KPMG tops SEC audit gains with 17 new engagements in quarter

KPMG’s latest SEC audit haul was big enough to matter inside the firm, not just in the market. The Big Four firm added 17 new public-company engagements in the quarter, the strongest showing in a field where Deloitte, CBIZ and Carr Riggs & Ingram were also active and public-company work remained fiercely contested.

For audit staff, a win like that rarely lands as clean upside. Each new engagement brings onboarding, independence checks, risk assessment, technical accounting review and coordination across audit, tax and advisory specialists. That can create a sharper path to bigger clients and tougher accounting issues, but it also adds the kind of compressed deadline pressure that makes busy season feel longer than the calendar says it should.

The 17-win quarter also fits a pattern rather than a one-off surge. In the first quarter of 2025, Audit Analytics and Ideagen said KPMG and Deloitte each posted net gains of 12 SEC audit clients, while CBIZ led after acquiring Marcum’s attest business. The prior year was even more chaotic: in the second quarter of 2024, the SEC’s permanent suspension of BF Borgers triggered a wave of auditor changes, and Ideagen said 125 new engagements involved clients cast adrift after that collapse.

KPMG’s own prior results show how quickly those market shifts can turn into workload inside the firm. In the first quarter of 2024, KPMG added 17 public-company clients and lost five, for a net gain of 12. In that same quarter, 13 of the firm’s 17 new engagements carried fiscal 2023 audit fees above $1 million, with Tupperware Brands the largest at $9.4 million. Ideagen’s 2024 annual summary later said KPMG led large accelerated filer client gains with 18 new engagements and four departures.

That is the real story for people in audit and adjacent advisory roles: KPMG is still pushing for public-company growth, and the wins are landing in the part of the market where complexity is highest and staffing depth matters most. SEC registrants must disclose auditor resignations, declinations or dismissals within four days, so these shifts become visible fast. Inside the firm, the question is whether 17 new engagements translate into opportunity, burnout risk or, most likely, both.