突发！毕马威全球架构重大改革|英国_新浪财经

来源：四大新鲜事儿

据英国《金融时报》2025年3月10日报道，知情人士透露，毕马威正着手对其全球架构实施重大改革。毕马威计划将国际网络中的“经济单位”数量从两年前的100多个削减至明年的32个。”

2024年5月，毕马威宣布将英国和瑞士的分支机构合并，成立一家价值44亿美元的“超级毕马威”（MechaKPMG）。毕马威认为，通过整合其国际网络中的本地公司，可以节省成本、开辟新机会，并更好地进行广泛的技术投资。

毕马威英国首席执行官Jon Holt当时表示：“这对两家公司来说都是历史性时刻。合并后，我们将更加强大，我们将拥有更大的规模，从而显著提高我们为国际和国内市场客户提供出色成果的能力。合并将为我们的客户、员工和合作伙伴带来巨大的利益，意味着我们可以更快地发展、获得更高的利润，并以可持续的方式共同投资开拓新的服务领域。”

据《金融时报》报道，目前，毕马威及其三大竞争对手（指“四大”中的其他三家）运营的全球网络由独立的本地成员公司组成，每家成员公司主要对自己的事务负责。毕马威正在推动的整合计划将合并部分本地成员公司，最终实现它们之间的全面利润共享。

毕马威国际首席运营官Gary Wingrove告诉《金融时报》，减少业务单位数量将使全球业务更容易开展。“我们希望成员公司具备更好的规模效应。它涉及与弹性和质量相关的因素，能够保护组织的结构，而更大的部门可以投入更多，从而为全球客户提供更优质的服务。”

他还提到：“这也为我们的员工提供了更好的职业前景，因为在一个单位内部调动比在单位之间调动更容易。”这与毕马威英国首席执行官Jon Holt在宣布与瑞士分支机构合并时的说法类似：“合并两家公司将使我们拥有更强的集体投资能力，为客户打造新服务，并为员工提供重要的全球职业机会。”

原报道如下：

KPMG to merge national partnerships

The firm plans to reduce the number of “economic units” from more than 100 to as few as 32 by next year.

Accounting giant KPMG is looking to merge dozens of national partnerships in an overhaul of its global structure, reported Financial Times, citing sources.

This move aims to enhance growth and prevent audit scandals, as the accounting firm seeks to integrate its businesses more closely.

The firm plans to reduce the number of “economic units” from more than 100 to as few as 32 by next year.

KPMG’s initiative is part of a “clustering” strategy that began in 2023, which has already led to mergers in the Middle East and Africa.

In 2024 KPMG’s UK partnership voted to merge with its Swiss business, furthering this consolidation effort. Historically, Big Four firms have operated as networks of locally owned partnerships, adhering to local audit regulations.

However, the model is under strain as consulting, which requires technology investment, becomes more vital.

Smaller countries may struggle to keep up with these investments and necessary compliance procedures. KPMG reported global revenues of $38.4bn in its last financial year, with a growth rate of 5.4%, the fastest among the Big Four.

However, this growth has slowed compared to the previous year, amidst economic and geopolitical uncertainties affecting clients. KPMG International CEO Bill Thomas received a one-year extension to his leadership term to oversee the firm’s strategy through to September 2026. Executives have set a $300m revenue threshold, below which a member firm might not remain a full member of the KPMG network in the long-term.

KPMG also aims for profit-sharing across countries involved in mergers, moving towards full profit-sharing over time.

Previous merger attempts, such as KPMG Europe in 2007, faced challenges and were reversed due to inefficiencies. Other Big Four firms have encountered similar structural challenges.

EY’s plan to merge and float its national consulting operations collapsed in 2023 due to internal conflicts.

Deloitte successfully combined clusters of member firms in north-west Europe in 2016 and Asia-Pacific in 2018.

KPMG will maintain country-level legal entities to comply with local audit regulations, but reducing economic units is expected to facilitate necessary growth investments.

KPMG International chief operating officer Gary Wingrove said: “The fewer business units you have, the easier it is to do business globally. We want better scale in our member firms.

“It deals with factors related to resilience and quality, [which] protects the fabric of the organisation, and bigger units can invest more so as to deliver the right services to clients across the globe. “It also provides our people with better career prospects, as it is easier to move within a unit than between them.”

KPMG thinks it’ll save money, open up new opportunities, and be better equipped to make widespread technology investments by consolidating local firms in its international network.

In May of 2024, KPMG announced that KPMGs UK and Switzerland would merge to form a $4.4 billion MechaKPMG. Said KPMG UK chief executive Jon Holt at the time, “This marks a historic moment for both firms. We will be stronger as one combined firm and together we will have the scale to significantly enhance our ability to deliver great outcomes for our clients both internationally and within our domestic markets. Merging brings huge benefits for our clients, our people, and our partnership and means we can now grow faster, be more profitable and invest together to create new services in a sustainable way.”

Then in August, KPMG Saudi Levant and KPMG Lower Gulf announced they too were merging. This seemed like unremarkable news on its own but as we noted at the time, the firm said this in the press release announcing the union: “The proposed integration is consistent with KPMG’s Global Collective Strategy, which includes the clustering of member firms across the network.” Between that and the UK/Switzerland merger, it seemed clear KPMG was cooking something up.

So it shouldn’t be too surprising that Financial Times reported this today:

KPMG bosses are demanding dozens of mergers among the national partnerships that make up the global accounting firm in a move they hope will boost growth and prevent audit scandals, according to people familiar with the matter.

KPMG is aiming to slash the number of “economic units” that make up the international network to as few as 32 by next year, from more than 100 two years ago, according to a presentation executives made to analysts last month that was described to the Financial Times.

“Demanding” is an awfully strong word, isn’t it? We know FT doesn’t use charged language lightly (unlike certain hyperbolic accounting tabloids that shall not be named because their name is in big green letters at the top of this page).

“The company is concerned that smaller countries may struggle to keep up with [necessary technology] investments while also funding the compliance procedures necessary to protect audit quality and prevent reputational scandals,” said FT.

Right now, KPMG and their Big 3 competitors operate global networks that consist of local, independent member firms, each mostly responsible for their own stuff. What KPMG is working on would combine some of these local member firms, eventually leading to full profit sharing among them (according to FT).

KPMG International’s chief operating officer Gary Wingrove told FT that it’s easier to do business globally when you have fewer business units. “We want better scale in our member firms. It deals with factors related to resilience and quality [which] protects the fabric of the organisation, and bigger units can invest more so as to deliver the right services to clients across the globe,” he said. Makes you wonder which member firms are making the brand look bad, doesn’t it?

Pay attention to the next part of his quote. “It also provides our people with better career prospects, as it is easier to move within a unit than between them.” This is similar to what KPMG UK CEO Jon Holt said when his firm’s merger with KPMG Switzerland was announced: “Bringing together our two firms would give us more collective power to invest, build new services for our clients and provide our people with significant global career opportunities.”

Suddenly we’re remembering a situation in 2023 when India’s Economic Times ran a story about KPMG US, UK, and India possibly merging their consulting, risk, tech consulting, and deal advisory practices together. A KPMG spokesperson told us at the time that the dubious rumor was poppycock: “KPMG is a network of member firms, which are independent of each other. We are, as always, focused on opportunities for greater collaboration within our existing India-based client delivery network,” the spokesperson said.

Hmm.

Nothing’s finalized yet, this too could be poppycock. Or KPMG’s version of Project Everest. Stay tuned.

（转自：四大新鲜事儿）