KPMG faces staff backlash over mishandled redundancy round and poor communication

KPMG’s latest redundancy round has done more than put jobs on the line. It has exposed a trust problem inside the firm, with staff complaints centering on poor communication, confusion and what employees described as a mismanaged process.

Nearly 600 people in KPMG UK’s audit business were told their jobs were at risk, with separate reporting saying about 120 roles in advisory were also affected. Bloomberg said as many as 440 employees could ultimately leave if the formal consultation runs its course. The cuts were reported to hit mainly assistant manager-level qualified accountants, a layer that sits close to the day-to-day delivery of audit work and often carries much of the pressure between senior managers and junior staff.

The scale matters because the audit business is large but not limitless. The affected roles were estimated at about 6% of KPMG’s 7,100-person audit division, a reduction that is likely to ripple through team structures, client delivery and the already tight promotion ladder. For professionals in audit and advisory, the immediate concern is not just headcount. It is how fewer people get asked to do more work, how quickly remaining staff burn through goodwill, and whether the firm can hold onto qualified accountants who have other options in a market still hungry for experienced talent.

The backlash has sharpened because the messaging around the cuts appears to have landed badly with employees. Staff criticism focused on a lack of internal communication during the redundancy round, turning what might have been a difficult but contained restructuring into a broader crisis of confidence in leadership. When layoffs are handled clumsily, the damage is not limited to those leaving. It also reaches the people who stay, who start to question whether the firm can manage change without sowing uncertainty across teams.

That unease comes at an awkward moment for KPMG UK/Swiss Group. The combined business, formed after the UK and Swiss firms merged on 1 October 2024, reported revenue of £3.6bn for the year ended 30 September 2025, up 2%, while pre-tax profit rose 14% to £576m. Average partner distributable earnings climbed to about £880,000, up 11% year on year. For staff facing redundancy risk, those figures make the contrast hard to ignore.

The current round also fits a wider pattern. Both CityAM and Going Concern have linked the 2026 cuts to earlier KPMG UK reductions, including a 2023 deal advisory round and a 2024 plan to cut 200 UK jobs amid a weaker market. For a firm built on advising clients through risk, the bigger test now is whether it can manage its own workforce without undermining the morale and retention it needs to keep the business running.