Outrage as graduate jobs in accountancy at KPMG become a little less well paid
How would you feel if you worked hard to pass your second year accounting exams the first time around, expecting to have your achievement acknowledged in the form of a £1k bonus from your kindly accounting employer, only to find that the promised bonus had been suddenly withdrawn without warning?
This is what's happened at KPMG.
City AM claims that Adrian Stone, COO of KPMG's audit practice, sent an email along the following lines to its successful second years on Thursday afternoon:
“As you may be aware, our trading performance in the audit function has come under significant pressure from the challenging economic situation we are experiencing in the UK.
As a result of this KPMG will be exercising its discretion under the training agreement and with immediate effect a discretionary bonus will not be paid this year to acknowledge achievement of first time passes in professional exams.
I know you will be disappointed that the firm is not exercising its discretion to pay a first time pass bonus.
“However, I do hope that you will understand the balance which we are attempting to achieve between the interests of specific groups of team members and our overall team.”
The decision to withhold the bonus is alleged to be causing outrage among KPMG's trainees, some of whom received an email only last month complimenting them on their first time passes. "The feeling amongst staff is that the senior leadership appear increasingly out of touch from those in the lower grades,” one told City Am.
In its defence, KPMG told City Am it's one of the only Big Four firms to pay an exam-pass bonus and that it will reinstate the payment if the audit division meets its budget targets for the year. Cutting the bonus will apparently save the firm £400k.
KPMG is intending to hire 75,000 graduates worldwide over the next few years, and may therefore feel that disgruntled second years are dispensable. Starting salaries in accounting and professional services are £28k in the UK according to High Fliers research. This compares to £45k in investment banking.
