KPMG’s UK chief steps down after staff message

THE chairman of KPMG in the UK has resigned after reportedly telling staff they should “stop moaning” about worries over cuts to their benefits during Covid-19, and talked about meeting clients for coffee during the pandemic.

Bill Michael will step down from the audit giant at the end of the month after details of what he said during a conference call on Monday were revealed.

“I love the firm and I am truly sorry that my words have caused hurt amongst my colleagues and for the impact the events of this week have had on them,” the 52-year-old Australian said.

“In light of that, I regard my position as untenable and so I have decided to leave the firm. It has been a privilege to have acted as chair of KPMG. I feel hugely proud of all our people and the things they have achieved, particularly during these very challenging times.”

The decision to leave the company comes two days after Mr Michael stepped aside while KPMG carried out an investigation into his remarks.

He was reported by the Financial Times as telling staff to “stop playing the victim card” over concerns about possible cuts to pensions, pay and bonuses.

He also reportedly spoke about meeting clients for coffee during the pandemic, prompting one person on the call to tell the newspaper: “He literally said ‘I know I’m breaking the law’ to meet up with people during the pandemic.”

Mr Michael was himself admitted to hospital with Covid-19 last year.

The senior partner was also reported to have offered his views on unconscious bias as “complete crap”.

The concept refers to the stereotypes attributed by a person to other people or groups without realising, which affects their understanding or interaction.

According to the Financial Times, one employee wrote in response: “There’s no such thing as unconscious bias?! Are you joking? Please do your research before just making such statements. Check your privilege.”

Two senior KPMG members, Bina Mehta and Mary O’Connor, will take over Mr Michael’s duties between them, becoming acting chairwoman and acting senior partner.

Ms Mehta said: “Bill has made a huge contribution to our firm over the last 30 years, especially over the last three years as chairman, and we wish him all the best for the future.”

OUR civilisation is built, it is said, on the plough. This innovation gave us the ability to plant more crops and grow more food.

But ploughing, we are learning, also destroys the vital soil eco-life and invisible microbial systems on which plant life depends. Ploughing can result in terrible loss of topsoil and nutrients. It’s not a sustainable way to provide food. This could turn out to be a real ecological crisis coming hard down the road.

Fortunately we have emerging solutions, like “no-till farming” where the soil is left untilled so that the ecosystems are not brutally destroyed. We need a new greener perspective which recognises what is going on all around us in the great engine of nature. We don’t see viruses because they are so small, and we don’t see what’s going on in the soil because that too is hidden away in plain sight. This pandemic has vividly illustrated for us all just how tiny aspects of life impact on us. And how we interact, and the world which we humans create, can then create terrible feedback consequences.

The coronavirus could never have spread around the world so quickly without the interconnection of economies and peoples.

Aeroplanes provided the perfect means for viruses to move rapidly from continent to continent. That is what happened. Sad to say, there might be other future nasties lying in store. Our best bet is for us all to understand the basic science and respect the web of life and nature, and be prepared.

Our outlook, our world is going to be utterly changed by this pandemic. I hope we all come out of it – whenever that is – with a greater respect for the powers of nature, and a greater understanding and appreciation of our great NHS and of the science and scientists which developed the vaccines.

Chris Watson

Bristol

WELL done Matt Hancock and Boris Johnson for their bonfire of the bureaucracy in the NHS.

There are way too many tiers of management and bureaucracy within the NHS and Brexit is the perfect opportunity to change it.

We saw what bureaucracy did to the rollout of the vaccine in the EU.

Whilst as a free nation we were able to get on with the job of protecting our people, the EU were reminiscent of a car in a motor race failing to start. So praise the Lord for Brexit. Whilst the EU continues to struggle, Britannia has just started to roar.