”

During FY21, the global organization committed to a more than $1.5 billion investment to focus on a multi-year programme to accelerate the delivery of its global ESG plan and solutions.

KPMG is in its third year of a $5 billion commitment to digital transformation, focused on purpose-driven technology, people and innovation.

The organization continued to invest significantly as part of its $1 billion investment in Tax and Legal technology to enable solutions like KPMG Digital Gateway. 

Investing in talent is a key area for the KPMG MESA region which expanded its workforce to over 8,250 with more than 2,200 hires this year, including 80 new partners and directors.

These were in areas including: cloud transformation, cyber security, finance transformation, people & change, ESG, major project advisory, infrastructure advisory, strategy & deals, risk & compliance.

New partners have been recruited with experience in the public sector, real estate and healthcare.

KPMG’s global headcount in FY21 reached more than 236,000 partners and employees, securing its position as a leading employer of choice and being ranked as one of the World’s Most Attractive Employers for business, IT and engineering students.