KPMG staff back on full pay after Covid 19 salary cut

KPMG has cancelled the "salary sacrifice" it asked of its staff during the pandemic. Photo / Fiole

Accounting firm KPMG has ended its Covid-19 salary sacrifice two months early, citing a better workflow than expected.

In April, BusinessDesk revealed KPMG had asked staff to take a 15 per cent pay cut, calling it a "salary sacrifice", because it didn't qualify for the government wage subsidy.

The firm also said it would cut partner drawings by 20-40 per cent, in line with EY and PwC. However, those other firms have not disclosed how much their reductions are.

KPMG's salary sacrifice meant staff who earned more than $55,000 a year were asked to reduce their salaries by 15 per cent from May to August, in return for 12 days of special leave.

However, KPMG has now confirmed it ended the sacrifice, which affected about 70 per cent of its workforce, this month.

"This decision took into consideration that the firm's client work in May and June had held up better than expected as did anticipated levels of new work for coming months," the firm said.

KPMG said it has also increased partner's capital investment and cut discretionary spending. It has not made any redundancies as a result of the pandemic.

Law firm DLA Piper made a similar move in April but reversed it last month.

The New Zealand branch of the global giant had staff agree to pay cuts of up to 20 per cent and put non-legal staff on shorter weeks.

However, by June the firm realised May billings and collections were better than expected so reimbursed salary reductions.

An ANZ consumer survey shows that, from late April, New Zealanders were more likely to say they had taken a pay cut because of coronavirus than their global counterparts, but less likely to say they had been laid off temporarily or permanently. About 15 per cent of consumers surveyed said they had taken a pay cut.

BusinessDesk