IT CAN be quite hard to spot the differences between the Big Four professional services firms — each offers virtually the same business services, they require very similar kinds of graduates and all recruit many hundreds of university-leavers each year.

But the staff and clients of KPMG seem to have no problem distinguishing their firm from the others. This year KPMG was named the UK’s Best Big Company to Work For by the Sunday Times, based on employee responses to a detailed questionnaire on life at the firm, and scored particularly highly for issues such as quality of leadership, staff wellbeing, pay and benefits, and personal growth and development. The firm has also been awarded the CBI’s Auditor of the Year accolade for the second year running by Britain’s top finance directors.

For graduates, KPMG offers 20 entry programmes in four main areas. The largest of these is audit, the part of the firm that researches and verifies companies’ annual accounts, including 21 of the UK’s biggest FTSE-100 organisations. KPMG’s tax practice is another major graduate recruiter, hiring trainee tax advisers to work with clients on corporate, employment and international tax issues.

The advisory division provides companies with specialist business and technical skills in areas such as actuarial work, corporate finance, risk management, corporate recovery and pensions. There are also opportunities for graduates to work in the firm’s internal business services in HR, finance, IT, training and development and sales and marketing.

For most graduate positions at the firm, the minimum entry requirements are a Ucas tariff of 300 (equivalent to at least three grade Bs at A level) and a 2:1 degree. KPMG does recruit on a year-round basis but, like the other Big Four professional services firms, places for 2006 have been filling very quickly and there may be a limited choice of vacancies at individual offices.



Martin Birchall is editor of The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers

NUMBER 3: KPMG

What does it do?
KPMG is one of the Big Four professional services firms. It employs 104,000 people in 144 countries, including 9,500 partners and professional and administrative staff at its 22 UK offices.

What will graduates do?
The firm is recruiting about 850 new graduates to work in audit, tax, advisory and business services.

Where are the graduate jobs?
KPMG has offices nationwide, including Aberdeen, Plymouth, Birmingham, Bristol, Cambridge, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Ipswich, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Milton Keynes, Newcastle, Nottingham, Plymouth, Reading and Southampton.

What’s the pay like?
Competitive, but starting salaries vary depending on the role and location.

What’s the competition like?
Last year, the Big Four received an average of 17 applications per graduate vacancy.

How has KPMG done in the Top 100?
2001: 7
2002: 5
2003: 5
2004: 4
2005: 4

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