KPMG survey signals rising M&A expectations across global dealmakers

Seven hundred dealmakers are pointing to a busier year ahead for M&A, and that usually means more than a stronger pipeline at KPMG. It can translate into heavier workloads for transaction services, more pressure on tax and risk teams, and a faster track for people who can work across diligence, integration, and post-deal value creation.

What the survey is actually saying

KPMG International published its 2026 Global M&A Outlook Survey on 18 March 2026, based on responses from 700 private equity and corporate dealmakers across 20 countries and jurisdictions. The survey was fielded between 19 December 2025 and 27 January 2026, giving it a broad view of how buyers are thinking about 2026 deal activity.

The headline is a clear rise in confidence. Among private equity dealmakers, 37% expect to do more than five deals in 2026, compared with 20% of corporates. KPMG also found that 95% of PE dealmakers and 83% of corporate dealmakers expect their next transaction to be under US$1 billion, with the most common size range at US$250 million to under US$500 million. That points to a market that is active, but still disciplined.

For people inside KPMG, that mix matters. Smaller deal sizes often move faster, but they still pull in the same core teams: diligence, tax structuring, integration, separation, valuation, risk, and technology. The result is not just more work, but more work that has to be coordinated quickly across service lines.

Why deal momentum changes the day-to-day inside the firm

When M&A expectations rise, the impact is rarely confined to one practice. A stronger deal market tends to spill into audit-adjacent questions, regulatory readiness, carve-out planning, technology review, and post-merger cleanup, which means more handoffs and more cross-functional coordination. For junior staff, that can create a steeper learning curve because live deal work exposes them to clients, bankers, lawyers, and operating teams at once.

For managers and partners, the pressure shifts from simply producing analysis to delivering judgment quickly. In a market where dealmakers want speed, teams that can explain risk clearly and move without losing precision become more valuable. That affects promotion cycles too: people who can combine technical depth with commercial awareness are the ones most likely to get pulled into visible work, which is often where advancement accelerates.

The survey also shows why staffing pressure could build even if transaction values stay moderate. The most common expected next-deal size is under US$1 billion, but those deals still require extensive work on financing, diligence, tax, and integration. In practical terms, that can mean more late-stage requests, tighter turnaround windows, and more competition for experienced people who can handle multiple workstreams at once.

The carve-out wave is the clearest signal for advisers

One of the strongest signals in the report is the rise of portfolio separation. KPMG says 71% of PE dealmakers are open to or actively pursuing portfolio separation, and 55% already have carve-outs under consideration. That makes carve-outs a major source of future advisory demand, because they are operationally complex and usually require more than a standard buy-side or sell-side execution.

Carve-outs create work across tax, finance, systems, people, contracts, and transition services. They also tend to be time-sensitive, which means firms need teams that can move quickly without missing the operational detail that determines whether the separation works after closing. For KPMG employees, that makes carve-out experience especially valuable because it can expose them to messy, real-world problems that often shape how quickly they build credibility.

Bloomberg’s reporting in February 2026 reinforced the same theme, describing carve-outs as a defining M&A trend as boards simplify portfolios under geopolitical pressure and AI-driven disruption. That external read is important because it suggests the carve-out opportunity is not a side note. It is likely to be one of the central deal themes advisers, buyers, and sellers keep running into throughout 2026.

AI is no longer a side tool in deal work

KPMG says AI is already being used across diligence, sourcing, execution, and integration, with measurable efficiency gains in modeling, market analysis, and decision-making. For deal teams, that does not mean replacing the core judgment work that advisers are paid for. It does mean that routine tasks can be compressed, which raises the bar on the quality of the insight that follows.

Inside KPMG, that shift matters for skills development. Analysts and associates who once won recognition mainly by producing clean models or assembling data rooms now need to understand how AI tools fit into a broader deal workflow. The people who stand out will be the ones who can use technology to move faster, while still spotting the commercial and regulatory issues that machines will miss.

That also affects how work is staffed. If AI reduces the time spent on some lower-value tasks, firms can push teams toward higher-value questions sooner, such as whether a target’s data stack is integration-ready or whether a carve-out can actually be executed without hidden cost overruns. For employees, that means more pressure, but also a better chance to build experience in judgment-heavy parts of the process.

The macro backdrop is still complicated

The survey does not describe a simple boom. KPMG says legislative and regulatory volatility, evolving trade regimes, global conflicts, and major changes in tax frameworks are all reshaping forward-looking cost structures and return profiles. In other words, the appetite for dealmaking is improving at the same time the environment for closing deals remains difficult.

That tension is important for KPMG teams because it changes where client demand lands. Buyers and sellers are not just looking for transaction execution; they want help understanding risk, cost, and fit in an unpredictable environment. That increases demand for professionals who can connect the dots between tax, regulation, geopolitics, and operating performance.

The survey’s top strategic drivers for 2026 help explain the pattern. Expansion into new markets or geographies led at 58%, followed by growing the core business at 57%, and acquiring technological capabilities or talent at 46%. Those motivations point to a deal market that is still fundamentally about growth, but one where talent and technology are now part of the asset being bought.

What this means for KPMG careers

The strongest message for KPMG people is that a healthier M&A market can widen the path to visible work. When deal flow rises, junior staff get more chances to sit on live assignments, specialists are pulled into broader teams, and managers have more opportunities to prove they can coordinate across service lines. That matters in a firm where advancement often depends on who gets trusted with the most complicated client situations.

It also means the internal competition gets sharper. In a busy deal year, there is more work to go around, but there is also more pressure to be the person who can handle fast-moving clients, shifting scopes, and multiple deadlines without losing precision. The best-positioned teams will be the ones that can combine technical depth with speed, especially in carve-outs, AI-enabled diligence, and integration planning.

A January 2026 CFO.com report based on KPMG polling of 300 U.S. dealmakers pointed in the same direction. In that survey, 66% expected pipeline volume to increase in 2026, while only 5% expected it to fall. It also found that 74% expected higher-quality opportunities, and 53% said acquiring tech capabilities or talent was a reason for more M&A. That earlier result now looks less like a one-off upbeat reading and more like the start of a broader turn in sentiment.

For KPMG, the opportunity is not just that more deals may happen. It is that the people who can navigate them well will be needed across more parts of the firm, from transaction services to tax, consulting, risk, and technology. In a year shaped by smaller but more frequent deals, carve-outs, and AI-assisted execution, the biggest career advantage may belong to employees who can move fast without losing sight of what actually gets a transaction over the line.