KPMG breaks own code with Tory donation 'oversight'

KPMG mistakenly made a cash donation of £6,500 to the Conservative Party in November in breach of its own rules.

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The Big Four firm admitted last week that the payment was ‘an oversight,’ adding that it should have been paid through a personal account. A spokeswoman indicated that the payment was for a business dinner.

The payment is embarrassing for the accountancy firm, which has close links with political parties, donating £500,000 worth of staff secondees since 2002. It has a policy of not making cash donations, however.

The secondments have all been disclosed in KPMG’s accounts, but a statement in the annual report, signed off by global chairman Mike Rake, said: ‘KPMG has not given and does not give cash contributions to any political party. The policy of not making any direct cash contributions to any political party will continue.’

The donation appears clearly on The Electoral Commission’s website, which details donations made to political parties.

A spokeswoman for KPMG told Accountancy Age that the sum ‘should have gone through a personal account, and we are looking to rectify it’.

KPMG refused to specify who had made the mistake, the nature of the business dinner they had attended or the respect in which the donation had been made.

Other accountancy firms have also made non-cash donations to various political parties, but by no means to the same extent as KPMG.