KPMG Australia CEO’s pay cut amid slower growth
KPMG Australia chief executive Andrew Yates had his pay cut by $600,000 to $2.2 million in fiscal 2023 because of a slowdown in consulting work and deals in the second half of the financial year.
Andrew Yates, KPMG Australia CEO, during a hearing of the Senate consulting inquiry in June. Alex Ellinghausen
The firm posted an increase in annual revenue of more than 9 per cent, to $2.38 billion, down from the record 16 per cent growth in the previous year. This led to an average pay cut of 4 per cent to $700,000 for partners.
“It was a challenging year, and we noticed the real shift in the environment we were operating in, from an economic point of view, at Christmas,” Mr Yates said. “It was almost quite clear that things shifted… by the time we came back from the Christmas break. And then of course, the last four or five months, there’s been the ever-increasing scrutiny on the profession, which has also made the environment challenging.”
He attributed part of the slowdown in the second half of FY23 to higher interest rates and inflation causing clients to become “slightly more cautious… they were taking longer to make decisions”.
Mr Yates said the solid revenue growth of 9.1 per cent given the current environment was pleasing.
Performance across KPMG’s divisions was mixed.
Revenue in audit, assurance and risk consulting grew by 4 per cent to $671 million; deals, tax and legal income was down 2 per cent to $401 million; enterprise (which targets middle market companies) was up by 23 per cent to $361 million; infrastructure, assets and places advisory was up by 22 per cent to $200 million; and management consulting was up by 12 per cent to $745 million.
The spotlight on the major advisory firms was triggered by the PwC tax
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