Now Gupta bell tolls for KPMG
Clients and staff weigh their options as audit giant comes clean
South Africa's major banks are adopting a wait-and-see attitude on relations with audit and advisory giant KPMG South Africa after a wholesale clear-out of the firm's top ranks on Friday, accompanied by a cringing mea culpa for "failings" in work done for Gupta-linked entities over the past 14 years. The dramatic development, which may claim the biggest corporate scalp so far in the unfolding Gupta implosion, is potentially bad news for the new CEO, Nhlamu Dlomu, who now faces the prospect of the firm collapsing in her first full week in office. This week, nine senior executives at the local operations of the Netherlands-based firm resigned, including its chairman, Ahmed Jaffer, and CEO, Trevor Hoole, stoking fears of an exodus of business from its top clients. "It's going to consume them in trying to reassure clients they can still service them," an industry insider said.An exodus of staff and clients would not only cripple the audit firm, which is on joint audits with four of the ...
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