KPMG has cut audit and deal advisory staff as low demand and low attrition created a staffing mismatch. Here is what your Big Four expertise is worth when you work for yourself.

KPMG cut approximately 330 employees from its US audit practice, nearly 4 percent of that workforce, in late 2024, with the stated reason being unusually low voluntary turnover creating an overstaffing situation. In the UK, KPMG eliminated roughly 100 roles from its deal advisory practice, about 6 percent of that 1,700-person team, citing decreased client demand for M&A advisory services. The broader Big Four context is consistent: EY, Deloitte, and PwC have all made cuts in similar areas as the consulting and audit markets have slowed from the elevated activity levels of 2021 and 2022.

The cuts at KPMG reflect a specific dynamic in professional services right now. The post-pandemic deal and transformation boom created rapid hiring at all the Big Four firms. Now that activity has normalized, those firms are managing excess capacity. KPMG is also navigating the longer-term question of what audit and advisory work looks like as AI tools automate more of the analytical, sampling, and documentation tasks that previously required significant human hours.

For the professionals being cut, the situation is ironic: you are leaving a firm that clients pay significant fees to access, carrying credentials that clients treat as a proxy for quality, because the firm's internal capacity planning overshot. Your exit from KPMG is a supply-side problem inside the firm, not a statement about the value of what you know.

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Big Four alumni, and KPMG practitioners specifically, are among the most consistently employed independent professionals in the market. The firm's training, technical rigor, and client service standards create professionals that companies across every industry trust quickly. The market for KPMG-caliber expertise outside the firm is large and active.

Audit and accounting professionals with KPMG backgrounds who move into independent advisory work typically bill $150 to $275 per hour. Controllers, CFOs-in-transition, and financial reporting specialists working with private equity-backed companies, family businesses, and growth-stage companies command retainers of $6,000 to $14,000 per month. Deal advisory professionals, those who worked on M&A due diligence, valuation, and transaction structuring, are sought by independent sponsors, private equity firms, and corporate development teams at $200 to $375 per hour.

Tax specialists from KPMG are in consistent and recurring demand. Every business pays taxes. The complexity of international, state and local, and corporate tax strategy means that former KPMG tax managers and directors can build a client base relatively quickly. Many find their first independent clients among the same companies they served at KPMG, those clients already know the quality of the work.

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KPMG managers and senior managers typically earned $110,000 to $200,000 in total compensation. Directors ranged from $180,000 to $310,000. The "up or out" culture of professional services means that many people at KPMG had already internalized the idea that their tenure there was not indefinitely open, which sometimes makes this transition psychologically easier than it would be for someone whose entire professional identity was tied to staying.

To set a consulting rate: if your target income is $160,000 and your gross revenue goal is approximately $210,000 (accounting for taxes and benefits), divide by expected billable hours. At 900 hours in year one, that requires $233 per hour, round to $225 to $250 depending on your specialization and market. For deal advisory and tax professionals, rates should start at the higher end.

One practical note specific to KPMG: the firm's culture around client confidentiality and independence rules creates habits that sometimes make former Big Four professionals unnecessarily cautious about marketing their expertise. You are not bound by KPMG's independence rules once you leave. Be visible. Talk about the types of problems you solve. The reticence that the firm trained into you is a liability in an independent practice.

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KPMG's brand signals rigorous technical training, attention to detail, and the kind of professional judgment that comes from years of high-stakes client work. Buyers in finance, audit, tax, and deal advisory understand what it means to have a former KPMG professional advising them.

The positioning work is in specificity. "Former KPMG audit manager" is a credential. "I help private equity-backed companies build the financial reporting infrastructure they need to pass due diligence or prepare for an exit" is a positioning statement. The credential supports the positioning, but the positioning is what gets you hired.

Think about the buyers who are already looking for what you do. Private companies preparing for acquisition or investment need audit-quality financial reporting without full-time senior accounting hires. Growing companies need tax strategy advice as they cross complexity thresholds. Boards of mid-market companies need audit committee expertise that used to require paying KPMG. You can provide all of those things. The question is which one you want to lead with.

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