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Companies / ESG Tools, Services

KPMG to Invest Over $1.5 Billion to Boost ESG Solutions, Provide ESG Training to all Employees

Global professional services firm KPMG announced today the launch of a multi-year program aimed at accelerating global solutions for ESG issues, and support clients in their own sustainability efforts. KPMG expects to spend over $1.5 billion in its initiatives to further embed ESG in the organization and client solutions, with plans including providing ESG training for all of the firm’s 227,000 employees.

KPMG Global Chairman and CEO Bill Thomas said:

“How you grow matters, and what worked for us and other businesses in the past will not work in the future. The world faces crises on multiple fronts, which is why we’re putting the Environmental, Social and Governance agenda at the heart of everything we do. ESG will be the watermark running through our global organization; from empowering our people to become agents of positive change, to the services with our clients and our partnerships with critical stakeholders. KPMG has the global scale, expertise, technology, and relationships that give us the ability and responsibility to use our position to provide solutions and services to overcome the challenges facing our planet and society.”

The new strategy will be focused on five key priority areas including Solutions, Talent, Supporting developing nations, Collaborations and alliances, and Listening and taking action. In addition to its staff training initiative, the strategy will see the firm establish dedicated ESG hubs focused on global decarbonization, societal issues and solutions, and KPMG Regional ESG Hubs in Europe, Asia Pacific and the Americas. KPMG will also launch “Emerging Markets Accelerators” to support SDG-aligned economic and social development for developing nations, work with tech brands such as Google Cloud, Microsoft and ServiceNow on ESG-focused data solutions, and collaborate with sustainability-focused organizations including UNESCO, Enactus and the Global Reporting Initiative.

For its training initiatives, the firm announced that it is working with Cambridge University’s Judge Business School to the develop of a learning framework to be applied across the KPMG Global Organization, and with New York University’s NYU Stern Executive Education on the co-creation of an executive education sustainability program.

Richard Threlfall, Global Head of ESG and KPMG IMPACT said:

“It is incumbent on all of us – as businesses and as individuals – to play our part in tackling the challenges that threaten the future of our planet and the quality of life of people throughout the world. Our global ESG strategy will help equip our people to make a difference, as well as mobilize data and technology in support. But we also recognize that the changes society is demanding will be realized most effectively through open collaboration based on trust, and we will continue to seek out opportunities to partner with other organizations that share our sense of purpose to enable a better future for everyone, everywhere.”

KPMG’s new strategy follows the launch earlier this year of its comprehensive “ Our Impact Plan ,” consolidating the company’s ESG commitments and initiatives under one umbrella, and classifying the firm’s sustainability programs and goals into the four key categories Planet, People, Prosperity, and Governance.

KPMG’s Global Head of Corporate Affairs, Jane Lawrie, said:

“We know that KPMG and our profession have an important and pressing opportunity to accelerate the change needed for a sustainable future; that change starts with us. Our Impact Plan, launched in January, lays out how we intend to change our actions and commits to report against our progress so we can be held to account. “The ESG agenda is as important to our people as it is to clients; these significant changes outlined today further reinforce KPMGs purpose to Inspire Confidence and Empower Change and act as a north star for how we grow the organization.”

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KPMG and Workiva Join Forces to Enhance ESG Reporting, Boosting Corporate Strategy Alignment and Efficiency

Alliance enables Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive double materiality assessments

LONDON, UK and AMES, IA  November 30, 2023 – KPMG in the US, a leading audit, tax and advisory firm and a part of KPMG, the global organization, uses Workiva Inc. (NYSE:WK), one of the world’s leading cloud platforms for assured integrated reporting, to enable Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) double materiality assessments (DMA), helping to accelerate clients’ journey towards compliance.

The Workiva platform, combined with KPMG’s market-leading methodology and industry accelerators, enables information gathering to help companies identify the material topics that they need to report on considering the fast-approaching 750 CSRD disclosure requirements without using labor-intensive and time-consuming manual spreadsheets. 

"This approach avoids non-auditable processes like spreadsheets, improves efficiency, and helps mitigate risks," said Rob Fisher, ESG Leader, KPMG in the US. "Our collaboration with Workiva allows organizations to align their data collection to their business strategy, and helps to save time, avoid manual processes, and streamline data collection and reporting. By leveraging this new platform, clients can focus on their core business activities while enabling their ESG reporting to be more accurate and transparent considering the regulatory requirements."

“New and pending ESG regulations continue to expand globally in both scope and complexity and are driving the convergence of non-financial and financial reporting, as well as the requirement that the data be audit-ready and investor-grade. Workiva is the only unified platform in the industry bringing Financial Reporting, ESG, and GRC together in one secure, controlled, audit-ready environment,” said Paul Volpe, Senior Vice President of Growth, Workiva. 

Together, KPMG and Workiva’s approach aims to simplify DMA, enables enhanced stakeholder engagement, applies consistent definitions, and provides greater visibility into metrics and disclosures, for some 60,000 impacted organizations.

“Leveraging KPMG professional's experience and the Workiva platform will not only help customers address new regulations initially, but also help them accelerate the operationalization of their ESG reporting. Our platform streamlines the ESG reporting process end-to-end, from data collection and management to final report. Together with KPMG member firms, our mutual clients can connect solutions, gain efficiency and accuracy, and review and compare guidelines from multiple frameworks and standards,” Volpe said. 

Earlier this year, KPMG member firms and Workiva announced an enhanced alliance to deliver ESG-focused  solutions and services and enable more consistent  ESG data collection . Through the alliance, they are working to enhance and increase collaboration between compliance functions while improving risk management and providing real-time monitoring of data to provide valuable insights.

The Workiva ESG reporting platform is designed to be flexible and provides capabilities for organizations to meet their current ESG data and reporting needs and timeline. This includes collecting relevant ESG metrics, aggregating them into a central repository, and connecting them to the necessary stakeholder reports. Importantly, CSRD in Workiva presents opportunities and risks through dashboards across common ESG frameworks (SASB and GRI) in the established data model and control framework. 

CSRD requires an annual DMA, an intensive process for multinational organizations to determine material impacts, risks, and opportunities that are relevant to the bottom line and broader stakeholders and triggers extensive disclosure requirements. DMA provides companies with a comprehensive assessment of sustainability matters in an effort to address challenges facing generations to come.

Join KPMG ESG professionals and Workiva ESG specialists for a webinar on December 14, 2023 as they examine the significant impacts of the latest regulations while detailing key insights and innovative technology solutions for tackling these business challenges. This alliance is part of KPMG’s commitment towards innovation with Workiva for reporting and data solutions as the Workiva 2023 America’s Innovation Partner of the Year. 

About KPMG LLP

KPMG LLP is the U.S. firm of the KPMG global organization of independent professional services firms providing audit, tax, and advisory services. The KPMG global organization operates in 143 countries and territories and has more than 265,000 people working in member firms around the world. Each KPMG firm is a legally distinct and separate entity and describes itself as such. KPMG International Limited is a private English company limited by guarantee. KPMG International Limited and its related entities do not provide services to clients.

KPMG is widely recognized for being a great place to work and build a career. Our people share a sense of purpose in the work we do, and a strong commitment to community service, inclusion and diversity and eradicating childhood illiteracy. Learn more at  www.kpmg.com/us .

About Workiva Inc

Workiva Inc. (NYSE:WK) is on a mission to power transparent reporting for a better world. We build and deliver the world’s leading cloud platform for assured, integrated reporting to meet stakeholder demands for action, transparency, and disclosure of financial and non-financial data. Workiva offers the only unified SaaS platform that brings customers’ financial reporting, Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG), and Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) together in a controlled, secure, audit-ready platform. Our platform simplifies the most complex reporting and disclosure challenges by streamlining processes, connecting data and teams, and ensuring consistency. Learn more at workiva.com.

For Media Inquiries:

Workiva Inc.

[email protected]

KPMG UK Hiring Former Prisoners in Partnership With Government

By Michael Kapoor

KPMG UK is the first professional services firm to employ former prisoners via a partnership with the British government, it said Wednesday.

The government said in a statement that KPMG had partnered with the Ministry of Justice to encourage other big-name companies to follow its example. “Our longstanding focus on social mobility is about giving everyone – regardless of their background – the chance to succeed,” KPMG UK CEO Jon Holt said in a statement.

• “Our drive to get ex-offenders into employment is not only cutting crime and reoffending, but is also growing the economy as part of our ...

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