KPMG Australia to cut 30 jobs and shut commercial law practice amid fresh restructure
KPMG will wind down its commercial law practice entirely and integrate some of its tax division in a major restructure that will see 30 roles made redundant.
KPMG Australia will dissolve its legal business and make 30 jobs redundant in the firm’s second major restructure in the past month as it looks to pivot towards growth segments of the market.
The firm told staff on Tuesday that it would no longer operate a separate and distinct commercial law practice, and would integrate its Tax Controversy & Disputes practice into its Tax division.
The restructure will result in the closure of KPMG’s commercial law practice, which was launched at a time when the big four accounting firms looked to take on major law firms.
It comes weeks after KPMG announced a $80m restructure to reshape and simplify its consulting business which saw it make as many as 200 jobs redundant amid a slowdown in demand for consultants.
KPMG national managing partner, tax & legal, Ben Travers said the restructure of its legal practice would allow the firm to better play to its strengths and prioritise investment.
“Our strategy is focused on playing to our strengths and prioritising investment into areas which align to KPMG’s broader growth strategy and markets,” he said.
“Alliance relationships are a prime example, and 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.”
Of the 30 roles that are due to be redundant, the majority will be those employed in commercial law. The tax controversy practice area will be the only department kept once the restructure takes effect from September 30.
Mr Travers said the changes come as KPMG has actively expanded its tax controversy capability.
“We’re rapidly hiring in this area and have promoted or appointed seven new partners and 21 new directors recently,” he said.
“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,” he said.
He added that by focusing on tax and tax controversy services, and extending alliance relationships will enable clients to better leverage broader capabilities to solve their issues.
KPMG last month announced a restructure of its consulting division in a bid to pivot to a tech-focused consultancy. The changes including 200 job losses are expected to save $80m, which will be reinvested in digital solutions, alliances, industry expertise and new delivery methods – allowing the business to grow differently and match genuine market demand.
Impending job losses come at a challenging period for the border professional services sector in the past 18 months which has been impacted by a slowdown in demand as a result of the broader economic slowdown after a flurry of activity during the pandemic.
The past few months has seen PwC Australia make 329 roles redundant, mostly from its consulting arm, EY moved to cut more than 100 roles and Deloitte announced plans to streamline its business into four operating units.
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