ECONOMY

Association with the right clients

Acceptance and continuance of clients and engagements
All member firms implement rigorous client and engagement acceptance and continuance policies and processes which are vital to our ability to provide high-quality professional services and to protect KPMG’s reputation and support its brand.  These are in place to help us decide whether to accept or continue a client relationship and whether to perform a specific engagement for that client.

Prospective client and engagement evaluation process
Before accepting a client, we undertake a thorough evaluation of the prospective client, involving among others, and an assessment of its principals, its business and other service-related matters. The evaluation identifies potential risks in relation to the engagement using Sentinel™, our global conflicts and independence checking system. 

Continuance process
An annual re-evaluation of all clients is undertaken. In addition, clients are re-evaluated earlier if there is an indication that there may be a change in their risk profile. Recurring or long running engagements are also subject to re-evaluation.

Independence, integrity, ethics and objectivity
Member firms and KPMG professionals are required to comply with independence standards that meet or exceed those set out in the IESBA Code of Ethics together with those of other applicable regulatory bodies.

These policies and processes cover areas such as personal independence, firm financial independence, business relationships, post-employment relationships, partner rotation and approval of audit and non-audit services.

Our firm has a designated Ethics and Independence Partner (EIP) supported by a core team of specialists to help ensure that we implement robust and consistent independence policies and procedures to help ensure ethical conduct, including integrity and independence, our firm and its personnel, must be free from prohibited financial interests in, and prohibited relationships with, the network’s audit clients, their management, directors and significant owners.

In the event of failure to comply with relevant independence policies, whether identified in the rolling compliance review, self-declared or otherwise, professionals are subject to an independence disciplinary policy. Matters arising are factored into promotion and compensation decisions.

Business relationships/suppliers
Our firm has policies and procedures in place that are designed to ensure that business relationships are maintained in accordance with the IESBA Code of Ethics and local laws relevant to the auditing/accounting profession requirements. Compliance with these policies and procedures is reviewed periodically. 

Independence training and confirmations
Our firm provides all relevant personnel with annual independence training appropriate to their grade and function and provides all new personnel with relevant training when they join.  

They are required to sign an independence confirmation upon joining our firm, and are thereafter, required to provide an annual confirmation that they have remained in compliance with applicable ethics and independence policies throughout the period. This confirmation is used to evidence the individual’s compliance with, and understanding of, our firm’s independence policies.

Audit partner rotation
Partners are subject to periodic rotation of their responsibilities for audit clients under applicable laws, regulations and independence rules. These limit the number of years that partners in certain roles may provide audit services to an audit client. Our firm monitors the rotation of partners and develops transition plans to enable the firm to allocate partners with the necessary competence and capability to deliver a consistent quality of service to clients. Rotation monitoring is subject to compliance testing. 

Non-audit services
Lead audit engagement partners are required to maintain group structures for their publicly traded and certain other audit clients and their affiliates in the system. Every engagement entered into by a KPMG member firm is required to be included in the system prior to starting work. 

Fee dependency
KPMG International’s policies recognize that self-interest or intimidation threats may arise when the total fees from an audit client represent a large proportion of the total fees of the operating firm expressing the audit opinion, so we monitor our fee dependency on a constant basis. 

Conflicts of interest
Conflicts of interest may prevent our firm from accepting or continuing an engagement. Any potential conflict issues identified are resolved in consultation with other parties as applicable and the outcome is documented. An escalation procedure exists in the case of dispute between member firms. If a potential conflict issue cannot be resolved, the engagement is declined or terminated. 

Compliance with laws, regulations and anti-bribery and corruption
Training covering compliance with laws, (including those relating to anti-bribery and corruption), regulations, professional standards and the KPMG Code of Conduct is required to be completed by all at a minimum of once every two years, with new hires completing such training within three months of joining our firm.