KPMG posts 19% growth for 1998
Big Five firm claims ?exceptional' results in spite of failed merger with Ernst & Young. Chris Quick reports
KPMG unveiled preliminary UK annual results showing strong fee income growth of 19% to #867m for the year to 30 September 1998.
Average pay per partner was #305,000, also up 19% on the prior year. The growth figures exactly mirror those released in November by KPMG’s Big Five rival Ernst & Young. Merger negotiations between the two firms collapsed in February last year.
KPMG senior partner Mike Rake described the results as exceptional and said they had been achieved despite the aborted merger effort. He added that he would be surprised to see any further accountancy firm mega-merger attempts in the current climate.
Commenting on last year’s merger activity, he said : ‘I think there is an unease with the scale and size of PricewaterhouseCoopers in the business community.’
However, Rake floated a number of ideas for the future of KPMG, including a link-up with a mid-tier law firm, and the flotation of part of its worldwide consultancy operations.
Full report follows on 7 January