KPMG restructure imminent

KPMG international chairman Colin Sharman will take the wraps off the firm’s new globalised management structure on Monday.

Following KPMG’s collapsed merger proposal with Ernst & Young, Sharman pushed ahead with internal reforms to allow KPMG to support multinational clients globally. He spent several days last week in London finalising his masterplan with senior colleagues.

The new structure echoes that of the United Nations, with Sharman chairing a council of six managing partners – each representing a specific business line – and a full-time chief executive, Paul Riley, managing partner of financial services in the US, who will be responsible for seeing policies through to implementation.

This executive board will in turn report to a ‘security council’ comprising the senior partners of KPMG’s largest seven firms and chairmen from the around the world.

This management committee will be linked to a global KPMG council made up of representatives from all of the firm’s national partnerships.

The six international managing partners will be drawn from several countries.

Alistair Johnston, chairman of the UK’s insurance practice, will become international vice chairman of global marketing, while US partner Jim McGuire will be international managing partner for KPMG Management Consulting.