Kate completed a Bachelor of Commerce (majoring in Finance and Economics), Bachelor of Laws, and Diploma of Modern Languages (French) at the University of Sydney. She started at KPMG as a graduate in February 2007.
Business Performance Services (BPS), within the Advisory practice, offers a huge diversity of work. I chose to apply to BPS as it provided the opportunity to get a look at organisations operating in so many different markets, from financial services to government. The nature of the group really appealed to me as it is made up of people from different backgrounds (accounting was not a pre-requisite) who are happy to share their experience in these different industries.
BPS helps businesses enhance their performance. Typically, we work in teams at a client site where we’re engaged to go into the organisation to improve some aspect of its operation. Whether that’s looking at processes, performance, information, organisation structure or projects that have been undertaken or proposed.
Depending on the nature of the client and the engagement that I’m working on, my week (and working hours) can change greatly! On one project my ‘average week’ involved working from our client’s offices in the city for a few months. On another engagement I worked with a client in country NSW. We’d fly down to the client on Tuesday morning and back on Thursday evening and then work on Monday and Friday from our office.
I really love the culture at KPMG. It has a really fun and proactive atmosphere and I’ve enjoyed being part of the group’s social committee to organise social events and participating in KPMG sporting teams. There are so many opportunities to get involved!
The graduate program is so well organised from the moment you walk in the door. From the first day you feel part of the team – there’s ample training and induction which allows you to immediately start adding value to your team. Following that, the formal performance management process, and the informal coaching and mentoring, provides a great platform and network for personal and professional development.
Keep taking every opportunity for exposure to different clients and types of work, and pursue further formalised studies once I’ve gained more experience.
A huge range of training, in addition to a very thorough induction program on arrival! The importance that KPMG places on training is really evident and I’ve done both professional development training tailored specifically to my business group to provide me with BPS skills and personal development style training in things like self-awareness and building a professional approach.