KPMG scraps commercial law practice in restructure
Make us a preferred source
Make us a preferred source on Google
The news: KPMG Australia has announced it will exit commercial law in a restructuring of the professional services firm that will see it focused on expanding its tax practice.
The numbers: While the firm is still consulting on the restructure that is set to lead to redundancies, around 30 legal jobs are expected to be cut effective 30 September.
The context: The firm reportedly announced an initial restructure of its consulting division to employees last month as part of an $80 million cost cutting program. The separate legal restructure was announced Tuesday and comes as other major professional services firms EY, Deloitte and PwC have also announced cuts.
KPMG said its decision, to move away from being a one-stop-shop and shifting towards a tax focus, was in response to a shift in client demand. However, it seems to be directly opposite to moves by law firms to become a single place for their clients' needs.
What they said: "We will now look to further develop alliances with law firms that offer complementary services to ours rather than invest in our own commercial law business”, Ben Travers, national managing partner of KPMG's Tax and Legal division said in a statement.
“We have an ambition to be Australia’s leading firm in tax and tax controversy and disputes. We’re rapidly hiring in this area and have promoted or appointed seven new partners and 21 new directors recently.
"The promotions were effective from this month and the external hires are all starting in the next few months.
"We’re also investing strongly in new technologies, such as KymTax, a generative AI tool that will transform the way we deliver tax services and offer our clients benefits in speed and assurance of services."
The source: KPMG statement
