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BBBEE: KPMG Rated AAA for Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment
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to achieve this rating, which marks a significant milestone in the transformation of the entire profession. To achieve this, KPMG scored over 85 percent on the compliance rating scale.
KPMG is defined as a Value-Adding Enterprise which, together with the Level 2 contributor rating, is good news for their clients as this will significantly enhance their own procurement scores. Clients can now claim 156.25 percent of their spend with KPMG for BEE rating purposes.
Chief Executive of KPMG in South Africa, Moses Kgosana, is understandably proud of this achievement, saying that “while we know that there is still much to be done in terms of our sustained transformation journey as we continue to play our role in positively shaping the country’s future, this rating bears testimony to everything that we have worked so hard to achieve to date. When we embarked on our transformation strategy several years ago, we set out a principle of winning the hearts and minds of our people. I believe that this rating evidences our success in this regard, which I thank all of our people for.”
KPMG attributes the achievement of this rating to an explicit focus on key strategic areas – most recently especially on procurement and employment equity. In part, this has been about having better information on hand in the context of a clear strategy, thus allowing for more to be asked of key stakeholders.
KPMG in South Africa is more than 25 percent black owned, with over ten percent owned by black women. These percentages apply equally to black ownership and economic interest in the firm. More than one third of KPMG’s Policy Board is black, with a black Chairman, and the Chief Executive is a black African. Over 40% of the firm is black, 60 percent of which is female.
Bryan Leith, Executive Director at KPMG responsible for transformation, notes that “our AAA rating is further proof of the practical transformation that is taking place at KPMG. This is on-going work, centred on individual accountability, embracing diversity at all levels within our organisation. While we have focused on some elements of the dti codes in particular, based on what has demanded our greatest attention, all seven areas of the B-BBEE scorecard remain important.”
“This AAA rating motivates us even more to building on our successes to date and strengthening our commitment to further realising the broader objectives of the country and the profession,” said Kgosana.
Chantyl Mulder, Senior Executive for Professional Development, Transformation and Growth at the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA), says KPMG’s rating is encouraging as the chartered accountancy (CA) profession is committed to transformation through various initiatives such as Thuthuka, a skills development project of SAICA, and the CA Charter that was gazetted by the Department of Trade and Industry (dti) in November 2009.
“Black chartered accountants have been identified as critical skills that are in short supply and yet in demand. The CA Charter aims to increase the number of Black people, particularly black women entering the profession to reflect the country’s demographic population. It is encouraging to see that KPMG is also setting an example.”
However, Mulder says it does not end there; “Leading firms such as KPMG must continue to support projects like Thuthuka and other transformation initiatives in the profession to inspire success in the lives of disadvantaged learners and students. Ultimately, our first goal as a profession is to ensure that we give back to the country by helping to transform the profession’s demographics to reflect those of South Africa in terms of race and gender. Secondly, we must provide good education to all deserving learners and students. In that way the pipeline of prospective Black chartered accountants will be of good quality and address the short supply of skilled Black chartered accountants in the profession,” she said.
Business News Sector Tags: BBBEE|