This announcement comes after Auditor-General Kimi Makwetu’s announcement in April earlier this year that the government would no longer use the firm’s services for auditing contracts.

Last year, the company was implicated in the 2014 Gupta wedding scandal for allegedly helping Gupta family companies evade tax by categorising wedding costs as business costs. T

Following mention of the company’s name in the Gupta wedding scandal in June last year, the firm’s credibility has been severely compromised and has resulted in the loss of many high profile clients, including Absa, and most recently, the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants.

“Most of our regional businesses are quite dependent on audit work that was done for the Auditor-General. And because of the losses we have seen there, it really has been difficult to retain those offices,” says KPMG CEO, Nhlamulo Dlomu. 

Dlomu says that the firm did not have enough business in its smaller offices and consequently, retrenchments were to be expected as there was not enough business in smaller regions to keep it functioning.

In a statement released on Monday, KPMG stated that it expects 400 people will be laid off from their jobs as part of this process.

Staff from the firm’s advisory and internal business units would also be part of these job cuts. She further stated that consultations with staff members that will be retrenched have already begun and that “a normal retrenchment process” will be followed.

Regional centres that will be affected by this include the Mbombela, Polokwane, East London and Bloemfontein offices, as mentioned.

The company’s Pretoria office, on the other hand, will be merged into its Johannesburg office. The Johannesburg office will form part of the four hubs the company will operate from, including Cape Town, Durban and Port Elizabeth.

Bloemfontein Courant/Pulane Choane