Much of the damage that has been done to audit and consulting firm KPMG has been self-inflicted. It hasn’t grasped that when things go badly wrong with any institution, the judgment by clients and stakeholders is guided not by the nature of the disaster itself but by the way it is handled. Its ham-fisted efforts at damage control suggest that if KPMG’s advice to its clients is of a similar standard, these clients should be dashing out the door to find someone else to look after them. A few weeks back, KPMG seemed to have acted decisively when it boldly announced the departure of nine senior executives, including CEO Trevor Hoole. This was seen as a forced mass resignation — in effect, dismissal. Now, however, it has emerged that those executives were paid severance packages — presumably commensurate with their seniority and experience. This implies that rather than acting because of any great conviction that errors were made, KPMG just wanted these executives to go, and go quickly, ...
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