KPMG has a new boss.
On October 1, Gary Wingrove took complete as earth chairman and CEO of the Big Four accounting and consulting firm, succeeding Bill Thomas following an eight-year tenure.
Wingrove joined KPMG in 2000 and most lately held roles as CEO of KPMG Australia from 2013 to 2021 and global COO. He now oversees additional than 276,000 workforce throughout KPMG's associate firms.
The firms run as a earth network of legally distinct firms fairly than as a sole company, making the function of earth place distinct from that of a representative company CEO.
Big Four leaders typically expend decades construction the trust, individual networks, and credibility needed to win an inner ballot — the way Big Four firms choose their heads.
Once in the role, they are liable for holding the network together throughout geographies, monitoring its performance, and strolling in during high-stakes crises.
KPMG did not react to a petition for comment for this story.
When Wingrove's project was announced in March, he stated that he would aim to create an surroundings where KPMG workforce could thrive.
AI, AI, and additional AI
AI is the two one of KPMG's biggest growth opportunities and a tricky administration challenge.
The Big Four have mold themselves as "client zero" as AI changes the office — any happens to the remainder of the workforce alongside AI, it likely happened inner the firms first.
Wingrove volition be under force to justify all of KPMG's firms innovate quickly and cohesively, and that the workforce can modify without weakening its pipeline of forthcoming managers and partners.
"In consulting, AI is already reducing the value of several of the additional junior, research-heavy and analytical activity that has traditionally supported the pyramid," stated James Ransome, a partner and consulting guide at executive-search and industry-analysis resolute Patrick Morgan.
That raises a longer-term question: how volition firms train younger staff if the activity they formerly learned is increasingly automated?
Getting that method correct volition affect rethinking the two squad structures and the betterment of younger talent, Ransome said.
On the endeavor side, KPMG's US arm lately launched a new Client Technology & Innovation group to create AI-native products and services that it says volition move at Silicon Valley-like speed. The wider resolute has invested heavily in AI tools and partnerships.
Driving growth
Wingrove, akin his chap Big Four leaders, is facing downward a tougher consulting market.
KPMG is the smallest of the Big Four, the two in conditions of employee numbers and annual revenue. Its latest full-year financial results propose that it is expanding its endeavor slightly faster than rivals PwC and EY.
The firm's annual income grew 5.1% in 2025 to $39.8 billion.
That was driven small by consulting than by KPMG's additional traditional business. Audit was up 6%, and KPMG's tax revenues grew notably faster than those of its competitors — up 7.5% compared to about 5.5% at EY and Deloitte, and 1% at PwC. However, advisory grew fair 2.9%, lesser than its competitors.
AI offers a awesome pipeline of new consulting endeavor as companies rotate to consultants for assistance figuring out how to use AI and retrain workers. However, it's additionally disrupting the firms' economics and pricing model, putting force on time-based fees that have lengthy underpinned the industry.
Economic doubt is additionally putting force on prices and comes as the firms need to allocate additional in technology, particularly AI, Emma Carroll, a adviser at Source Global Research who advises the expert services sector, told Business Insider.
The outlook for consulting services is strong, she said.
"There's no deficit of demand. Two-thirds of organizations anticipate their use of external assistance to develop in the next 12-18 months; no one expects it to shrink."
Working throughout the world
The Big Four's autonomous network construction is particularly crucial for the audit function, anywhere firms must navigate local regulations and independence requirements.
But earth clients increasingly necessitate cross-border coordination and admission to shared expert capabilities and technology.
PwC US announced in September that it plans to merge its offshoring center in India alongside the Indian branch of PwC. At EY, earth CEO Janet Truncale has merged 18 geographical regions into 10 superregions.
In a video released on his archetypal day, Wingrove announced Connected 2030, a earth scheme intended to create KPMG a "more connected, agile and innovative earth organization."
KPMG has been the smallest unified of the Big Four, alongside practices that are siloed and run by partners who exert additional authority complete their corresponding businesses, stated Tom Rodenhauser, managing partner of K2 Consulting Research.
That fragmentation could be an advantage if KPMG focuses on key markets and functions, and specializes its offering for distinct clients fairly than trying to be a one-stop shop, stated Rodenhauser.
Wingrove is likely well-suited to the difficulty of balancing the strain between independence and earth cooperation, stated his former function as Global COO, anywhere local integration and earth funding were already part of his remit, James Ransome said.
Dealing alongside difficulty Down Under
One of Wingrove's most pressing challenges volition be rebuilding rely following an audit-confidentiality scandal at KPMG Australia.
In March 2026, Australian Labor legislator Deborah O'Neill aired whistleblower allegations that KPMG partners had accessed and shared confidential client data internally to assistance prosecute audit work.
The whistleblower had raised concerns alongside KPMG internally from 2024, but the emergency became community following O'Neill's disclosure.
KPMG has since acknowledged that its first inquiry of the whistleblower's concerns wasn't rigorous adequate and confirmed that client data was inappropriately shared inner the firm. Reporting of the controversy has been led by The Australian Financial Review.
The fallout has prompted resignations of multiple leaders, regulatory and parliamentary scrutiny, and reviews of KPMG relationships by several of its biggest clients and public-sector customers. In August, KPMG Australia stated it would decrease its workforce by concerning 5%.
The Australian circumstance makes governance and position an crucial part of Wingrove's agenda, stated Ransome.
"Reputational issues in one market can quickly rotate into a broader earth brand issue," he said.
