Vault’s Verdict

Part of the prestigious Big 4, KPMG is ideally looking for enthusiastic, driven candidates with an interest in accounting, the ability to persevere, and strong leadership, communication, problem-solving, and project management skills. For students, KPMG runs a valuable and rewarding internship program. Interns get hands-on experience, exposure to real client work, and many networking opportunities with other interns. Another thing to note is there’s typically more work to go around during winter internships (during the busy tax season) than during summer internships (a slower time). For its full-time staff, KPMG provides extensive learning and development opportunities, including excellent training and mentoring, and clear promotion paths.

During the busy season, hours can be long, and it can be difficult to find work/life balance. However, outside the time, work/life balance can be easily achieved. The firm offers flexible schedules, a generous PTO policy, generous parental leave, and an understanding and supportive culture. Meanwhile, salaries, perks, and benefits are competitive. One drawback of the compensation package, according to insiders, is the bonus policy—it could be more transparent. On the other hand, KPMG offers extensive wellness benefits, including well-being seminars, discounted gym membership, free counseling, nutrition education, and more.

Other strong suits are KPMG’s inclusive culture, diverse staff (at the lower levels), and focus on philanthropy and giving back. The firm has many active business resource groups and encourages all employees to join. In addition, it has net zero initiatives globally and considers environmental issues among the many things it does. As for KPMG’s business outlook, it is generally positive, despite recent layoffs having negatively affected employee morale. The firm has been investing in technology (including AI) and, as one of the largest firms in the industry, is poised to continue to succeed.

EMPLOYEE REVIEWS

Hiring Process

“We typically identify candidates on campus and then have them interview with two people. If we really like the candidate, we often call them within 24 hours of their interview to ensure they know that we would really love if they would work with us at KPMG.”

“We execute a double interview process where each candidate is interviewed (typically back-to-back) by two members of the firm, frequently two partners or one partner and one managing director. We strive to have a turnaround time of 72 hours or less from interview to extending an offer. The ideal candidate is one that clearly demonstrates an interest and ability in accounting, is able to provide examples of relevant experience (not necessarily public accounting but experience where key skill sets were acquired, such as leadership, communication, problem solving, project management, and technology), and possesses an enthusiastic attitude and ability to persevere.”

“Like most other public accounting jobs, we have a very structured and cyclical process. It’s a very standard process at most public accounting firms. Ideally, we’re looking for someone who is intelligent and, more importantly, wants to learn more and is curious with how processes work.”

“Ideal candidate has some form of work experience (accounting or other) and involvement in campus on in their former workplace, is CPA eligible, and comes to their interview well prepared, confident, and articulate with specific examples.”

Interview Questions

“We use a behavioral interview approach, with questions to understand experiences and skills acquired.”

“What are your goals? Would you consider yourself a team player? Why do you want to work in the specific office you are applying for? Why did you choose audit? What does overtime mean to you?”

“While the specific questions may vary according to the style of each interviewer, the interviewers are directed to ask probing questions so that the candidates provide specific examples of how they’ve exhibited the specific qualities we look for in our employees. In addition to academic considerations and other criteria, we evaluate the ability to work in groups, the ability to work under pressure, leadership skills, time management, and ethical decision making.”

“We basically had a conversation, and both of my interviewers told me about their experience at the firm. The interview process is what made me choose KPMG over other Big 4 firms. Other firms asked me questions about how I keep myself organized, meet deadlines, etc., etc. I appreciated that the KPMG interviewers actually read my resume and understood how it translated to the type of value I would bring to the firm and asked me questions specific to my experience, not just the standard ones.”

Internship Experience

“Summer internship best and worst: Best was all the social events and meeting many people who would become my start class. The worst was sitting idle when there wasn't really any work for me to do. Winter internship best and worst: Best was honestly working late, learning a lot, and getting a real taste of what full-time busy season would look like. Worst was working with a client who was very rude to the audit team.”

“I performed the same audit tasks that a first-year associate would do in the absence of an intern and worked the same hours as the team during busy season, obtaining a real feel for the work and team culture. Only downside is the training time could have been more efficient.”

“The best aspects of my internship experience was the sense of meaningful contributions I was making to my engagement teams and the rotation between different industries—it was a great way to give me an idea of where my interests might lie. The most challenging aspect was having to find out where you fit into the engagement team on every new client you worked on, and how expectations or practices might change from engagement team to engagement team.”

“There were many great networking events offered, I learned the flow of the office, and I realized the jump to a career wasn’t going to be massive, which helped ease some of my worries. A negative was I interned during the summer rather than the winter, which meant there was less work to be done—you don’t learn as much (or get a true picture of the work) as you do in the winter.”

Career Development

“KPMG invests heavily in the development of our people, including providing significant formal training and opportunities to grow through informal training. Mentoring is encouraged at all levels and is important to the development of our people. As a Big 4 firm, KPMG has unlimited opportunities to try other services or take advantage of rotational opportunities that could be international or with specific service lines.”

“The firm provides extensive training efforts throughout the year alongside standardized trainings and time allotted to perform those trainings monthly. That being said, not all the trainings are tailored to exact job responsibilities and sometimes can be hyper-focused. Outside of standardized trainings, the firm does provide a multitude of readily available resources that all staff can access that are a major aide throughout the workday.”

“The firm provides extensive formal development opportunities, but the real value is in the on-the-job training within the engagement teams. On-the-job training is something that we emphasize and make as a critical part of every employee’s and partner’s goals. The firm requires significant mandatory training in a variety of areas. Occasionally, this training conflicts with other job requirements. We do provide extensions for deadlines, but the requirements can seem significant.”

“The best aspect is that a specific path is laid out for you so it’s very clear what the promotion path looks like and what’s expected. The worst is that it seems like there’s little flexibility in that path. If someone’s ready to be promoted six months before promotions are discussed, it’s not going to happen, as it only occurs at specific times of the year.”

Quality of Life

“Great camaraderie and family type atmosphere at the firm. The firm is focused on exceptional experiences not just for our clients but also for our people, and the efforts to shift the timing of our work earlier in the year has had a positive impact on the work/life balance I experience, especially in what had been the traditional busy season. Unlimited PTO and 16 weeks of maternity/paternity leave are amazing.”

“Hours are very flexible, and you can work around your priorities outside of work. Main focus is getting necessary work done. However, busy season hours are definitely strenuous at times and make work/life balance more difficult during the relative months.”

“Firm's efforts to accommodate work/life balance are excellent. Client commitments are the biggest obstacle, but the firm does support partners and employees wherever they can. I feel like I can take any day or week off as long as it doesn't conflict with client needs. And if it does conflict, the firm has been able to find me a replacement.”

“The firm is continually focusing on improving work/life balance through several initiatives (moving up audit timelines, implementing multiple milestone deadlines for long engagements, performing long-term scheduling and variance investigation, etc.). However, this does not always work out in reality where projects can be under-forecasted, which leads to staff overworking. The best part of the quality-of-life aspect of the firm is the unwritten rule that PTO cannot be denied (within reason).”

Salary and Benefits

“Salaries are competitive, as are benefits and perks. The firm monitors our competition’s activities in these areas and ensures we are at market (but no better).”

“The firm offers a wide variety of benefits and resources to its employees. I never have to pay for lunch when I am at work, and I feel that my family is taken care of with the benefits provided to us. Although I am compensated well, I don't feel that my compensation is very generous. Additionally, our year-end bonus was pretty small this year.”

“I think we get paid a good amount and feel it’s fair compensation for my role. As a large firm, we also get a lot of benefits and perks that others don’t get. The worst aspect is the lack of transparency. A few years ago, they were very transparent on raises, bonuses, and overall expectations, so it leaves me to wonder why that has changed so dramatically.”

“Compensation is in line with expectations for a professional services firm. Compression increases based on cost-of-living adjustments have been fair throughout my time at KPMG. Similarly to promotions, high performance is not strongly incentivized at my level due to low variability between based salary and variable compensation offered to high and low performers.”

Wellness Efforts

“Wellness programs are pervasive and include mental health and employee assistance programs in instances where team members have unique events and need financial or other help. Master Class programs are available to help with personal skill development, and we provide a world-class gym, pickleball, and putt-putt golf. Also, our walking/running trails at our Lakehouse training facility are all wonderful.”

“The firm’s services include a number of programs such as well-being webinars for employees and their families; Bright Horizon Seminars such as Managing Screen Time, Building Healthy Eating Habits, and Emotional Intelligence and Why It’s important; financial seminars from large investment firms; dependent care support such as emergency childcare; physical well-being support such as discounts at health clubs and digital apps; mental health support including online therapy, substance use support, and in-network mental health providers.”

“1) Parent coaching from pregnancy through the first year of life. 2) Meditation/group therapy sessions. 3) Resources for Living EAP Program provides 10-hour therapy sessions annually. 4) Well-being webinars offered weekly through various benefit providers (e.g., managing stress during the holidays, financial health, parenting, etc.). 5) Four nutrition appointments with a registered dietitian annually through Husk. 6) AbleTo therapy: eight-week programs to support anxiety/depression. 7) Discounted gym memberships (e.g., Anytime Fitness).”

“We have a health and wellness committee. It’s still in its early stages, so the initiatives haven’t been strong. That said, they are improving, and our office does have a nice fitness center.”

Community Engagement

“Community engagement and giving back is a significant priority for the firm and is clearly evident in our values, culture, and actual behaviors.”

“As an openly gay employee, I feel very comfortable being myself at work. I also enjoy and benefit from my participation in our LGBTQ+ employee resource group.”

“KPMG is very open to any person who can perform the job. We have lots of different groups to help them feel welcome and to get help from others in the same situation as well. We have net zero initiatives globally and think about green items in different things we do, including a recent office move that we just did in Minnesota.”

“We are very focused on community giving and involvement. We also have BRGs for most groups and continue to evolve in that area (e.g., this year an interfaith BRG was started). Individuals are encouraged to join a BRG and be their authentic self at work. As it relates to women, we still have work to do at the senior level. Most partners are male and they naturally mentor and coach other males, so women can feel that it is harder to progress and that they have to be more vocal and more aggressive to get noticed.”

Business Outlook

“We are poised for growth, and leadership and is leading the way. Our audit quality is extremely high. Our technology is at or above our peers in all cases. We have a very compelling case to expand our market share and win new clients, as we can be very cost effective with our project management and automation tools (a lot of which already include significant amounts of AI), which automate the process and help ensure the client has a great experience.”

“With multiple waves of layoffs and what appears to be unrealistic forecasting, trust in leadership has decreased. It’s upsetting to keep having cuts because of poor budgeting rather than the firm actually underperforming.”

“Regarding employee morale, it is always difficult when layoffs occur, and it seems as if the company could do a better job regarding retaining those employees versus constantly bringing in new hires. Getting let go due to poor performance is one thing, but mass layoffs can cause uncertainty and hurt employee morale.”

“KPMG has made significant investments in technology and training, which will pay dividends in the coming year as market activity increases. Generally, business outlook is going to be good at the larger firms—our success is very connected to the big picture economics of the world/country a macro level.”

UPPERS
“Great, supportive culture and people”
“Early responsibility and career development opportunities—nonstop learning experience”
“Flexibility with scheduling”

DOWNERS
“Long hours”
“Lack of transparency from leadership”
“Ever-changing internal policies”