Reading: KPMG moves into new town-centre offices

KPMG has moved from offices in Theale to the centre of Reading. The office in Forbury Place is nearly 45,000 sq ft of space and KPMG has become the building's debut tenant.

KPMG UK has also announced its financial results. The firm, which has five offices in the South - Reading, Bristol, Cardiff, Plymouth and the South Coast - saw 8% growth in the South region over the year, with revenues of £124 million. Nationally, the firm saw revenues increasing by 3% from £2.34 billion to £2.40b for the financial year ended September 30, 2019.

Andrew Morgan, South region chair for KPMG, said: “Our business across the South of England and Wales has had one of its best years to date. Our M&A experts have had a particularly successful year alongside our core capabilities of tax and audit. The advisory side of our business has been in high demand as companies plan for Brexit, respond to a changing consumer world and face cyber security risk. The retail sector in particular has generated a lot of work for our experts, while our fledgling legal practice has seen significant growth.

“We’ve made a big investment in people this year, particularly in our audit function. This year’s achievements have only been possible because of our outstanding people, and we continue to invest in them, promoting 114 people across the South this year, including eight new directors. We’ve also recruited record amounts of graduates (130) and apprentices (27) across the region as we invest in new talent.

“This week we moved our Thames Valley office to the centre of Reading to a brand new office, in 2 Forbury Place. This is an incredibly exciting development for the region and we plan to recruit a further 200 people to be based there over the next three years.”

Nationally, KPMG UK has seen a year of unprecedented investment in core areas of the firm, including £45m from in-year earnings as part of a planned £200m investment in audit by the end of 2020.

Bill Michael, chairman and senior partner at KPMG in the UK, said: “We have undertaken a comprehensive overhaul of our audit practice, reappraising every aspect of what it does and how it interacts with the rest of the business. Central to that has been investing heavily in our capability and capacity to deliver the audit of the future.

“Our advisory business is increasingly winning long-term, multi-year contracts that deal directly with the most challenging and complex areas of our client’s businesses and require significant up-front investment on our part. We are winning these mandates by combining content, expertise and understanding from right across our firm. Our firm now has a strong base from which to capitalise on these opportunities.”