Catherine Burnet

Catherine Burnet, KPMG’s head of audit in the UK, informed UK employees in an email last week that client-facing staff should now be working at least two days a week either at the firm’s offices or at client sites.

KPMG confirmed that staff in other divisions were given a similar message in November.

KPMG staff had been working in offices a maximum of four days per fortnight since May, with some employees attending in person occasionally.

Ms Burnet also told KPMG’s 6,000-person UK audit division that they would spend the majority of their working week at offices in the longer term.

In the email, Ms Burnet wrote: “In due course, we expect colleagues to be working two to three days per week at the audited entity site, one day in the office, and one to two days at home.”

Ms Burnet suggested that staff would not be entirely free to choose where they worked from each day as teams would be expected to operate from the same location unless they were based at home.

She urged that working together in person would “ensure we collaborate more efficiently, deliver high-quality audits, and continue to develop our technical and personal skills.”

She wrote: “The days at the audited entity and in the office should be together as teams, whereas homeworking should be for specific tasks.”

Ms Burnet added that working together in person would “ensure we collaborate more efficiently, deliver high-quality audits, and continue to develop our technical and personal skills.”

KPMG said it was following government guidance but that it was moving forward with plans to increase attendance to a minimum of two days despite stricter Covid restrictions following the emergence of the Omicron variant.

Some industry chiefs have voiced concerns that remote working could further wound audit quality and limit learning opportunities for young auditors. In July, the Financial Reporting Council criticised KPMG July for the “unacceptable” quality of its banking audits for the third year in a row.

KPMG told the FT that bosses have yet to decide when auditors would be required to return to offices.