Audit and consulting company KPMG Romania will hire at least 100 young graduates this year, after having recruited another 100 over the past year, Serban Toader, audit partner at KPMG and future senior partner, told ZIARUL FINANCIAR.
Serban Toader will be made senior partner at KPMG in October, replacing Victor Kevehazi, who has filled this position for the last seven years, the company recently announced. As a result of this move, the managers of the Big Four companies (which also include PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte and Ernst & Young) will all be Romanian.
"KPMG hired 100 graduates in the past year and we plan to hire 100 more this year," Serban Toader stated. The number of KPMG employees on the domestic market currently stands at more than 400 and will exceed 500 by the end of the current recruitment campaign. From last month through to September the company hopes to attract at least 100 young graduates, who will be a new workforce designated to develop KPMG Romania's business by around 30%.
KPMG last year posted total revenues worth 22.7 million euros, an increase of 35% compared with 2005.
"This year we will probably witness a 30% increase in revenues, the same as last year. I don't see any likely slowdowns, the only factor that limits our growth is the number of recruits available. No one in the Big Four has enough employees. We cannot recruit, train and educate new people fast enough to support the company's growth," says Victor Kevehazi, the current senior partner who will be leaving for a global management position in October.
He estimates a new employee needs 2 or 3 years to gain the necessary expertise that an auditor requires.
Serban Toader believes that once this year's recruitment campaign has been completed, it will be progressively more difficult to increase the number of employees as rapidly as in the past. The KPMG team is going through a renewal process, which reaches right up to the management level, adds Kevehazi. Moreover, an increasingly higher number of Romanians will be filling top positions. Out of the 6 new partners being appointed this year, 5 are Romanian bringing the total number of partners to 17, the majority of whom are Romanian.
The domestic consulting and audit market cannot grow any faster than 20-30%, unless it boosts its number of employees, believes Victor Kevehazi.
At present, KPMG estimates that the Big Four companies have 1,500-2,000 employees and even more are needed in order to take advantage of the market's long-term growth potential.
Audit and consulting services are expected to achieve a significant level of growth on all segments of the market this year, says Kevehazi. According to certain estimates, the total turnover of the Big Four companies amounted to 100 million euros in 2006.
As far as tax advisory services are concerned, the improved business of the Big Four could receive a boost from an increase in the tax compliance on the part of companies.
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