KPMG New Zealand chief cites weak recovery, AI shift and job cuts

KPMG New Zealand is selling AI as the future of the firm at the same time its sector is shedding people, a tension that now sits at the center of the work accountants do. Chief executive Jason Doherty, who took the top job in December 2023, is talking up AI agents while the country’s accounting firms have moved from staffing shortages to cuts, raising a sharper question for staff: is AI a productivity fix, a hiring freeze substitute, or a direct workforce reducer?

The firm’s own numbers show the pressure points. KPMG New Zealand reported revenue of $250m to $299.9m for the year ended December 2025, up 3%, and said it had 89 partners, 1,164 other staff and seven offices across Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga, Wellington, Christchurch, Ashburton and Timaru. That is a sizeable national footprint, but it comes against a softer economy and a labor market that has weakened steadily since mid-2024.

In September 2024, KPMG cut almost 50 consulting jobs as it reshaped that part of the business, a sign that the first pain has already reached advisory teams. Statistics New Zealand said unemployment rose to 4.6% in the June 2024 quarter from 4.4% in March, with the number of unemployed up 33,000 on the year to 143,000. The Reserve Bank’s series shows the rate climbing further, to 4.8% in September 2024 and 5.4% by December 2025.

That backdrop matters because KPMG’s own CEO Outlook for 2025 suggests executives are preparing for both growth and retrenchment at the same time. Ninety percent of New Zealand CEOs said they had a clear view of how AI would disrupt current business models and create new opportunities. Forty percent planned to allocate 20% or more of their budgets to AI spending. Yet 67% still expected to increase headcount over the next three years, while almost a third were planning workforce reductions in some roles over the longer term and 80% were focused on redeploying people into redesigned roles.

KPMG New Zealand has said ChatGPT and generative AI have reshaped organisations in Aotearoa in just 18 months, and it cited Microsoft data showing 75% of employees use AI at work, including 73% of Boomer employees and 85% of Gen Z employees using tools not supplied by their employer. For accountants and consultants, that points to a profession in transition: the work is not disappearing all at once, but the mix is shifting fast, and the firms that were desperate for staff in 2023 are now redesigning jobs just as quickly.