KPMG names Callum Licence to lead UK and Switzerland advisory

KPMG chose Callum Licence to run its UK and Switzerland advisory arm just as the combined business is under pressure to prove the merger can do more than tidy up governance. Licence, who has led major financial services engagements and global accounts since joining KPMG in 2020, will start on 1 July and join the Group Executive Committee, replacing Lisa Fernihough as Group Head of Advisory.

The move points to where KPMG wants advisory to lean next: financial services, major transformation work and cross-border client accounts that can be defended even when consulting and deals markets soften. Licence’s background at Accenture and UBS fits that brief. His promotion also pulls a current Senior Elected Board Member into the operating core, a sign that KPMG wants tighter control over one of the parts of the business most exposed to cyclical demand and margin pressure.

That pressure is visible in the numbers. The UK and Switzerland group, merged on 1 October 2024 into what became the second-largest firm in the KPMG network, reported £3.6bn in revenue for the year ended 30 September 2025. Advisory sales fell 3% over that period, even as audit revenue rose 5% and tax and legal grew 6%. Distributable profit per partner averaged £880,000, up 11%, a reminder that the firm is still delivering healthy returns even while the advisory side faces tougher trading.

For staff, the choice of Licence over another external hire suggests KPMG wants continuity in the integration and a faster hand on the wheel. Fernihough, who has been with KPMG for more than 30 years, steered the merger of the UK and Swiss advisory practices and led AI adoption across the function. She will move into a new Advisory Vice Chair role, where the firm says she will focus on key accounts. That leaves Licence with the tougher job of turning a merged platform into a more efficient sales engine.

The message to consultants and partners is plain enough: the firm is still rewarding people who can carry large accounts, manage transformation programmes and sell work that sits closer to the center of client budgets. In a year when audit and tax are growing faster than advisory, the internal culture is likely to reward scale, cross-border coordination and AI-enabled delivery over slower, broader consulting bets.