The firm, which has five offices across the South and Wales: Reading, Bristol, Cardiff, Plymouth and the South Coast, saw revenues increase by 8% from £2,172m to £2,338m for the financial year ended 30 September 2018 and underlying profit increased by 18% year on year to reach £356m.

Karen Witton, south regional chair for KPMG said:

“In line with the wider firm, our business across the South West and Wales has had a very strong year. Alongside supporting businesses in our core capabilities of tax and audit, we have been in demand as companies plan for Brexit, respond to a changing consumer world and face cyber security risk. New in-house expertise such as our legal team in Reading and our new pensions and investments team in Bristol have helped support this growth.

“This year’s achievements have only been possible because of our excellent teams; they’re the backbone of our business and we continue to invest in them, promoting 126 people across the South this year, including two new partners and six new directors. We’ve also recruited record amounts of graduates and apprentices across the region as we invest in new talent.

“Another real highlight of this year was securing the move of our Thames Valley office from Theale to brand new offices, 2 Forbury Place, in the centre of Reading. This move which will happen in Autumn 2019, will allow our Reading teams to grow and we plan to recruit a further 200 people to be based there over the next three years.

“As ever, we have committed to supporting local communities: in Reading we have raised over £10,000 for Launchpad, a charity that works at preventing homelessness in Reading and in all of our offices across the south, staff took time out of the office to volunteer locally, such as our Bristol colleagues working with teenagers from deprived areas, helped them in key skills through the likes of mock interviews.”

[aoa id=”1″]Nationally, KPMG hired 1,365 new graduates and apprentices across the UK to support the firm’s growth. This was a record number since its 2011 intake and an increase of 22% in student recruitment on last year, with 48% of new roles based in the firm’s offices outside London. KPMG also introduced eight new specialist graduate technology training routes, offering graduates the opportunity to specialise in some of the most cutting-edge technological sectors, such as cyber security.[/aoa]

Key points from the 2018 annual results:

KPMG UK generated its fastest annual growth in revenue for 10 years, achieving an 8% year on year increase.
The firm has 635 partners.
It has 14,587 FTE employees.
Total tax paid and collected of £885.8m to HMRC.
Average partner remuneration rose to £601k, increasing from £519k in 2017.
The Chairman’s pay was £2.1m. (This is the first full year of Bill Michael’s tenure as Chairman.)
KPMG UK’s gender pay gap was 28% (median) and 42% (mean). The firm’s ethnicity pay gap was 14% (median) and 36% (mean). These figures include both employee and partner pay.
KPMG remains one of the most popular employers in the UK, ranking top 10 in the Times Top 100 Graduate Employers survey for 2018.
The firm also ranked 1st in the Social Mobility Employer Index compiled by the Social Mobility Foundation, Social Mobility Commission and the City of London Corporation.