Vault’s Verdict

KPMG offers consultants tremendous opportunity to grow, personally and professionally. With plenty of networking opportunities, the firm offers comprehensive access to a deep well of shared knowledge, ensuring that each team is well equipped for every client engagement. As one insider put it, “We’ve got solutions to any problems, constantly engaging the right people to give you answers to everything.”

Despite the sheer size and global reach of the firm, you won’t find the cutthroat attitude among colleagues that you might expect. While insiders do describe a somewhat competitive culture, it is above all collegial and collaborative. People want one another to succeed, and KPMG employees empower one another to seek new opportunities and take on as much responsibility as they can handle when driving results and solutions for clients.

KPMG demands a lot from its people, but it offers myriad opportunities to those who are willing to take ownership of their careers and client relationships. Insiders acknowledge that the KPMG experience may vary depending on your group or practice area, but the same can be said of any firm of this caliber. Despite the barriers and discrepancies of the firm’s size, overall, survey respondents had nothing but praise for the culture.

Optimism for the future was prevalent, if not mildly tempered by the Covid-19 pandemic. KPMG’s highly diversified portfolio of industries means that certain practice areas are counter-cyclical, and therefore poised to thrive during our current period of economic upheaval. While some practices may have taken a hit, the firm as a whole is strong enough to account for this—in fact, business as a whole is growing, and a commitment to avoiding layoffs has boosted employee morale during a time when we could all use some reassurance. All in all, now is as exciting a time as any to join KPMG.

Firm Culture

• “A collaborative environment with great all around people who care about both your personal and professional development.”
• “The people -- they are more relaxed and happy to teach you whatever you may not know as long as you are willing to try. They encourage you to try new things and try to place you in situations where you are uncomfortable to position you to grow you career quickly.”
• “The people and the company culture [are what] really stood out to me when I was initially deciding what company to work for. Everyone is super kind and down-to earth, everyone is willing to help you however they can, and you can tell that our company truly cares about its people.”
• “The people here are amazing, while we do have a competitive culture, we do not have a cut throat culture, people work together and really want to see each other and develop.”
• “KPMG has a great overall teamwork feel and I have been awarded the opportunities to work in multiple offices, multiple groups, and on very interesting and unique projects throughout my career.”
• “If you want to work for a place that values you as a person by treating you with respect, investing in you and your career, cares about your well-being, and challenges you by giving you responsibility and ownership of your work early on, then this is the company for you.”

Quality of Life

• “The best aspect is the amount of flexibility there is with the ability to work remotely…I have a great deal of flexibility with my hours. This year has been especially challenging with work/life balance, but the firm has a lot of resources to help employees navigate the every changing landscape. But, that flexibility is sometimes a double edge sword. Sometimes it is hard to truly set away and be offline, so sometimes I find myself working late into the evening and/or on weekends.”
• “The best of KPMG is the people and culture.  I have been with the firm for [many] years and built a diverse and well-rounded career in that time. When individuals stray from our culture, I find KPMG to be clear and swift in taking action to address the issues in a transparent and authentic manner. Pre-2020, travel for client engagements could be overwhelming to some; however, we have adjusted very well to post-pandemic requirements, and are making lasting changes to our model to provide better work-life balance arrangements with minimized travel based on our experiences this year.”
• “Best: very flexible in regards to work/life balance and workspace flexibility. Before COVID, if I wanted to WFH for a week rather than travel to the client I was allowed to do so. Worst: when working with clients in different time zones there is not much ability to be flexible on the hours you work in regards to the time zones. I've often had early morning or late night meetings because clients are in different time zones.”
• “The hours are usually pretty good, depending on the project you're staffed on. Some project require a lot of travel, some require no travel. My favorite part of this firm is the people and connections. Everyone is great to work with and make the engagement more fun. There are also many global opportunities that I am excited to take advantage of.”
• “The firm is very generous with the amount of vacation time and holiday time. Depending on the engagement and practice, sometime work intrudes on vacation time. However, to help combat that, last year the firm instituted a second firm-wide 'shutdown' to help give everyone the chance to truly unplug.”
• “The need to travel (with the exception of the current year due to COVID-19) can occasionally make it challenging to participate in family activities…With enough notice, generally, one is able to schedule the time off for important milestone events…”

Career Development

• “The firm has extensive relevant training opportunities and does an excellent job of providing opportunities to learn through both formal and informal methods.”
• “I think the firm does a great job of providing resources and training to all of its employees. With that being said, a good portion of the training is very generalized. I would like to see more technical and functional training related to the work we do. I think that our firm is very open to feedback, and do a great job of incorporating that feedback.”
• “Formal training and the promotion process, specific to being promoted to management group, are strong. The recent opening of KPMG Lakehouse shows the investments the firm has made in formal training events. Other training opportunities, however, require additional personal effort (to identify and to obtain approval). Promotions to the management group also get a lot of formal support. The additional requirements of employees once they reach the management level are fairly substantial, and the extra handholding was appreciated.”
• “High-level of commitment to quality training.  Advisory University (pre-COVID) was always positive experience (practical instruction and relevant and insightful curriculum).   Web-based training offered by the firm provides interesting and relevant content/courses.  Certainly, the firm promotes diversity and strives to give employees the opportunity to achieve greater success.”
• “The best aspects of the firm's career development opportunities is that we have a comprehensive system to evaluate performance and considerations for promotions. We have thorough and engaging training and development programs that are fun to do and I've learned so much from them. Our firm has numerous networks and programs to get involved in that highlight the diversity and culture in our firm. And there are numerous rotational programs that provide you the opportunity to see more aspects of the business. One of the worst aspects of our firm's career development opportunities is that there is little time and flexibility to try to work these things into your schedule. And sometimes it feels like we aren't allocated enough time to complete certain training requirements.”
• “Promotion opportunities are great. I am confident that if I continue on my career path, KPMG will promote me appropriately and timely. Also, amazing formal and informal training. The firm really invests in making sure its employees are continuously learning.”

Compensation

• “I receive a fair salary and am satisfied with that component of my compensation; my bonus sometimes leaves something to be desired and has ebbed and flowed over the years.”
• “I have always been very satisfied with the compensation package itself - I would consider the best aspects to be my salary as well as the consistent merit increases and incentive compensation awarded, bolstered by the extensive resources for parents from parental leave to childcare support. The worst aspect is the lack of overall transparency in terms of how my compensation compares to others at the firm - or even how groups or bands of people are compensated. I suspect this is largely cultural, as many Americans do not readily discuss their compensation openly.”
• “As with any big consulting or sales driven organizations, compensation is relative to annual sales. As a result, the best aspects are realized when sales are high for a given year.  The worst aspects are realized in years where sales is slower, and previous years' are not considered...”
• “I am happy with the merit increase and variable compensation given to me. I also appreciate our PTO policy and general culture towards taking PTO.   I think KPMG can improve on gym/wellness reimbursement - I know a few of our competitors offer much higher reimbursements than KPMG.”
• “The compensation process has become more transparent to the employees; there are communications and webinars to explain how it works and what to expect, based on the employees personal performance and the practice/firm's performance.”
• “The firm clearly does a lot of work behind the scenes to ensure compensation is in alignment with competition.  I do not have any complaints about my compensation.”

Diversity

• “I feel very proud of my company's equal opportunities. We have many networks at KPMG for anyone and everyone to join. We can voice our opinions when needed. It feels great to have representation.”
• “There are Inclusion and Diversity groups like Veterans, Latinos, African-American, that throughout the year promote meetings, panels, development initiatives, trainings, social events, promote awareness, etc.”
• “I feel we are doing our best to drive diversity - especially at our leadership levels, but we are behind where we need to be.  We are working to make it better, but it will take some time.  I do feel that our leadership is committed to improving diversity and are making progress.”
• “I feel that our firm has done an amazing job in terms of diversity as well as the equal opportunity for women in terms of compensation and career advancement. Many of our teams have a diverse group of individuals from all different cultures and backgrounds. I also notice there are many women in management positions and who hold leadership positions throughout the company.”
• “The firm is very transparent about the importance and support of diversity and inclusion in the work place.  I would go as far as to say that the firm considers these things to be a strategic strength and contributor to better overall quality of work and work climate.”
• “Diversity and inclusion is a part of the firm culture and if other values do not align the firm takes swift and appropriate action to remediate any issues. Across the firm you can see that promotions and from what I hear pay is equal for similar work.”

Outlook

• “Based on COVID, different practices within the firm have different responses to this question. For the government/public sector, the firm is well positioned to do well. We are struggling with global firm strategy and global teams…Morale seems to be strong as no one has been fired during the pandemic, which cannot be said by competitors.”
• “Our Federal consulting practice is leading the Firm during the COVID downturn.  We have never been more productive and we remain profitable!”
• “Very strong industry expertise and leadership across the board. Very strong technical expertise also. KPMG US is in an accelerating hiring and rebuilding mode from a systems integration perspective at this time due to a technical divestiture several years ago.”
• “KPMG is forward thinking and looks for opportunities to grow in markets we may have not been competitive before. I think KPMG is especially good at staying connected to economic trends and industry growing interests in Cloud technology and subscription consulting services.  The worst aspect of KPMG business outlook is the planning and strategic initiatives are often too far removed from those of us executing the plans for them to be as effective as they need to be to be truly profitable.”
• “Despite COVID, the firm has demonstrated growth in many areas. This is a sign or longevity and a strong innovative presence to continue to grow.”

Hiring Process

• “There are typically two interviews in a day, with directors or higher. Those who are interviewing go through a training on how to interview. The decisions are usually made quickly…The ideal candidate is someone who is naturally inquisitive, and always looking for challenging work.”
• “Our recruiting team fills the funnel with talent, college and experienced. The consulting team screens and selects based on ability and fit. We put the candidates through mock projects to see how they work together and deal with the challenges of working as a team. Successful candidates work well in teams. They are focused on a team win more than their individual recognition. They add to ideas of others instead of trying to steamroll their own perspective. They know how to listen and to communicate in a way that fosters support.”
• “The firm has adequate measures in place to ensure a smooth communication line with prospective candidates. We are respectful of people's time and invest in preparing the panel of interviewers from time to time. We are currently transforming our recruiting function to provide cutting edge candidate experience.”
• “Interviews usually consist of several rounds of behavioral and technical phone screen, followed by on-site visit [pre-Covid-19] to evaluate presentation skills, assess technical depth and hands-on ability. Ideal candidates for the Data & Analytics group have experience applying data science methods to real-world problems and data, have excellent understanding of the theoretical fundamentals behind their approaches, and are able to effectively communicate the derived insight to technical and non-technical audiences.”
• “KPMG's interview and callback process follows leading practices used by big consulting and sales-focused organizations, leveraging Recruiters to screen and qualify candidates. KPMG's ideal candidate is someone with the ability to work independently and is at the same time gregarious in personality; is personally motivated to perform well (vs. someone needing complements or encouragement); is highly competitive; and brings an inherent awareness of corporate politics (either from familial pedigree, institutional education, or both).”
• “Our firm is seeking someone who is proactive, and I think that shows in our interview process. We appreciate when someone is proactive about following-up with interviewers and recruiters, and find that those candidates often see more success upon joining.”

Interview Questions

• “We alternate between M&A examples and ERP implementation examples, across industries (depending on the level of the candidate) targeting our practice's specialties.”
• “If you had to choose between submitting a superb quality deliverable late or a less superb quality deliverable on time, which would you choose and why?  What is the best way to operate as a team?”
• “Case interviews can vary from growth to operations to acquisition/spin-off focused cases.”
• “For campus recruits: Tell me about what interests you in your major, and about your favorite course. What gets you the most excited? How do you feel about your ability to self-regulate and manage stress? For experienced hires (beyond relevant subject matter/industry experience): What challenges are you seeking? How do you prefer to lead?”
• “The firm has two consecutive interviews for students. The first is a behavioral interview and the second is a situational interview. The behavioral interview focuses on questions about the individual and getting to know more about the individual as well as their background and what they can offer to the firm. The second type of interview is a situational interview in which questions such as, "There is an important client meeting today in which the partner needs you to print off 8 copies of deliverables to be presented to the client. The printer stops on your second set of copies. What do you do?"”
• “The case interviews tend to be more strategy-oriented as opposed to a straight solution answer. It tends to focus on brainstorming and thinking through a problem that might not have a "right" answer.”