KPMG Malta Names Jonathan Dingli Head of Advisory, Effective April 2026

Jonathan Dingli's appointment as Head of Advisory at KPMG in Malta, effective April 1, gives the firm's largest advisory unit a leader who originally built it. Dingli returned to KPMG in 2012 specifically to establish what became the Corporate Accounting Advisory Services team, following a stint outside the firm as first Technical Director of the Malta Institute of Accountants. He succeeds David Pace, who moved into the Senior Partner role in October 2025.

The career arc matters because it maps directly to where the practice is heading. Dingli brings more than 20 years of accountancy experience, over 15 years of lecturing, and a PhD completed in 2021, alongside a current teaching role at the University of Malta where he covers advanced financial reporting for Master in Accountancy students. In September 2025, he was elected President of the Malta Institute of Accountants, the only recognized professional accountancy body in Malta, giving him influence that now spans the classroom, the regulator, and the firm's client practice simultaneously.

Two service lines will define Advisory's near-term positioning under Dingli: ESG reporting and IFRS advisory. As the firm's ESG Reporting lead, Dingli has been guiding clients through the requirements of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and the European Sustainability Reporting Standards. That workload is expanding as the CSRD extends to more entity categories through 2026, concentrating demand among KPMG Malta's financial services, gaming, and commercial clients. IFRS advisory anchors the cross-border work across the practice and creates coordination pressure with Audit and Tax, where financial reporting standards increasingly intersect with assurance and tax structuring questions.

The third pillar is the Learning Academy. Dingli already led its strategic direction and delivered courses under the IFRS learning suites, making him one of the few heads of advisory in the KPMG network whose profile combines client-facing technical leadership with hands-on curriculum design. For staff at the associate and manager level, that background is the clearest operational signal. A leader who built a training arm and teaches at postgraduate level will likely push for structured upskilling tracks, with real implications for how technical certifications are weighed in performance reviews and promotion cycles.

For junior professionals targeting advancement over the next 12 months, the capability areas most directly aligned with Dingli's priorities are CSRD and ESG reporting readiness alongside IFRS technical depth. Both travel across service lines: audit teams working on sustainability assurance and tax advisers structuring reporting entities will need closer coordination with advisory on these questions, creating cross-functional visibility for staff who invest in them now. Dingli's own career, from cum laude accounting graduate to CAAS founder to MIA president, demonstrates that technical authority built around financial reporting standards remains one of the more durable paths to partner-track credibility at KPMG Malta.