KPMG to Cut 10% of US Audit Partners to Reshape Practice (2)

KPMG will slash the number of partners running its US assurance business in a bid to boost the unit’s productivity and better align its staffing with market demands.

The reductions come after KPMG LLP had offered early retirement packages to entice partners to leave the practice over the past few years, the Big Four accounting and consulting firm said Thursday.

“This action is connected to a multi-year strategy to align the size, shape and skills of our team to the power of our audit platform to best serve our clients and protect the capital markets,” the US firm said in a statement. The firm will offer departing partners financial packages and help finding new roles, it said.

Partners learned of the 10% job reductions Wednesday, according to a person familiar with internal firm deliberations.

The cuts to its audit partner ranks follow previous layoffs targeting the assurance practice of KPMG’s two largest markets. Last fall, the US firm eliminated 195 jobs from its audit practice to address low employee turnover. KPMG’s UK arm told nearly 600 audit staff that they faced job cuts in March.

The latest cuts were reported earlier by the Financial Times.

The US audit practice has about 1,400 partners and managing directors, according to its most recent audit quality report. Its cohort of partners is larger than that of its peers, the person familiar with firm deliberations said.

KPMG reported total US fees of $13.28 billion in its 2025 fiscal year, while its expanding audit business drove nearly $4 billion in revenue.

Over the past two years, the firm has picked up more listed audit clients than its Big Four competitors, data from Ideagen Audit Analytics shows. KPMG also has been looking to expand its book of private company audits.

Artificial intelligence technology, however, is increasingly handling key steps of audits, spurring firms to rethink staffing and delivery. KPMG and its top competitors have invested billions to put advanced AI tools at the center of their core services, including the audit.