KPMG to cut 75 managerial jobs

ACCOUNTANCY FIRM KPMG is cutting 75 managerial jobs as part of the 200 redundancies it announced a fortnight ago.

It is understood that some 40 managers are being made redundant in the accountancy firm’s tax division.

Some 20 managerial jobs are to be axed from the advisory department, while 10 managers from the auditing department and five managers from support services will be let go.

It is believed that the layoffs include directors and associate directors.

KPMG said earlier this month that it was going to axe 10 per cent of its Irish workforce, or some 200 jobs, with the redundancies in the main affecting recently qualified accountants and support services staff.

The statement added that the cuts would also affect professional staff in the firm’s transaction-based businesses, “but to a significantly lesser extent”, and declined to give further details.

A spokesman for KPMG would not comment on the breakdown of the job cuts yesterday.

The company indicated that it still intended to take in 250 graduates on its training programme in the autumn, saying the programme was “critical to the firm’s future success”.

A number of accountancy and legal companies have taken steps to reduce their headcount and payroll costs in recent months.

Deloitte is to seek 70 voluntary redundancies and a 5 per cent to 10 per cent pay cut from staff, while PricewaterhouseCoopers and KPMG have reduced salaries for the majority of their staff by 10 per cent.