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KPMG LLP: Turning on a Dime
September 06, 2007
By Lorri Freifeld
Last December, the PCAOB (Public Companies Accounting Oversight Board) issued an exposure draft of a new auditing standard (now known as Auditing Standard 5 or "AS5"), and audit, tax, and advisory firm KPMG LLP immediately kicked into high training gear. "We had to get the new information to our people—all 7,000 audit partners and employees—as quickly as possible," explains Cyndi Bruce, director of management services, KPMG's Center for Learning and Development. "We went with a blended approach—pulling together the audit partners to establish talking points to discuss with clients, delivering KLearn Live sessions (virtual classroom) to address key concepts to enable KPMG partners and managers to plan engagements, designating AS5 champions (people educated in the standard), and embedding the information in our audit national training programs that run May through August." The final standard was released in May, and KPMG offered virtual classroom training to bridge the difference between the proposed standard and the final one.
Constant changes in regulations such as AS5 mean KPMG "has to be able to turn on a dime" when it comes to training, Bruce says. Likewise, the firm must stay on top of industry trends. "KPMG is a matrixed organization structured by functional area: audit, tax, and advisory, as well as by industry," Bruce notes. The ultimate training goal: for KPMG LLP's 19,600 employees to be well rounded and equipped with an arsenal of regulatory, technical, business, and leadership skills.
To accomplish this, KPMG's 130-person training center uses numerous delivery methods, including classroom delivery through subject matter experts; Web-based training; virtual classroom; simulations; and role play. "The critical component is understanding what content is suited for what delivery method. Different content requires different media, and different learners respond to different approaches," says Bruce, who is a 20-year training veteran.
KPMG new audit hires—who typically have strong academic skills but little work experience—attend Audit Fundamentals, which introduces them to the firm's audit methodology through a simulation. It depicts a fictional computer- generated cosmetic company called Pretty Liquid and offers participants the practical, hands-on experience of performing key tests, documenting results, and interacting with clients in a virtual-reality environment accessible from their laptops. Between tasks in the simulation, participants interact with live instructors, senior associates, and managers.
KPMG offers a variety of Web-based training programs—some 21,000 employees completed the Ethics and Compliance course created last August—and the firm also is experimenting with KLearn On-Demand, "our answer to podcasting," Bruce says. "We did a pilot last fall with the tax practice." Nevertheless, Bruce notes the live classroom approach also continues to be successful. "We use a lot of our people as internal instructors, which gives them facilitation skills and allows them to share knowledge."
KPMG's Advisory University covers all levels of participants (new associates to senior managers) and offers technical and business skills programs, plus networking opportunities, Bruce says.
Other programs include New Manager Training (a milestone program that encompasses risk management, ethics and compliance, and relationship and team building) and KPMG's Lead Partner Academy, which was co-developed with the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business. A six-month program that uses partner coaches, "its objectives are to help participants better manage complex, global engagements and communicate more effectively with CEOs and CFOs of global companies," Bruce says.
The area of global opportunities continues to grow. This year, 100 first-year associate-level employees are attending a global program on audit fundamentals in Madrid. In addition, KPMG has a long-term, executive development program for high potential leaders called Chairman's 25 that runs in three regions around the world. This year, the program participants from the three regions were brought together at Chairman's 75, an inaugural global event held in China, with plans to run another session in India next year.
Career development is another key component of KPMG training. "Our Employee Career Architecture shows employees career opportunities across the firm, how to network, global and U.S. rotations, and provides Web-based training," Bruce says. "It also provides training for performance managers, highlighting their role in developing the careers of their staff and educating them on how they can use the tools and resources available to assist them."
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